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Writing An Article For FT: Yes/No?

Ermintruder

The greatest risk is to risk nothing at all...
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
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I've a number of ideas for articles that I think would be publishable.

Therefore, I must wonder:

I) should I post these as ideas, here on FTMB, and hope that they might be randomly uptaken at some point? (nb yes, I know, but I worked that out already)

II) should I post these as extended well-developed concept/threads-on-steriods, here on FTMB, and possibly then mail the magazine to say have a look?

III) should I contact the magazine (potentially via the medium of parchment and sealing wax....or even via the melodramatic medium of a mediating medium), and say nothing about it whatsoever here on The Board?

IV)or, should I deploy some fiendishly-clever permutation from the above options, that immediately strike you, dear reader, as being blindingly-obvious, perfect and ideal?

The decision is yours.....well, it's not, the actual decision is whether or not you're going to give me any advice.

(Oh, and if you're Moriaty, or some other form of elemental malevolent spirit, feel free to give me your opinion too. I sometimes think we're too hard on villains. Or is it the other way around?? Anyway....feel free to be disproportionately-supportive, or, downright down about it. I shan't mind, I'll just have more angles to consider. All opinion is equal and valid, right up until when the trapdoor is pulled....
 
Have you tried writing them and then approaching the FT?
If you put up ideas on an open forum, somebody else may run with it...unless that's OK and you're happy with that.
 
I've a number of ideas for articles that I think would be publishable.

Therefore, I must wonder:

I) should I post these as ideas, here on FTMB, and hope that they might be randomly uptaken at some point? (nb yes, I know, but I worked that out already)

II) should I post these as extended well-developed concept/threads-on-steriods, here on FTMB, and possibly then mail the magazine to say have a look?

III) should I contact the magazine (potentially via the medium of parchment and sealing wax....or even via the melodramatic medium of a mediating medium), and say nothing about it whatsoever here on The Board?

IV)or, should I deploy some fiendishly-clever permutation from the above options, that immediately strike you, dear reader, as being blindingly-obvious, perfect and ideal?

The decision is yours.....well, it's not, the actual decision is whether or not you're going to give me any advice.

(Oh, and if you're Moriaty, or some other form of elemental malevolent spirit, feel free to give me your opinion too. I sometimes think we're too hard on villains. Or is it the other way around?? Anyway....feel free to be disproportionately-supportive, or, downright down about it. I shan't mind, I'll just have more angles to consider. All opinion is equal and valid, right up until when the trapdoor is pulled....

At the back of every FT there is a section regarding submissions. How to and what they expect. As I recycle my FTs after I read them I can't tell you exactly where. I think this would be the best starting point for you.
 
Thanks for that address, my most-recent copy of The Magazine appears to have been eaten.

Now, a practical pre-consideration..I think I've detected previous contributions to FT that've been submitted under a pseudonym (or, as you English people say, a nom de plume). I would need to make sure this is acceptable and a permanent arrangement.
 
Go for it! You'll never know if you don't try!
 
Well, I know this mainly from a fiction standpoint, but most magazines consider anything ever put on the Web -- even your own web-site or on a message board -- to have been "published". And since most publications want the first serial printing rights, they won't accept anything that has been so exposed -- even if you take it down (because nothing is really gone forever from cyberspace).

And I've had people bandy story ideas back and forth with me, and when I eventually announced I was going to write a tale about such-and-such -- they demanded half credit since they "created" it with me. So I never tell ANYONE about any ideas I have!
 
Has anyone ever pitched them, or have any advice? I'm an American journalist who has been dying to write for FT for years now....I hope that email still works!
 
Has anyone ever pitched them, or have any advice? I'm an American journalist who has been dying to write for FT for years now....I hope that email still works!

The email address works. I've never pitched them for an article but I have had a book reviews published. Some commissioned, some that I just sent in on spec. To establish yourself maybe try sending in a review of a recently published Fortean book you have read.

Reviews Editor Val Stevenson [email protected]
 
The email address works. I've never pitched them for an article but I have had a book reviews published. Some commissioned, some that I just sent in on spec. To establish yourself maybe try sending in a review of a recently published Fortean book you have read.

Reviews Editor Val Stevenson [email protected]

Thanks for responding! Yeah, I should try a book review first. I have overly grand other ideas, but book reviews are always a good start.
 
This all sounds good advice, especially about whether things are 'published' if they're online.

May I give an example? (I will anyway.)

A couple of months back when out and about I found a CERN physics paper.* I photographed it and sent it to Escet, who said it was by a PhD student.

He told me to destroy it right away and not to show anyone else, and certainly not to post it online as it would then be 'published' and couldn't count towards his work: might even cost him his doctorate, even though it was his own work!

It went safely in the bin with the kitty litter.

*This is a nice coincidence as my son used to be a CERN physicist, as some of you know. Of all the people to find it, I was the right one to keep it safe. It had to be disposed of before anyone else saw it and jeopardised the student's chances. No point in trying to get it back to him as he'd have plenty of back-ups.
 
A couple of months back when out and about I found a CERN physics paper. It went safely in the bin with the kitty litter. No point in trying to get it back to him as he'd have plenty of back-ups.

Homeless_man_comedy_sign_cern_physics.jpg


maximus otter
 
I have pitched an article and not got a response; I think the best approach may be to submit completed articles.
 
I have pitched an article and not got a response; I think the best approach may be to submit completed articles.

How long ago did you send in the proposal? The good Dr Sutton is busy but well mannered, it would be worth a try messaging him here about it.
 
How long ago did you send in the proposal? The good Dr Sutton is busy but well mannered, it would be worth a try messaging him here about it.

A little over two years ago. I'll think about it!
 
Proposal could have fallen between the cracks!

I got a piece accepted by World War II magazine in about....2003. They never did publish it, though I check every once in a while -- if it ever appeared, I would probably consider it an ill omen at this point.

Speaking as editor and a writer, two years is plenty of time for a follow-up. Even for a print outlet, that's a very long time.
 
A little over two years ago. I'll think about it!
Yeah, two years is a little long. In my experience the reaction is normally within a few weeks, however the length of time between submission and publication in the mag varies quite a bit. Depends on if there are specific themes to an edition, etc.

I (usually) send him the whole thing with a covering mail if it's a forum piece, but for the last big one we discussed it first to establish parameters, etc.

As for publication online, I do stick them on my blog a couple of months after the mag has printed it, but add the "First published in Fortean Times, issue #xxx, Dec 2012" credit.
 
All the writers' magazines I read said to query a publication before wasting your time writing an article -- but if I actually have an idea for an article/story/novel, it's going to be written, so I normally send in the finished product along with any query/submission letter.

FT (in my limited experience) is not a 'zine to forget its potential contributors. I send in a long article in 1990 (a poorly thought out, bloated monstrosity that did not deserve to be printed, even I'll admit that), and MANY years later I sent off for some FT back issues. I don't remember which of the Gang of Fort replied (with a hand-written letter, yet), but he knew every last detail about me, my article, when, over the last 30 years, I had subscribed, and what I'd ordered from FT before. It was enough to make you paranoid.

(Can't sleep -- the FT editors will eat me . . .)
 
I have several ideas for articles – unfortunately, although I’m really very good at encouraging others to follow their inspiration, I’m more than a bit shite at it myself. Which is probably why - despite my obvious, but latent, enormous genius - I still earn a living wearing steel toe boots in the freezing bitter (pouring rain/howling wind/boiling heat...delete where applicable).

I keep telling myself that one of these days, maybe when I’m ill and incapacitated, I’ll get on my arse and actually finish something. So you can thank good genes and a generally robust physical health for not having been exposed to the white heat of my staggering prodigy.
 
Can anyone give me an approximate word count for submissions for forum articles and main articles? Forgive me if I'm being lazy, but I can't see anything obvious on the main site.
 
Can anyone give me an approximate word count for submissions for forum articles and main articles? Forgive me if I'm being lazy, but I can't see anything obvious on the main site.

As recently as 2012 there was an online-accessible Contributors Guide. The URL is now dead, and I can find no alternate reference. :dunno:

In a 2007 post to the FTMB thread dedicated to the Contributors Guide:

http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/contributors-guide.9809/

... it was stated that one should directly contact the FT staff about submission details.
 
Well, I know this mainly from a fiction standpoint, but most magazines consider anything ever put on the Web -- even your own web-site or on a message board -- to have been "published". And since most publications want the first serial printing rights, they won't accept anything that has been so exposed -- even if you take it down (because nothing is really gone forever from cyberspace).

And I've had people bandy story ideas back and forth with me, and when I eventually announced I was going to write a tale about such-and-such -- they demanded half credit since they "created" it with me. So I never tell ANYONE about any ideas I have!

Well, that Tamam Shud article was published on the internet long before it appeared in FT. It was a great article but it did make me feel a little irritated. Paying for an article that had been on the internet for free for ages?
 
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