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I am pleased to be a contributor to The Vocabula Review, which is an important undertaking and one, by my reckoning, squarely on the side of the angels. — Joseph Epstein
I learned about your publication from a friend at Dartmouth. I'm very impressed with it and the tone you set for it. — David Grambs
I am exceedingly impressed with the job you are doing with The Vocabula Review. — Richard Lederer
You have created a marvelous website. I have referred several others to it since discovering it recently. — David Cay Johnston
The Vocabula Review — not meant to be solely a forum for our prejudices — invites readers to submit articles about issues related to the English language, culture, and society. In the spirit of thoughtful inquiry and personal essays, we wish to encourage writers to submit articles about what they themselves think. Well-written, insightful, creative articles are far more appealing to us than overreferenced, overannotated articles. What's important to us is not what everyone else has ever thought but a clear presentation of one's own thoughts. Today, there are few opportunities for people to enjoy the freedom that comes with writing for oneself and others in a nonacademic way. The Vocabula Review offers one such opportunity.
Why not write for Vocabula? We are interested in publishing new writers. Here are some of the authors who have written for The Vocabula Review. If you are unfamiliar with the kinds of essays we publish, here's a free preview. If you'd like to submit an essay to Vocabula, please email it to the editor.
We are interested in publishing articles on many topics, including these:
• Prose rhythm
• The prose style of the late Victorians: Ruskin, Pater, and others
• Glossaries of words used in various disciplines and specialties
• How bad language affects society
• The writer's life
• Politeness and language
• Badly written memos
We are also interested in publishing poetry so long as it observes some of the strictures of scansion and musicality. We seek poems that have a palpable form — but not so palpable, obviously, that the structure screams louder than the words sing. We further want poems that insist on being read aloud; their rhythm or rhyme demands they be read out loud. Finally, we seek poetry that shows us something we've not seen before; we want some connection made, perhaps, between things that few have thought to join. Form, music, and insight, then, are what we are looking for.
What's more, we have recently begun to publish fiction (short stories in particular). We do not publish science fiction, fantasy, erotica, or religious material. We are also not interested in translations. We mostly expect your submission, whatever its topic, to be well written. Use clichés, slang, or swear words, and you can be sure we will not be interested. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but we are not interested in previously published fiction.
We do occasionally reprint newspaper articles that discuss contemporary issues about language. Further, authors, editors, and publicists are welcome to submit excerpts of books about words and language for possible publication in Vocabula's "Book Excerpt" feature.
Please email all submissions (either in the body of an email or as an attachment) to editor@vocabula.com. We accept unsolicited submissions. Include a biographical sketch with your submission.
If you are unfamiliar with The Vocabula Review and what we publish, you might subscribe. Reading TVR will give you the best sense of what we are inclined to publish. At the very least, look at the essay, poetry, and fiction titles we have published over the last eight years:
Essay Archive
Columnists Archive
Poetry Archive
Fiction ArchiveWe are also interested in offering audio versions of the essays, poems, and fiction we do publish.
The Vocabula Review reports within one or two months, but usually within a week or two. If you have not heard from us after two months, please assume that we will be unable to use your submission.
Anyone whose article or poems are published in the online Vocabula will also see his or her work in The Vocabula Review on CD-ROM. Your agreeing to have your work published online is also an agreement to have it made available on CD-ROM.
Although we cannot, at this time, pay anyone for the right to publish an article, story, or poem, we can assure you of a large and intelligent readership. What's more, all authors who write for The Vocabula Review are invited to promote themselves, their writing, or other activities in a "box ad" at the conclusion of their published Vocabula essay. And there are a few other reasons to write for TVR. We promote our authors as best we can.
To authors new to Vocabula who do not subscribe, we will give a free month's access to Vocabula or, if you prefer, a year's subscription to Vocabula for $25 (instead of the normal $40). Please mention your preference.
Authors retain the copyright to their material. If an essay, poem, or fiction piece (originally published in Vocabula) is reprinted in another publication, the author receives 100 percent of any fee collected by Vocabula. If Vocabula is instrumental in placing a previously published piece in another publication, the author receives 50 percent and Vocabula 50 percent of any fee collected.
See also: Authors' pictures
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