Next Contests and Flight Plan

Announcements and the Theoretical Fine Print

Dear Republic,

Now that this beautiful little biplane is airborne, it seems like it’s time to think through the flight plan.

Let’s start with what this is not. This is not a traditional magazine, with an editorial line, control from some very narrow seat of power, and, inevitably, some thinking-by-committee about what goes into the publication and what doesn’t. What this publication is based on is the idea that Substack — or, to be more technical, long-form digital writing with multi-nodal points of entry — is something new in the world and deserves new ideas of what publications can be.

The hope is that this is really crowd-sourced and crowd-funded. The basis of the publication are the contests. The idea is to announce around one a week — which is usually a prompt on a given theme. I’ll try to choose three and pay $50 each, but if there are more I like, I’ll run more. I have to say that, with the contests we’ve done so far, it’s really a thrill for me to open an inbox not knowing if anything’s going to come in, or what the quality will be, and to see a whole bunch of really strong pieces from writers I haven’t encountered before.

Supplementing the contests are ‘commissions,’ usually framed as exchanges between a couple of writers in which they think through a topic in their own way. If you have a pitch for a commission, you can always send to the ROL chat or e-mail. My hope with the commissions is to act as a kind of talent scout within this community, to identify writers who may have smaller followings and to provide uplift and a bit of pay.

The publication will also include occasional interviews and editorial features.

More important to me than the content, actually, is the structure. I’m acting more as an emcee here than a traditional editor. I’ll post pieces where I disagree with what the writer says and — within reason — I’ll try to keep pieces as close as possible to the writer’s vision, as opposed to imposing some homogenizing editorial standard.

The hope is that you will sense the difference. There will be a greater freedom in the pieces than is possible in more traditional publications, and, meanwhile, I will make an effort at ensuring quality control and keeping the discourse roughly in the bounds of literary and cultural themes.

Please do give! Part of the calculation with this is that, on Substack, it’s hard to give to lots and lots of deserving newsletters. Here, anything you give goes into a ‘kitty’ that is then distributed out to writers — with the hope being that that degree of exposure also helps to further those writers’ careers.

Next Contests:

1.What’s The Best Thing You Read In The Past Year? (Ideally, it should have been written in the past year and should be a book, but you can venture out if you choose.) Submissions due May 11 with “Best Thing” in subject line.

2.1800-1825:Romanticism::1900-1925:Modernism::2000-2025:? In other words, is there a dominant literary style at the moment? Is there a particular literary approach that our era will be remembered for? Submissions due May 18 with “Dominant” in subject line.

3.Tell The Story Of A Job You Had And What You Learned From It. Just pretend this is The Moth. Submissions due May 25 with “Learnings” in subject line.

4.Republic Book Club. Every month, give or take, I’ll invite reviews on a particular book. The goal is to get an exchange going between different writers. The first book on the docket is David Szalay’s Flesh. Submissions due June 1 with “Flesh” in subject line. As a word to the wise, it’s best to focus on your honest reaction to the book as opposed to plot summaries, etc.

All pieces should be sent to republic.of.letters.substack@gmail.com. All selected pieces receive $50. There is no hard word count, but 1200-1500 words is a good target.

-The Editor