Review pitches wanted (books, films, TV, art, music, etc.) | $150-$300 per piece

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: THE BELIEVER

Deadline: 23 June 2021

Some personal news: I am delighted to share that I am now the reviews editor of The Believer. I'd love to see pitches for upcoming, misunderstood, and/or underappreciated works—books, films, TV, art, music, performance—that you'd like to write about.

So you know, we are currently commissioning stories for our Dec/Jan 2022 edition, themed “The Attention Issue.” What works capture our attention in original, timely, or challenging ways? What works eschew it?

What does it mean to make work in our online attention economy, measured in engagement time and CTR? What might it look like to refuse those demands? How can we better—more intentionally, perhaps—train our attention to the things that truly matter? Should we even want to do that?

Could all this attention to attention just be another trap, exploitation that's then commodified and sold right back to us, at markup rates? What roles and perspectives are available to us as writers, artists, and readers?

These are just a few of the questions I'd love to see engaged in the review-essay form! Or even microreview or department form. Would be great to see pitches (or existing drafts, if you already have them) in the next few weeks (say, June 23).

In addition, we are open—as always—to other, non-Attention Issue-related pitches and submissions. You can write me at james[at]believermag.com

Rates: For print reviews, it’s $150-250, depending on length. The rate for departments is $300. For microreviews it’s $50.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

• Questions / submissions: james@believermag.com
• Website: https://believermag.com/type/schema

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: The Believer is a literature, arts, and culture magazine based at the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute. In each issue, readers will find journalism, essays, intimate interviews, an expansive comics section, poetry, and more. More information here.
• Read through a selection of recent reviews on its website.
• Review the submission guidelines here.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.