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Write for Us

Fansplaining is a publication by, for, and about fandom. We’re excited to expand our freelancer pool and are always open to pitches. We are especially interested in global perspectives and marginalized demographics, and want to encourage early career writers to reach out as well—while our editorial standards are rigorous, we are excited to work with new voices. When sending us a pitch, please include links to your writing portfolio or site. (For newer or unpublished writers, a well-written Tumblr meta or blog post is totally acceptable!)

Before you pitch, please review our site, not only to see the kind of work we’re looking for, but the topics and angles we have already covered. In addition to our articles, Fansplaining was a biweekly podcast for nine years; many fandom topics have been discussed in depth, and from a variety of perspectives.

While we are very open to new arguments and lenses on previously discussed subjects, if you want to write about a large observation of fandom, we want to see a new take, modern analysis, or contemporary data that will differentiate it from our previous coverage, which is extensive. We need you to move the conversation forward, and your work should benefit from the weight of fandom history. (Fanlore is a great resource on this front, as is the academic discipline of Fan Studies.) Our previously published writing and podcast episodes are free to read and listen to. 

We publish pieces in a few broad categories. Some specific guidance for each: 

Features: The backbone of our site: often deeply sourced and specific. Features are sometimes newsy, but we do not chase trends, and with 1-2 pieces per week, there’s a limit to how reactive we can be. Our features focus on fans, not the source work. A good feature answers the question “what are the fans doing” and then explores that act as a cultural critique, as well as how the source material exists in relationship to the fandom, or adjacent to other source material, fandoms, or cultural trends. We want to know how various factors—the industry, the platforms, the culture, the sociopolitics—influence fans, and how fans are influencing those things in turn. 

Examples: The Elation and Anxiety of Reading Fic in Your Native Tongue;  The Pain Fandom; The Global Crackdown on Creativity 

Criticism: We use “criticism” in a broad sense: not simply reviews, but broader cultural commentary and analysis. If you write about a book, show, film, or other piece of media, we need a fan (or, at the very least, an audience) angle—how are these texts reshaped by the people who engage with them? If you’re making an analytical argument about an aspect of fans or fandom, it should be well-sourced, with a deep understanding of the cultural context. While we’re interested in coverage of new work, we believe fannish interest has no expiration date: if you have a sharp angle on an older work, we want to hear it. 

Examples: Be Gay, Do Sea Crimes: Pirate Tropes and Queer Resistance, Too Big To Fail (On Television), The Acolyte’s Squandered Potential 

Personal Essays: Our personal essays are insightful and say something about wider culture, moving beyond a single point of view to speak to plural perspectives. They are interrogative and go past surface-level feeling, while still centering the author as the subject of criticism.

Examples: The Fan, the Pro, and the Spaces In Between, Alternate Universes, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dragons 

Our goal is to elevate the cultural conversation around fandom and fandom-adjacent topics through sophisticated, nuanced, and well-informed perspectives. All our stories are considered “longreads,” and run from 2,000 words to 5,000 words. Authors are expected to record an audio version of their article, which we will edit. We offer $300 per piece. We utilize a universal freelancers agreement in lieu of contracts, which you can read below.

While we absolutely want work that speaks to the current moment, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to take very timely/short turnaround pitches, since we only publish 1-2 times per week and we have a small, part-time team. If your idea is pegged to a timely event—e.g., a film release, a convention—please pitch it well in advance. (We should note that we’re somewhat allergic to the “anniversary” coverage much of the media has come to rely on; your angle on something older should be interesting enough that it doesn’t need to be pegged to “30 years since the show premiered” or whatever.)

We reject many pitches because the author has asked to explore a fandom, but does not answer the perennial question: “Why is this interesting, and why right now?” Simply because a fandom or trend within a fandom exists does not merit coverage. We are also not interested in fandom reporting that exclusively cites tweets, subreddits, and tiktoks as a method for gauging fan response. We do not treat the Harry Potter fandom as neutral, and take the stance that the fandom is complicit in J. K. Rowling’s actions. Additionally, Fansplaining operates from a default point of view that asserts the following; fandom is often bigoted, racist, ableist, sexist, and transphobic. We do not accept pitches that argue otherwise.

Many fandom topics are cyclical and have been extensively covered. This especially includes discussions around the fourth wall between fans and creators as well as other forms of fan/creator interaction—extremely frequent topics on the podcast in particular. Likewise, our archives have a great deal on the monetization of fanworks, purity culture, representation of marginalized groups, “toxic fandom,” the shifting norms of fandom etiquette. (And please, spare us from yet another basic “why do (cis and straight) women like m/m fanfic”—the media has done enough of those recently!) We are absolutely open to pitches around these topics, but your argument needs to build move beyond the basics. On the flipside, we are also interested in subjects that have been underreported and underrepresented.

To that end, we have a running list of topics that we are especially interested in seeing pitches cover, sorted by editor. If you do not see your topic listed, send your pitch anyway! This is meant to be an inspirational list, not an exclusive one. All pitches should be sent to our collective inbox: info@fansplaining.com. As a reminder, we are a small team, and while we attempt to respond to every pitch, we appreciate your patience.

Elizabeth is interested in: 

  • Monetization of fanworks and publishing’s influence on fanfiction
  • Copyright and other legal issues surrounding transformative works
  • AI and other tech + fandom stories (e.g., platforms shaping fan activity)
  • Fan/creator interaction, the fourth wall, industry perspectives on fans
  • Book/film/TV criticism that centers audience response and cultural context
  • Craft essays about fanfiction 

Aja is interested in: 

  • Femslash and female characters
  • RPF, all the RPF, standom and bandom
  • Genre fiction and their communities including SFF, romance, horror, and mysteries
  • Chinese media and fandom, the Chinese entertainment industry, etc.
  • Theatre and theatre fandom
  • Unconventional fandoms: “this thing exists!” can’t be the angle, but interesting angles about niche marvels are great

Lin is interested in:

  • Eroticism, porn, and smut
  • Virality and popularity within fandom culture
  • Tabletop roleplaying games, text-based roleplaying, and OC culture
  • Pitches on niche projects or subjects within big fandoms and large franchises like Supernatural and Marvel 
  • Fandoms around “prestige” shows like Severance, Widow’s Bay, Half Man, etc.
  • Contemporary trend pieces (you have to have at least three examples for it to be a trend!)

We are intolerant of generative AI usage at any stage of the writing process. While we admit that it is impossible to tell if an author has used AI unless a mistake is made, we have gotten pretty good at identifying AI-generated prose. Non-LLM based software (e.g., transcription tools) are acceptable within reason.

Universal Freelancer Agreement

Fansplaining seeks to continuously expand the breadth of our reporting and our contributor base. In lieu of individual contracts we have a universal freelancer’s agreement, summarized below. 

Fansplaining pays $300 per piece. We are open to negotiating our standard rate for larger and more deeply reported pieces.  Reporting costs and incidental expenses will be negotiated when the pitch is accepted. All freelance contributors will be paid within 30 days of publication. 

In the event that an assignment of an editorial nature (including but not limited to text, photo, design, video, or audio) is accepted or commissioned but cannot run in Fansplaining as anticipated, a kill fee will be negotiated. Additionally, if this occurs, and an accepted assignment is not published by Fansplaining at any stage of the editorial process after the freelancer’s first submission, the intellectual property is released back to the freelancer.

Fansplaining agrees that each accepted article is the sole property of the freelancer. The sale of the article for publication entitles Fansplaining to first North American serial rights. The freelancer retains the right to republish the work after 90 days of the date of publication in a book, anthology, collection, or similar product, with original credits and acknowledgements given to Fansplaining. The freelancer may republish their work on a personal website or newsletter 48 hours after the time of original publication, with credits and acknowledgements given to Fansplaining, including a link to the original publication on Fansplaining. 

If there are additional questions about contracts, invoicing, rights, or payment, please contact info@fansplaining.com, and one of the editors will respond as soon as possible, likely within two business days.