The Smithsonian is a beautiful magazine, one we'd all love to see our byline inside its covers. If you had a strong inclination to write for this publication, consider breaking in by pitching a piece up to 650 words to "The Last Page," their humor column. Read samples via issues
in their archives. Submit via their online webform and expect a wait of three wweeks. Compose the entire story and submit on spec. This is not a query process. The stories usually relate to a personal experience by the writer and contain a typical beginning, middle and end with some sort of action involved . . . much like a short story. Several can be read at te website. Examples at the
submissions page are:
-what happened when a writer shaved off his moustache
-what it's like to be colorblind, or a hypochondriac
-how an innocent ant farm turned into an unexpected lesson.
Oh yeah - it pays $1,000.
NOTE: You'll find an example of The Last Page column in each archived edition of The Smithsonian Magazine - all available online for free. They are simple and well-written. Study them well if for no other reason than to learn how to write visual, tight and clean.
DOUBLE NOTE: Had my head buried in research material on ebook publication. Dang! It's more complicated than I thought, though they try to make it sound so easy. If you take it seriously, you have to do your homework.
7 comments:
$1000?! Thanks for the link.
Very tempting for most humour writers, but its notoriously difficult to break into.
Thanks for the Info.
http://youcanfacetodaybecausehelives.blogspot.com
They publish 12 a year!
They only publish 12 a year!
They only publish 12 a year and probably have a large backpile.
ONLY 12 a year? That's great. Many mags have quit publishing every month. Surely you aren't trying to find reasons NOT to submit? Aw, come on! If it were easy, it wouldn't be worth having, don't you think?
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