In order to best promote your work, we expect to have the audio file of your piece by the time the issue is published. You have two options for delivering audio: reading the piece yourself, or having one of our staff read the piece for you. We will cover both options below.
For authors reading their own pieces: please upload a .wav, m4a, or mp3 file via Submittable as an attachment to your original submission. If you are new to recording yourself, please listen to your file carefully from beginning to end. If there are issues such as excess background noise or pops, we will ask you to rerecord it. For those just starting out, there are numerous resources online on how to maximize your sound quality, select equipment, and so forth. We regret that we don’t have the bandwidth to consult with each author individually about the audio process.
Here are our basic specifications:
- Allow .5-1 seconds of silence at the beginning of the file
- Introduce your piece by first giving your name under which you published, pausing, and then the title. Please do not invert the order. Example: “John Q. Public. Fireflies.”
- When you reach the end of your piece, allow another 1-2 seconds of silence.
After we review the file, if it meets specifications we will accept it in Submittable and that will be all you need to do. We will add sound files to the website as they are completed, and will feature them in our social media campaigns.
For authors who would like Chestnut Review staff to read your piece: if you don’t wish to read your piece, you can ask someone you know to read (they will need to grant us the rights to the recording) or we can assign a staff reader. Please email the editor indicating which you will select. Once recording is complete, we will send you the file for your approval. Only after that will we add files to Soundcloud and feature them in our social media campaigns.