Contributors

Profiles

Is Not Magazine attracts a loyal and imaginative sort of contributor. The sort who offers outstanding content despite the distinct likelihood that their work will be rained on or postered over, and that we are only able to pay them in glory and gratitude. We already showed them the gratitude in a dark corner of a pool hall at 1am this morning. Read on for the glory.

(Contributor profiles coming soon!)

How to Contribute to Is Not

Is Not Magazine seeks three types of written contribution – feature submissions, short features and columns/departments. Each issue will publish three features: fiction (2000 words), non-fiction (2000 words) and comic/graphic art (500mm x 300mm or equivalent area). Each issue will also include three non-fiction short features (700 – 1000 words) and ten departments/columns (300-500 words).

Each issue has two overlapping themes that aim to create a grey area of meaning within each issue and challenge readers to form individual opinions. All content must correspond with the themes of each issue. The themes serve two purposes. First, they provide a loose structure for content. Second, they position each issue in a meaning rich, grey area, challenging the old idea of a themed magazine while setting up an interesting opposition.

Whatever your contribution, use the themes as a jumping-off point and write in whatever style you like. Please find a list of the upcoming themes, deadlines and launch dates below. And remember Is Not’s publishing manifesto: readers will read what you want to write. Complexity is worth preserving. We would like to explore different understandings of writing and reading – we like the office memo and the post-it note formats (for instance) as much as the classic short story and political essay. We like anyone with something to write about – if you are interested, then someone else will want to read it. That’s it.

Features

The 2000 word fiction and non-fiction features allow for one-off writing ideas relevant to the themes of each issue. These need to be submitted complete, to Natasha Ludowyk. Though features are not commissioned through a pitching process, writers are welcome to discuss ideas with the editor before submitting work. Register your interest in writing a feature by the pitch deadline. If your feature has illustrative components, these need to be submitted according to our guidelines for graphic art submissions.

Short Features

Short features are flexible pieces between 700 and 1000 words. They allow for the development of smaller one-off ideas without the restriction of shorter word lengths. These might be interviews, how-to guides, short essays, reports on experiments, anything you can think of that fits with the issue themes. One writer for issue #5 (Time/Money) investigated the Japanese obsession with creating a regimented structure for leisure time. Send a summary of your idea or a synopsis of your article, along with a short extract (no more than 300 words) to Penny Modra before the pitch date. If your short feature has illustrative components, these need to be submitted according to our guidelines for graphic art submissions.

Departments/Columns

Departments are between 300 and 700 words long. There are four review departments per issue. So far we have published reviews of books, film, art, music recordings and live performances, online culture and architecture – but feel free to surprise us with a more offbeat review proposal. Other departments have an ongoing structure of your design, tailored to the themes of each issue, and this structure, rather than the changing content, really needs to be the source of inspiration. An example of an ongoing department is ‘All You Never Wanted to Know About’, which outlines socially repugnant behaviour from nappy fetishism to people who habitually confess to crimes they didn’t commit.

Some writers prefer to treat their departments as columns. These are written from a specific perspective and adjusted according to issue themes. What is your pet topic? Are you a closet philosopher? Or a gossip? This expertise might translate well as a column. Overall we are aiming for lateral and offbeat interpretations of standard magazine departments and columns. The Book Review in issue #1, for instance, was actually an illustration inspired by Vox (Nicholson Baker). We would love upcoming departments and columns to be experiments in writing.

Pitch department/column ideas, along with a short extract from the proposed piece (no more than 150 words), to Mel Campbell by the pitch date. Or, rather than inventing a department from scratch, you might like write for an existing one. Email Mel for a list of existing departments. If your department has illustrative components, these need to be submitted according to our guidelines for graphic art submissions.

Comic/Graphic Art Submissions

Graphic and Comic content, feature sized or planned as a department, needs to be submitted to Stuart Geddes and Jeremy Wortsman. Keep in mind that a department might contain graphic elements or consist entirely of graphic content. Recent changes in our production method (from two colour screen printing to offset) mean that fine details reproduce better, and we are now able to publish photographs as well as line art and block colours.

The content of comic & graphic submissions should be conceived according to the guidelines above for features and departments: features as one-off explorations of the themes and departments as a serial structure that is flexible enough to address the changing themes of the magazine. Features are between A4 and A3, and departments between A5 and A4, but they don’t have to fit this proportion exactly. For example Lachlan Conn’s feature for issue #1 ran in a thin strip from the top to the bottom of the magazine and Tim Danko’s feature in issue #2 consisted of three parts and was separated over the whole issue. Paul Davis’s ongoing department ‘this annoying life’ consists of three stand-alone frames that are similarly spread around the issue. Exceptional formatting ideas such as the three above need to be disclosed as a part of the submission.

Response Boxes/Interactive Comics

This is an existing department that attempts to elicit written or drawn responses from readers or passers-by. We try to have a different artist for each issue. The format varies according to the artist’s idea, but these are generally a series of 3-5 frames that incorporate a proposition of some sort and space for a response.

Submission requirements

Submissions should be sent as one of the following: JPEG: Actual size, RGB, 72dpi PDF: Actual size, Distilled for screen viewing. All fonts embedded. Print resolution artwork will be requested if work is accepted.

To submit work on CD, mail to:

Is Not Magazine
Level 5, Vesta House
1 Carson Place
Melbourne 3000

Forthcoming Issues

ISSUE #11: THE KID IS/NOT MY SON

These days, Billie Jean might be relieved that Michael Jackson refused to be her babydaddy. So, how important is it to take responsibility for our decisions and our desires? What do we do when the uncomfortable past intrudes into the present? Does it make us bad people if we abandon principles for expediency? How important is masculinity these days? Are we haunted by the ghosts of long-ago humiliations? What kinds of burdens do children shoulder on behalf of their parents? If you’ve ever been promiscuous in any way, this issue can help you take care of the consequences.

Pitch deadline: 22 June
Draft copy: 6 July
Final copy: 20 July
Launch date: 3 August