CONTENT SUBMISSIONS

Submissions will only be considered during the open call period for each issue.

We publish themed issues on a quarterly basis. To learn about the theme, please subscribe to our newsletter (on the home page, click “Newsletter” on the top right corner) to receive the Open Call for Submissions over email, or look for the announcement on social media (@dilettantearmy on Instagram and Twitter). You will also be able to see the Open Call under “Upcoming Issue” at the top of our Issues page.

DO WE ACCEPT YOUR TYPE OF SUBMISSION?

We publish pieces that involve visual analysis, critical theory, and close text reading. Our preferred topics center around issues of social justice, politics, and art. While we do publish pieces that are situated in lived experience, we do not publish personal essays. We much prefer pitches to completed pieces, although if you do have a completed piece, please thoroughly summarize it in your email. Dilettante Army also promotes imaginative pieces, poetry, and visual essays. If you have a creative idea, please hit us up!

WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR IN A PITCH?

Please email your pitch to Editor-in-Chief Sara Clugage, at sara at dilettantearmy dot com. Please include in your email your name and the title of your piece.

If you are pitching any kind of expository writing, please give us (1) your thesis statement and (2) the key points you will use to support it. We look for original, well-considered arguments that are backed up by theory of some kind (i.e. critical, feminist, literary, aesthetic), reliable data or case studies, and/or close observation or reading.

A successful pitch will outline:

• a field of inquiry
• the objects of your analysis
• what you want to say about them
• key points of support for your argument
• other thinkers whose work is in conversation with yours
• your essay’s relevance to the issue’s theme

We want to see that you’ve got weird, creative ideas, and that you also have a firm grounding in your subject and a reliable research methodology. If available, please include links to your previous writing to give us a sense of your scholarship and style.

LENGTH

Contributions to DA vary widely in length but the average for essays is about 4000 words. Poems and visual essays are considered seperately.

REPEAT SUBMISSIONS

We like to switch things up! In general, our guideline is to wait to publish repeat authors until 5 issues have passed since their last publication (or roughly 1 1/2 years). The purpose of this is to provide a wide range of voices through DA and reserve space for emerging writers. 

GETTING PAID

Authors receive our standard flat fee of $500. Contributors retain all rights to their work.