I agree with almost everything you say here, but I think you actually are slightly mistaken about the “name on the back cover” — I may buy a subscription based on my brand loyalty to the rag, but when I looking through the literary journals at my local bookshop, I will buy the individual copy because it contains poets I know and generally like. And then, once I’ve read the rag, I probably go on to make a decision about whether it’s generally worth subscribing to. So while it’s the journal that keeps me coming back, I am at first hooked in by the “names on the back cover.” It may not matter for maintaining an audience, but I would argue it does for bringing people in in the first place.

Aside from the Pushcart, though, your odds of winning any big awards are pretty slim unless you spend a lot of time building your pseudonyms reputation.

As a side note, I hope I never become such a “name” that my every effort is rewarded with publication. What a dull life that would be. Like that guy in that Twilight Zone episode who thinks he’s in heaven because he gets everything he wants– only to find out that there’s no “kicks” in it and he’s really in hell.