The following blog entry was written by Sarah Solomon, an intern here at READ.

**Update: The first issue of Stand and Voice is here. And it looks fantastic! Chock full of stories, poems, essays, and artwork--all by teens--Stand and Voice is truly an accomplishment. Kudos to Baobao et al.

What does it take for a teen writer to be published? Teens seem notably left out. At least, this is the view of Baobao Zhang, who attends high school in Virginia. In order to mend this modern literary tragedy, she has started an online literary magazine – Stand and Voice. And it is just for teens. When asked how the magazine got started, Baobao, explained: "It got started around April this year when I was talking to a friend. I was getting rejected by — god knows what — every magazine in the country probably. We were talking, and we’re sure there are other teens who have this problem getting published, especially in adult magazines, because people don't want to take teens seriously. So we thought it would be cool to give people an outlet for their voice. Since then I’ve gotten published."

In terms of the technical preparations, "We had to find a web hosting company—we did it with Yahoo— and it's fantastic because you can edit it online and don't need software. We had to write everything about us. One of the challenges we had was to find a staff of volunteer editors, but we found them now." They also were lucky enough to be advertised by another magazine, Teen Ink.

Once the magazine was properly set up, it was time to start getting submissions. I asked Baobao why she thinks it's so important for teens to have their voices heard in today's society. Her response: "There's the adult world, and they don't take teens very seriously. And then there are the kids' magazines that don't take teens very seriously. We lack a voice. Modern media says we're irresponsible and lazy, but I don't think so. I think we have something to say."

Very well said.

On her hopes for the magazine: "I hope teen writers will have the chance to get published and put themselves out there. One of my goals is to spread this magazine to educators across the country. Kids that don't like to read can find something they're interested in."

Baobao and the rest of the editors have a whole process of deciding who to publish. Baobao says, "We have a review process. You send something in, when we're looking at it we're reading it anonymously and we edit it anonymously. We also have a rubric."

Writers can submit poetry, short fiction, personal essays, editorial essays, one-act plays, and even book movie or music reviews. Artists can submit drawings, paintings, prints, multimedia, photography, digital art, cartoons, and sculptures and ceramics.

All writing must be emailed to submission@standandvoice.org in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rtf), in a double-spaced standard font (such as Times New Roman). Since the writing is judged anonymously, put your name, date of birth, grade level, state, and name of school in the body of the email, but do not put information in the file. You'll also find a complete list of instructions at the site.

The first issue is going to come out in August. Deadline for the issue is July 27.

If you are a teen writer and want to be heard, submit your writing to Stand and Voice. If you are a reader, get ready to read some original writing from teens across the country.

READ thinks that Baobao is poised for success. After all, her poem "In Search of Sleeping Beauty" will appear in the first issue of READ this fall. We hope that Stand and Voice is a raging success, and wish Baobao and the rest of the team good luck!