A word about what we publish
InTheFray is a U.S.-based but internationally aware news and literary magazine that addresses issues of identity and community. We seek to go beyond the tired arguments that prevent meaningful dialogue on issues of belief, class, gender, nationality, physique, race, and sexuality. Through original reportage, commentary, fiction, criticism, artwork, and photography, we explore human experience in all its variety and intensity. In doing so, we offer people of all walks of life - not just the mainstream, not just the minority - a chance to engage in the debate. Every month, we reach more than 30,000 readers (as of May 2005) across the country and around the world. InTheFray is looking for writers and artists who can offer fresh takes on these evolving notions of identity and community.
Regarding compensation and copyrights
To keep this project alive, we rely on the generosity of talented artists and writers like you. We hope you will consider supporting our cause by contributing your own work.
Our funding comes almost entirely from individual donors, and is, as you might guess, limited. As a result, we are only able to pay a small honorarium for reporting pieces ($75), cultural criticism ($20-$25), book reviews ($20-$25, or a free copy of the book if the reviewer doesn't already own it), visual essays ($45), and travel pieces ($20-$25). Unfortunately, we are unable to pay contributors for commentary pieces, columns, and personal essays. We would love to pay all of our contributors, and in the near future we hope to do so.
Because we cannot pay our contributors much, we give them the flexibility to republish their work in other publications. By submitting your work to InTheFray, you temporarily grant us exclusive first Electronic Publishing Rights in the English Language for a 60-day period, beginning on the date of publication. If another publication wishes to republish the piece before that date, they will need to negotiate with ITF, and we will in turn negotiate with you. Any payment for republication in the first 60 days will be split 50/50 between InTheFray and the contributor. Two months after publication, you are free to publish your piece elsewhere, in print or online, and to keep any money you make from republication. However, we request that you credit InTheFray Magazine as the original publisher of the article and let us know where it is being republished.
We retain the right to keep your work on our site indefinitely, and also to publish your work in our email newsletter (typically a month or two after it is first published online). Please be aware that we do not typically honor requests to remove your content from our site after publication, so please think twice about whether you want your writing to be accessible in cyberspace.
We normally do not republish work that has appeared in other publications. We automatically discard simultaneous submissions.
We may make exceptions to these policies in special circumstances. Please review this page from time to time to make sure our policies have not changed. And please get in touch with us if you have any questions.
We sincerely thank everyone who has volunteered their time and energy to make this magazine a success.
Magazine sections
The magazine has seven sections that accept submissions:
IDENTIFY accepts news features of 2,000 to 4,000 words. We are looking for original reporting and/or news analysis. Past topics have included elementary school choice in Baltimore, the reconstruction of a historic Mormon temple, and last year's massacres in Gujarat, India.
IMAGINE is our arts and culture section. Here you'll find poetry and fiction, in addition to interviews with artists and writers, critical reviews of film, and music, and analysis of pop culture.
INTERACT is the magazine's home for commentary. We publish informed essays that subvert conventional wisdom, as well as intensely personal narratives that illuminate the larger social landscape.
IMAGE is our showcase for graphic art and photography. We value work that questions not just the categories that constrain individuals, but also the genres that constrain art.
ACTIVIST'S CORNER features interviews (800-1200 words) with activists from all walks of life. We seek interviews that dig below the surface and ask tough, timely questions while also pointing readers toward how they might get involved in their own communities.
OFF THE SHELF features reviews (1000-1200 words) of recent fiction and non-fiction books. We seek pieces that stray from the traditional thumbs-up/thumbs-down review
format and instead explore an author's depiction of a particular identity and/or community.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS is the magazine's travel channel, which publishes written narratives (1500 words) and visual essays (5-7 photographs) from travelers sojourning abroad and immigrants making new homes, with an eye toward subverting the standard travelogue formula. That is, features for this channel approach countries halfway across the globe as something more than a home to strange cuisine and peculiar customs, questioning notions of the "exotic" and "foreign" while reconsidering our own status as outsiders.
For a more detailed and complete listing of the magazine's content, click here.
Upcoming themes:
Although we always welcome general submissions, InTheFray often publishes theme-centered issues. These themes are intended to be nonexclusive jumping-off points, and we encourage you not to interpret these themes too literally. Rather, we encourage you to interpret them as loosely as you feel is appropriate. If you have a brilliant story idea that doesn't relate to one of these themes but still reflects ITF's mission, feel free to pitch it to us anyway! Also, please be sure to subscribe to our low-volume contributors listserv to receive email notices about upcoming themes and staff openings at InTheFray.
Please review the theme below and consider contributing a piece for this theme, loosely defined and interpreted.
February 2008: Imprisonment
March 2008: Teaching
The submission process
Please contact the editors listed below if you have an idea for a story, photo essay, graphic art, etc.
For written content:
Submissions should be emailed to the editor in charge of the channel you wish to write for (see below). Especially for reportage and commentary submissions, we recommend that potential contributors speak with our editors before sending their work or even beginning writing.
Submissions should be in Microsoft Word format if possible. Include your full name, email address, and phone number with your materials.
IDENTIFY channel: Vivian Wagner (identify-at-inthefray-dot-org), News Editor
IMAGINE channel: Annette Marie Hyder (imagine-at-inthefray-dot-org), Literary Editor
ACTIVIST INTERVIEWS: Anja Tranovich (activists-at-inthefray-dot-org), Activism Editor
BOOK REVIEWS: Amy Brozio-Andrews (offtheshelf-at-inthefray-dot-org), Books Editor
INTERACT channel: Liz Yuan (interact-at-inthefray-dot-org), Contributing Editor
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS channel: Naomi Ishiguro (travel-at-inthefray-dot-org), Travel Editor
If you're not sure whom to email, feel free to contact us at recruiting-at-inthefray-dot-org.
For visual content: We accept unsolicited submissions of artwork, photography, and Web design. We also recruit staff artists, photographers, and designers to handle assignments (e.g. providing images for our written content).
To have your visual work considered for publication in the IMAGE channel, please email our Visual Editor, at image-at-inthefray-dot-org. Make sure you get in touch before sending any submissions. Artwork or photography should be rendered in GIF or JPEG format and emailed to us, or copies of the work should be mailed to the postal address above. We are also willing to provide space on our site for artwork done in HTML, Flash, or other Web formats.
Include your full name, email address, and phone number with your materials. We normally cannot return materials sent to us by post.
STAFF: Please contact our Art Desk at visualrecruit-at-inthefray-dot-org if you are interested in joining our team of staff artists, photographers, and designers. From time to time we need images to accompany our articles, and we will get in touch with you about helping out.
Getting started
Once you have talked to an editor, make sure to read "Getting Started," a memo that details our standards for work, the editing process, and the magazine's style.
Feel free to contact recruiting-at-inthefray-dot-org with general questions. Thank you for your interest in contributing to InTheFray. We look forward to seeing your work!
—The Editors
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