Over time, the Burnside Writers Collective has built up an amazing community of regular contributors. These are the writers we’ve depended on to contribute an impressive portion of the nearly 2,000 articles the BWC has published in the last five years.

But with our new daily format, we need new writers more than ever.  If you’re wondering if you should submit the essay, article, review, story, or poem you just wrote – well, you should.  Here’s how:

1. Submit your article in the body of the e-mail. Unless you are submitting poetry, attachments will not be opened. Trust us, it’s easier this way.

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.  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 accept your piece for publication is to read the articles we have already published. It’s not actually this cut and dry, but knowing the site should give you a general sense of what we prefer.  We have different parameters for each section.

Essays: We are looking for thoughtful writing on important issues. 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 love. If we’re going to pick three adjectives for what we look for in Essays, we’ll go with: provocative, distinctive, and, above all, entertaining.

Also, we know many of you are Don Miller fans, but “Blue Like Jazz”-style pieces don’t work well on this site. If you’re going to submit a memoir, personal essay, or biographical sketch, it’s got to be uncommonly good.

Social Justice: Think of this section as the site’s conscience, our way of making up for all the articles we write about the anti-Christ and whatnot. Social Justice articles are about making the world (or your little corner of the world) a better place. We want essays that illuminate obscure issues, and stories that shed light on people who have been marginalized and forgotten. Write with your heart on your sleeve, but get the facts across too.

Arts: We accept reviews of anything, from Christian ska bands to literary fiction, from that latest ridiculous reality show to the most under-appreciated art house flick. We appreciate a steady stream of reviews or thoughts on new releases, but we’ll gladly publish an essay that offers a fresh look at an old classic, or would-be classic. We love interviews too – especially interviews that delve into the artistic process, interviews that surprise us, interviews that makes us look again at a songwriter, author, actor, or director we only thought we knew.

Visuals: Submission guidelines coming soon.

Sports: Originality is key. Our editors are fans of guys like Bill Simmons or the writers at Deadspin.com.  Funny or insightful (or both) works best.  This is also the area we are most thin, writing-wise, so it’s a good place to get started if you’re a sports fan.

Fiction: Submission guidelines coming soon.

Poetry: The Writers Collective wishes to showcase both new and established poets; desiring well-crafted poems that above all, move. Please submit a maximum of 5 original works to be considered via email as one attachment  (.doc, .docx, or .rtf preferred). There is not set style, theme, or topic, unless otherwise requested by the editor. No epic-length poems, please. You may also include a brief, one or two sentence bio in the body of the email. Any questions or suggestions may be directed to the poetry editor, Ariele Gentiles.

4. Be patient and tenacious. 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. We’re not ignoring you. Our previous submissions process was inefficient, and a lot of very good contributions got lost in the shuffle. We apologize. We’ve streamlined the submissions process and taken other steps to help assure that won’t happen again. We will read and respond to every submission, even if we don’t accept it for the site.

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, we know, 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.  Additionally, it’s very likely your article will not appear on the site exactly how you submitted it, though we will not make any major changes without consulting you first.

6. Sometimes we break our own rules. The great thing about this job 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. One of our goals is to give new writers exposure.  Please don’t be discouraged by rejections, and keep trying!

8. Payment. There isn’t any. 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.

To submit your piece, please send it to the appropriate department:

ESSAYS: submissions@burnsidewriters.com
SOCIAL JUSTICE: sj@burnsidewriters.com
MUSIC: music@burnsidewriters.com
BOOKS: books@burnsidewriters.com
SPORTS: sports@burnsidewriters.com
VISUALS: visuals@burnsidewriters.com
FICTION: fiction@burnsidewriters.com
POETRY: poetry@burnsidewriters.com
ALL OTHER DEPARTMENTS: submissions@burnsidewriters.com

All kidding aside, we take this part of the job seriously. Writing is hard work. And we consider it a sacred trust that you want to send us this thing you labored and sweated and prayed and possibly bled over. Thanks for reading. Thanks for submitting. We look forward to hearing from you.

- The Editors