So You Want to Write For Counter Arts?
Submission Guidelines
‘A Home For Your Two Cents’.
Hopefully you will find, as I have done, a community of writers here at Counter Arts who are so welcoming that this publication begins to feel like a home for you, the person behind the work, too.
Whether you are an amateur or a professional, you are welcome to this publication.
We are looking for people who write well.
At the very least, we would like our writers to be open to working with an editor to improve style and readability (where necessary).
We recognize that your work will always belong to you, but we would like to maintain a certain standard for the publication. I would like to continue building a good reputation for quality writing.
**Edit 11/1/2024**
Regarding length of submissions, here at Counter Arts we will always look for quality over quantity — but as I’m looking to host deep, analytical pieces, my ‘rule’ is: the longer the better. We do not have a upper length limit. At the other end of the scale, shortform below 3 minutes will not be accepted, we look for a minimum 4 minute read (but prefer longer, really dig into your subject — and add some personal insight, opinion or experience when possible).
You do not need to use original photographic work but we do like to see a featured image. Just make sure to attribute it properly.
We are happy to accept both political and religious content. These could fit into either ‘Culture’ or ‘Equality’ category. However….editors will only allow pieces of work on these subjects which are thoughtful and well written. Vicious rants, name-calling, unsubstantiated claims and hate speech are absolutely NOT going to be accepted.
Categories
Art
Essays on all forms of art, whether it is painting, graffiti, sculpture, ceramic/pottery, tapestry, ‘arthouse’ film or anything else.
Culture
Personal commentary on cultural themes, encompassing topics such as cultural traditions, ritual, mythology, history, love, lifestyle, cinema, travel, family, parenting, relationships, and others.
Literature
Reviews and essays on the subject of all kinds of literature — modern to ancient, poetry, novels, nonfiction of all kinds. Including, but certainly not limited to, the Counter Arts Book Club texts.
Your own original fiction and poetry should be submitted to our ‘twinned’ publication, Rainbow Salad. (See below for more information).
Equality
Articles discussing, supporting, and advocating for equality.
Commentary on societal issues like race, class, disability, gender, sexuality and more.
Design & Technology
Thoughts, ideas, and notes on videogames, technical design, advances in/development of technology, artificial intelligence, and anything else that takes your interest. *Edit May 2023: We are not accepting any new tech writers at this time, but thank you for your interest*.
*Editing August 1 2023*:
As of today, the ‘Design Tech’ category has ceased to exist. We may still accept your work if it is appropriate to the publication’s brief, but you should now use a different section tag.
Our new category:
Film:
Including movies and television
Photography
All things related to photography — amateur or professional.
Including cameras and other equipment; hints and tips; reviews; and photo-journal/travelogue essays.
*Editing September 10 2023*:
Introducing another new category, as many of our writers already seem to write on this subject .
Music:
Includes reviews of albums; favourite tracks; instruments; life stories of musicians; memories tied to specific songs (or a series of songs, telling a story about a specific year, friendship or romance for example).
Any genre of music is welcome, from orchestral, concert pianist, folk, country, pop, rock…all the way through punk to thrash metal and the like.
Tags
Along with your work feeding into our homepage based on when it was published, we also like to display it under the appropriate tab.
Please include the tag which you think most adequately represents your piece. If we don’t see an appropriate tag, we will add one based on where we believe it should live. See the tags for each category below:
Art: art
Culture: culture
Literature: literature
Equality: equality
Film: film
Photography: photography
Music: music
What Do We Not Publish?
We will REFUSE to publish anything that is in any way misogynistic, racist, homophobic, transphobic, violent, or demeaning.
Please put the full content in your submission.
We will not publish articles where the copyright is in doubt.
Who Owns My Work?
You own your work. In fact, by submitting to Counter Arts, you are representing that you own the rights to the material you have submitted and have the right to publish it at Counter Arts. You are giving Counter Arts license to publish your work for as long as you and Counter Arts mutually agree. You are solely and exclusively responsible for the content of your pieces.
Images
Use a header image on your piece of work and place it directly beneath your title block.
Please DO NOT use images of firearms.
If you are submitting a lengthy piece of writing, it is often better to ‘rest’ the readers eye by interspersing additional images in appropriate places.
Make sure the image quality is good and not watermarked.
Make sure to credit the source properly on each image used — and if it is an original photo include a caption explaining so.
You are also encourage to fill in the Alt Text captions, to assist the reading enjoyment of anyone using the audio files.
For further information of writing style and presentation etc, please refer here:
How do I get in touch with Counter Arts?
If you want to be added as a writer, leave a message in the comment section below. Please include your Medium username to help make life easier for us when we add you to our community.
*Editing June 2024: Please send a link to a story in draft form to me at sadie.seroxcat@googlemail.com as an example of the kind of work you would submit to us. I am now looking at these before adding names to our writers list. Thank you.*
Send submissions through the platform once you are added as a writer.
You are also welcome to check out our literary publication Rainbow Salad.
Rainbow Salad welcomes all your fiction work poetry, flash, and short stories.
‘A place for misfit unicorns to publish their poetry and fiction’.
In the same vein as Counter Arts, it welcomes and encourages countercultural work, unreliable narrators, and all work highlighting minorities of all kinds.
WELCOME TO OUR COMMUNITY. DO PLEASE READ THE WORK OF OTHER COUNTER ARTS CONTRIBUTORS TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER AND THE PUBLICATION.
If you would like to contact me directly, as the owner and lead editor of both Counter Arts and Rainbow Salad, you can reach me at: sadie.seroxcat@googlemail.com
*Please note: we do NOT have any openings for ‘guest writers’ from outside of this platform. You must have an account on Medium to be a writer for and submit work to Counter Arts. Please do not send emails offering payment to use a ‘guest’ spot to link and advertise your wares or your website. We DO NOT do that, it is not how this publication operates.
Thank you for reading. Stay safe. Stay well. Keep writing! — Sadie.
