If your fancy is tickled by the notion of joining our gaggle of wordsmiths, and you feel that you possess the moxie, knack, jib, and/or spunk necessary to do so, simply send us a sample using the form below. We will appraise your sample for interestingness, accuracy, and quality...all are equally important.
Note: North American definition of "spunk" intended. No sperm samples, please.
Common Questions
How much does this gig pay?
We hope that your interest in writing for this site stems from a love of writing and a yearning for intelligent discourse. But very recently our efforts have borne monetary fruit, and we have started paying our contributors per article published. We pay about what you'd expect for a magazine or high-end site, and we have a sort of residual payments thing we're experimenting with. If you send in a sample and seem like a fitting candidate we'll furnish more detail.
Our site also earns income from opportunities such as book publications. As these arise, each author is compensated based on level of participation. Additionally Damn Interesting is great for increasing exposure for your other projects and/or as a stepping stone to more traditional writing jobs.
How much brain-fruit do you hope to harvest from my fertile mind?
As much as you care to spare. We renounce deadlines lest they turn writing from a diversion into a burden. Be aware, however, that our editing process is collaborative, so all contributors should be willing to help hammer other authors' drafts into tip-top shipshape.
How many readers will see my stuff?
Damn Interesting receives an extraordinary amount of organic traffic, and we try to stick to "evergreen" content that remains relevant over time. Consequently each article is likely to receive hundreds of thousands of views in its lifetime.
Can I submit something I wrote in the past, or does it have to be new?
Sure, you can regurgitate some previously-digested stuff for your sample...but it should be something that jibes with the Damn Interesting style.
What kinds of files can I attach as my sample?
Currently allowed file extensions include: txt doc docx odt pdf
What should I write about?
Your ability to select a worthwhile topic will be under scrutiny, so we don't want to furnish you with a topic outright. Most of our stuff discusses science or history, and it's all either verified non-fiction or conspicuous speculation. Articles should be evergreen, remaining relevant even years after publication, so you needn't consider current events. And we don't want to discuss subjects that have already been done to to death.
You might also peruse our Greatest Hits page to see which of our writings have resonated with our audience.
If you have any other questions, you may find the answers on our About page. If not, just drop us a line, or stick your question in the Message field.
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