Submissions wanted (pop culture) | $125 per article

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: DEEZ LINKS

Deadline: 24 February 2025

‘Tis our lot in life to be rather well-liked, moreover quite pleasant in one’s public carriage, yet to live in possession of some dastardly shady opinions, is it not?

What I mean to say is: I bet there are things you hate in our culture right now. A movie, a book, a TV show, a certain celebrity’s schtick, a social norm, a certain style of Instagram posting, a specific Type of Guy. There is a wicked, perfect (and FUNNY) review of said thing that’s just festering inside of you with nowhere to go. Thanks to things like stan culture, the reality of a logrolling-dependent industry, and also the generally weird and hugely un-fun state of the internet we have going on right now, you have not yet unleashed this review unto the world.

Until today.

I’m putting together a team. Well, actually, I’m putting together season 2 of Hate Read, to be published this spring. Last year, Hate Read was a passion project that I got a few friends to take a chance on (and we wound up in The New York Times for it!), but this year, I want your help to make it even bigger.

I’m looking to commission 20 ultra-smart, well-written essays total—each around 800 words, to be paid a nominal fee ($125, made possible by a generous sponsor who I’ll tell you more about soon!). Some of you I’ve already been in touch with personally :) . But if anyone else in the Deez community would like to contribute a Hate Read essay/blog and be apart of another historic internet takeover, listen up:

HATE READ SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Please take a gander at Season One to get a feel for topics, tone, and general vibe: we want entirely new topics this year. No repeats! Possible themes include: insider / regional / industry-specific / niche gripes and peeves, human etiquette/behavior, pop culture sacred cows both specific and broad (i.e. "Succession," menswear)

Email your submission to delia@deezlinks.com with the subject line Hate Read Submission: [Topic]. Looking for ~800 of your funniest, sharpest words. Don’t forget to include your pen name!

Deadline is Feb. 24, 2025.

I’ll be in touch after considering your submission. We’ll finalize the lineup by March, and your piece will go through 1-2 rounds of light edits with me before publication. The ensuing four weeks of mayhem will be published, as per usual, on Deez Links under the Hate Read umbrella.

All I ask is that you pick a target that feels fair—no cheap shots, please. Don’t make it personal. This is supposed to be a fun little project to keep us all amused amid a pretty otherwise un-fun time. But if there’s anything I know, it’s that the one thing that reliably unites people on the internet is complaining—passionately! knowledgeably!—about stuff that sucks.

So let’s do it. Join me for Hate Read: Season 2, and together we will sow discord, light-hearted disdain, and make the internet enjoyably scathing once more.

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CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

Questions/submissions: delia@deezlinks.com

Website: https://www.deezlinks.com

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