[Comicsstudiessociety] Why you should pitch to The Middle Spaces

[Osvaldo Oyola]

Hi all,

 

I am re-creating a Twitter thread here on the CSS listserv on why you should consider pitching something to The Middle Spaces at Candida’s suggestion.

 

What is The Middle Spaces? (themiddlespaces.com) 

 

The Middle Spaces is the CSS Seldes award-winning blog dedicated to public-facing scholarship and commentary on comics and their transmedial adaptations and other forms of popular/mass culture (esp. popular music, TV, and film). It is edited and mostly written by Dr. Osvaldo Oyola (Binghamton University 2014) and has been around for over seven years. Recently, it has increasingly become a site for guest writers, a growing stable of regular writers, and host to yearly academic roundtables on comic studies subjects (look for our upcoming roundtable on comics paratext in the next couple of weeks). It is also the home to many accessible and teachable pieces being used by instructors in classes including college composition, American studies, media studies, and of course comics and literary studies. We also occasionally publish interviews with comics scholars (and some creators). 

 

Our essays are long by internet standards, but short by scholarly article standards (2000 to 4000 words), and we are open to submissions by folks inside, outside, or adjacent to academia.

 

You can see our submission guideline page here: https://themiddlespaces.com/submit/

And a list of previous contributors here:  https://themiddlespaces.com/guest-writers/

 

Why Should You Submit/Pitch to The Middle Spaces?

 

If you are a comics/pop culture scholar (however you define that!) with an idea kicking around, maybe something outside of your usual field, something cut from a longer article or book chapter, some guilty pleasure you think about a lot but you can't find a home for, consider pitching to The Middle Spaces. And here are some reasons:

1. We pay. None of your fancy-schmancy journals is gonna do that. It may only be $25, but buy yourself a lunch or some drinks, enjoy yourself! You deserve it.

a.	Some of our guest writers prefer to pass on the $25, asking it be used for other writers who need it more. That's totally okay! OR, we can even donate it to a cause of your choice.

 

2. Developmental editing. Get actual detailed feedback in one or more rounds from an editor who would not have accepted it if he were we not interested in working with you on it (caveat: we do occasionally ask to see a draft or for a contributor to revise/resubmit before making a final decision).

 

3. An audience. More people from a lot wider range of interests and fields are likely to read your essay on The Middle Spaces on the FIRST DAY than will likely read it in Fuddy Duddy Quarterly EVER.

 

4. It belongs to you. You retain the rights to your work, and after an agreed upon amount of time (usually 6 months to a year, but negotiable!) if you want to re-pub it on your own blog or include it in a book? Have at it! (We only ask you cite where it was originally published).

 

5. Peace of Mind. That little idea that has been itching at you since forever? You can finally be done with it and move on to other things.

 

Pitches/Drafts can be sent to themiddlespaces at gmail.com <mailto:themiddlespaces at gmail.com>  and we are especially interested in work by under-represented scholars at any point in their careers, from graduate students looking to develop their writing to senior scholars looking for a place for that seemingly unplaceable thing.

 

 

Even if submitting is not for you (or you don’t have anything appropriate right now), you can help support The Middle Spaces and keep this is all possible by supporting our Patreon (or giving a one-time donation to our Ko-Fi <https://ko-fi.com/themiddlespaces> ). This will help towards our goal of a customized site and more importantly, towards paying our contributors more and soliciting established writers for special essays.

 

Thanks for your consideration.

 

- Osvaldo Oyola

Editor-in-Chief, The Middle Spaces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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