The Satirist features original works of satire and parody, especially literary artifacts, as well as serious criticism and book reviews. The Satirist publishes satirical news as seen in The Onion, but these are just for topical amusement; they don’t generally purport to be of any lasting literary value.
The Satirist sometimes wishes it were The New Yorker, aspiring to lofty heights of sophistication and perspicacity. Instead, The Satirist produces satirical news, general satire, satirical and humorous essays, book reviews, movie reviews, as well as fiction and poetry.
Readers of The Satirist are as likely to be reading or citing our book reviews and movie reviews as enjoying our “news”, satires, poems, and essays.
Satire Submissions – Content Tips
- Satires often play with genre-bending. So it’s always important to establish the “genre” of the satire, even if to subvert it. News satires should read like a news article, unless it is purporting to be another type of article, such as an op-ed, an essay, a review, etc.
- Thus, usually keeping the perspective and tone consistent makes for a better piece than one that jumps from a “serious” tone to a silly one.
- For political satire, some of the better pieces take aim at, for example, both major American political parties, rather than take an obviously partisan position.
- Topical satirical news is very popular now, but generally has a short shelf-life. It’s worthwhile to aim for more timeless satire, difficult as it is.
The Satirist – Submissions – How to
- Please familiarize yourself with The Satirist:
- Read the About page.
- Sign up for The Satirist Newsletter (free monthly email with latest articles).
- Please include the title of your piece in the email subject line. A funny title has a better chance to attract attention–from editors and from online readers. Craft the best title that you possibly can.
- Send an email to submissions[at]thesatirist.com with a query and/or a completed work. You should receive an automated reply confirming receipt.
- For written pieces, send MS-Word (best), Gmail or HTML email.
- PDFs are also acceptable for submissions, but if accepted, another format must be sent for editing and processing in WordPress.
- For cartoons or illustrations, please send PNG or JPG.
- PDFs are also acceptable for submissions, but if accepted, another format must be sent for editing and processing in WordPress.
- Please do not send something already published anywhere online, including your own blog.
- There is no fixed word limitation or maximum word count.
- For fiction submissions, longer, more developed pieces are preferable to “flash fiction.”
- Less than 10% of submissions are published.
- Due to the high volume of submissions, please understand that you may not receive a reply.
- The Satirist aims for long-term relevance instead of merely chasing the news cycle.
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted. However, if you publish your piece elsewhere, please let us know.
- Please include a one paragraph author bio below your piece.
- Optionally, you may also send an author photo for your byline / author page. Once created, your author page will automatically list all your satirical works.
- Submitting authors retain full copyright over their work. If the submitted work is later republished elsewhere, the author should acknowledge its original publication by including “First published in The Satirist” and a link to the piece at The Satirist.
- Submissions are unpaid.
Thank you for your interest in The Satirist !
Best regards,
Dan Geddes
Editor, The Satirist