Submission Guidelines

Dear Numerous Editors,

Sincerely,
Patient Writers

Okay, so this wasn’t an actual letter to the editor, but we do get plenty of requests for how to submit articles, and I thought I would lay out what we look for from our writers, what we like when articles are submitted, etc.

We always need writers. The Burnside Writer’s Collective is comprised of the various editors, and none of us enjoy the stress of having to produce an article every week. Over time, we’ve built up a very solid stable of steady contributors. These folks are our bread and butter, the writers we depend on issue in and issue out.

But there aren’t a whole lot of them, and they contribute when they can work in writing around real jobs, other writing projects…stuff like that.

So, like I said before, we’re always looking for more writers. If you’re sitting back wondering if you should submit the essay you wrote, JUST DO IT. We’re looking forward to it, and we are always glad to read every submission we receive, even if we don’t accept it for the site.

To submit articles, simply send them to reviews@burnsidewriterscollective.com. When you submit an article, here are some steps to follow:

1. Submit your article as a Word document attachment. This helps us keep track of the files we receive and put them on the site easier. If you don’t have Word, you can send your article as an email text, but this doesn’t usually work out as well.

2. Title your article well. We get a decent amount of junk mail. “Buy OEM Software” and “;)Drugs all over the world! 48144” are not good subject headings. In fact, you’re best off typing the words “Article Submission” in your subject line. Better yet, mention the type of article, or where you want it to go. If you’re reviewing an album, for instance, your subject heading should be “Article Submission - Music Review”. We can usually figure it out if you don’t follow these instructions, but if you don’t have an obvious heading, your submission may get trashed. Accidentally, of course.

3. Know the site. The best way to tell if we’ll publish your article is to read the articles that have already been published. We have different parameters for each section.

For General Articles, we like comedy or commentary especially. The key is thoughtful writing on issues that are important. Most of the time, we don’t immediately gravitate toward typical Christian themes. But, for instance, if you wrote an essay on being pro-life, and it took into account pro-choice stances and discussed them thoughtfully, that’s the kind of stuff we’d love. If we’re going to pick three adjectives for what we look for in General Articles, we’ll go with: unique, thoughtful and funny.

Also, I know most of you are Don Miller fans, but “Blue Like Jazz”-style pieces don’t work well on this site. By that, I mean biographical articles.

Social Justice themed articles tend to have more spiritual content. Think of this section as the site’s conscience for when we write articles about the anti-Christ and whatnot. This section is wide-open: we want to discuss anything and everything if it deals with raising awareness or making the world a better place. In particular, we like pieces that bring new light to widely-ignored issues. For the SJ section, we want you to write with your heart on your sleeve, but also get the facts across.

The Reviews section is wide open, too. We’ll accept reviews of anything, from Christian ska bands to classic novels, but we certainly prefer reviews of newer releases. We’re not huge fans of film reviews, but we will run them, especially if they examine themes outside the film.

I wrote an album review once for another Christian web magazine. After finishing the review, I went back and “Christian-ized” it, adding spiritual themes to make it a better fit for the magazine. We don’t want you to do that.

As for the Sports section, originality is key, too. Jon Adams and I are fans of guys like Bill Simmons or the writers at Deadspin.com. Being a sports fan should be about the joy, not about turning sports into the evening news. (This is not to say serious articles about sports aren’t appreciated…we just don’t want to turn them into something they’re not.)

4. Be patient and tenacious. It can take a while for us to get to your article. If you’re writing a time-sensitive piece, it helps to let us know in the subject heading. If you haven’t heard back on your submission in two weeks, email us again. It’s rare, but submissions have slipped through the cracks unintentionally. We’re not ignoring you.

5. Be prepared for feedback. Sometimes we’ll like a piece, but it is lacking something. In that case, we’ll send it back and tell you what we think. Writers are sensitive about their work, I know, so it’s always hard to accept other opinions, but we promise we’re not on power trips…we want to publish your article if we possibly can. Still, the majority of contributions get rejected. If you want to, feel free to email us and check ahead of time to see if your article idea is something that would appeal to us. Just send your request through the submission address.

6. Sometimes we break our own rules. The great thing about having a web magazine is we don’t have to follow the rules we lay out. It’s important to remember this when we reject your piece for whatever reason, and then you see a published article 3 months later that seems hypocritical. This isn’t an exact science. Additionally, the site may change with time. It was certainly nothing personal.

7. Keep submitting. We typically say this in all of our responses…we want to publish every writer who sends stuff in. Please keep trying! One of our goals is giving new writers is exposure.

Lastly, we don’t pay for articles, at least not at this point. Maybe someday when we’re dining on lobster and have the income to pay an accountant, we’ll pay our writers. Until then, we’re all squeaking by.

Thanks for reading and submitting.