Writer Guidelines

Published online on 24 May 2007

About the Magazine
Paste Magazine is a monthly publication focusing on music, film, books and other forms arts and entertainment. We focus on what we call Organic & Eclectic music—encompassing rock, singer/songwriters, alt.country, Americana, indie rock, world music and whatever else we think will grab music-lovers seeking something a little deeper. Paste hopes to cover the best music in this eclectic mix, devoting space to independent musicians alongside more established artists. The tagline, “Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture,” refers to the growing demand for depth and meaning.

With a focus on songcraft and an emphasis on good writing, Paste has featured artists such as Wilco, Patty Griffin, Modest Mouse, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Death Cab for Cutie, Coldplay, The Hold Steady, Aimee Mann and Ben Folds. Our film coverage has included features on filmmakers Wes Anderson, Gus Van Sant, Jim Jarmusch and Cameron Crowe. The magazine also delves into other areas such as film, books, visual arts and cultural commentary. One of the best opportunities for writers is to come up with article ideas we wouldn’t have thought of—like the article we published on a radio station in Louisiana run by prison inmates or the trash dump art series in San Francisco.

Paste Magazine can be found most every Barnes & Noble and Borders, along with independent book and record stores, airports and newsstands. We print approximately 250,000 copies of each issue, and each comes bundled with a compilation CD (featuring many of the above artists) and a DVD sampler with music videos and short films.

Solicitations & Assignments:
Paste Magazine welcomes unsolicited articles from anyone who believes the piece is appropriate for Paste and its readers. (Hint: Best way to figure out what is appropriate is to read the magazine.)

Queries soliciting approval of an idea may be submitted. Queries should include proposed subject, length, applicability and writer samples.

Paste will assist in obtaining interviews, attending events, etc. as needed. Paste will provide complimentary CDs for assignment when possible

NOTE: Solicitation of record labels, promoters, artists, and publicists on behalf of Paste must be done in coordination with Paste editors. If you want to pursue a story and need to use the name of our publication for access, please authorize it with Paste staff directly.

Submissions may be edited and may be published at any time. Writers will be paid upon publication. Paste retains the right to also publish everything that appears in our magazine on the PasteMagazine.com website and other sites that use our content.

Issues & Deadlines:
Print: Published monthly; submissions due 8 weeks prior to issue date.

Online: Published on a rolling basis.

Submission Format:
Electronic submissions (email, text files, MS Word files, or Rich Text Format files) preferred. Send review submissions to Jason Killingsworth (reviews@pastemagazine.com), web submissions to Austin L. Ray (web@pastemagazine.com), scrapbook submissions to Reid Davis (scrapbook@pastemagazine.com), film submissions to Tim Porter (film@pastemagazine.com), book submissions to Charles McNair (books@pastemagazine.com), feature and essay submissions to Josh Jackson (features@pastemagazine.com) and photo and illustration submissions to José Reyes (photos@pastemagazine.com or illustrations@pastemagazine.com). Additional material may be mailed to the appropriate editor at Paste Magazine, PO Box 1606, Decatur, GA 30031.

On the first page, include your name (as you want it to appear in the magazine), e-mail address, phone number, mailing address, the artist, title and label of the piece, and any notes for the editors. Suggested headlines and sub-headlines are also welcome.

Writing Guidelines:
Personal Style
Develop your voice, express your opinion, but be concrete in how you formed that opinion and distinguish the subjective from the objective. Your writing should display maturity and emphasize substance over attitude. But do personalize your writing; inject your life into your writing as appropriate (see http://eserver.org/bs/44/bertsch.html). Search for a sense of place or a narrative. After all, cultural criticism is not an objective, quantifiable science.

Fact-Checking
Be thorough. Never do an interview without a tape recorder, and save the tapes in case there’s an alleged discrepancy. If you are unsure of any facts in the article, please call this to our attention at the beginning of the article. We can help you verify the facts or remove them from the article.

Length
Cover stories – 3000 to 4500 words; Features – 1500 to 4000 words; Scrapbook features – 50 to 800 words; Film Reviews – 200-500 words; Book Reviews – 200-500 words; CD reviews – 100 to 800 words.

Style
Use italics for titles of recordings, videos, books, films, and television programs.

Song titles, chapters titles, and article titles should be placed in quotations; punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.

Write out numbers nine and under and numbers that begin a sentence (if necessary); otherwise use numerals.

Use numerals for decades, except at the beginning of a sentence. Use 4 digits for the first reference, with no apostrophe, and then 2 digits with an initial apostrophe (e.g., 1990s then ’90s).

Write-out the complete title of a song or album on first use; it may be abbreviated subsequently. Generally, credit songwriters rather than performers (e.g., unless you’re commenting on something specific to Hendrix’ or U2’s version, it’s Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”).

Tips
Shy away from statements like, “In a just world, Artist X would be getting more attention, mainstream attention, etc.” We believe that this could be said about most of the artists we cover. That’s why we exist.

There is a definite socially-conscious bent to the magazine, but don’t feel like you need to force this angle. We don’t have an agenda, but we do place a higher value on art that has depth and meaning rather than platitudes and propaganda.

KNOW THE MAGAZINE. Buy one on the newsstand or at PasteMagazine.com.

What we’re looking for…
Feature Profiles
Each feature needs to involve contact with the artist (we will help set these up for you). These need to be well-researched, well-written pieces from an original angle. We’ll work with you to get these just right. We’d like these to be more than just articles about artists, their careers and their label problems and hopes for a bigger audience. We want these to be explorations into the art of an individual. Incorporate song lyrics. Use narrative structures. Appeal to a variety of the reader’s senses—place them in the room with the artist. Make it relevant to the reader’s life—why should they care about this person’s art?

Essays
We generally publish one long-form essay each issue. These can be humorous, personal, opinionated or all three.

Film and Book Features
These include profiles of filmmakers and authors, coverage of new films and other articles on writing.

Trend Stories
We also generally publish one trend story or historical article each issue. Topics have included rock festivals, the new Americana music, the Brill Building Sound, independent films and music videos. Trend stories don’t necessarily have to be related to music and film.

Music Reviews
We’re a little more wide-open on reviews. We’ve got some ideas of what we want but also want you to write on the artists whose music is having an impact on you. Don’t be afraid to personalize these or come at them from a different approach. Music reviews are notoriously boring to read, and while they serve a utilitarian purpose, they should also be creative. I’d rather read a well-written review of an artist I know I won’t like than a shoddy review of someone interesting.

Film Reviews
In addition to music, we cover films that dig a little deeper. These include upcoming art-house films, foreign films and movies with a broader release. Think of the next Amélie, Kandahar, Chelsea Walls, Lost in Translation, No Man’s Land.

Other Reviews
We also cover books, television shows, radio programs, music DVDs, video games, etc. addressing the music and culture from a Paste-y perspective. If you have suggestions, we’d love to hear them.

Scrapbook
Our front-of-book section includes profiles of up-and-coming artists (4 to watch), news blurbs, trend stories, smaller artist profiles with specific angles, articles on food and beverage (Taste) and a page devoted to either visual art, theatre, comedy or some other non-music/film/books category (… And Culture). Film Clips includes smaller stories about new films, film trends and filmmakers.

PasteMagazine.com
In addition to most of the content that appears in the magazine, PasteMagazine.com publishes several concert reviews each month a weekly new artist profile called “Artist of the Week,” and various other web-exclusive articles. While these are typically unpaid, it’s the easiest way to begin writing for Paste.

Writer Guidelines

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