..... Opinion
..... The Home Forum
..... Books
..... Weekend
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About the Monitor
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The Christian Science Monitor is an international daily newspaper produced by The Christian Science Publishing Society, which is owned and operated by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston. Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Monitor in 1908, set the paper's high goal: "To injure no man, but to bless all mankind." That mandate endures. What does it mean?
It means we look for the greater public significance of a story, and we seek to convey it with as much fairness and accuracy as possible. It means we care about social problems and people in trouble, and we're especially interested in finding progress against those problems. We want our stories to be reported and told with an honest and open-minded balance that is not partisan or polemic. We want to appeal to the curious and compassionate in our readers, the part of them that seeks to understand the world better. We don't want to lead them to conclusions or to disrespect their worldviews. Monitor stories should shed light, not heat, on their subjects.
We love historical and international context whenever either is appropriate. We're always interested in the social and cultural trends that underlie events. We like good, tight writing that speaks to heart as well as mind. We strive for a mix of subject, tone, and treatment as varied as the world we cover. We are open to creative approaches to stories.
Monitor readers are well-educated, curious, and engaged. But assume they bring no special knowledge or interest in the subject you're covering. This means stories need to establish quickly – in the first few lines – why they are interesting and worth the read. Always ask why readers would care about the story, and answer as you write.
Story lengths may range from 500 words for fairly simple stories to 1,400 words for more in-depth pieces. After this general introduction, you will find a section-by-section guide to the paper, including rates for photographic work.
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Copyright information and terms of acceptance
Note: Please inquire about up-to-date Copyright terms
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When you file a story with us, it is assumed that the piece is original and exclusive to us for 90 days from the date of publication. We have the right to distribute the story via The Christian Science Monitor News Service, which provides Monitor stories to about 122 client newspapers in the US, and to post it on the Monitor's Web site. Please ask to see the standard contract, which asks you to grant us worldwide rights to your story for the 90-day period. Once you have been given the go-ahead to write, please sign the contract and return it to your assigning editor by fax or mail. We cannot publish your work without it.
Except in unusual circumstances, we accept a new writer's work "on spec" only. That means you give us the opportunity to read your piece before we decide whether to accept it; and our agreeing to look at something on spec implies no financial obligation on our part. We try to render verdicts on pieces quickly, but we are often inundated, and you should feel free to pester us for an answer on a perishable story. Please check the policy set by the editor of the section to which you are pitching a story.
If we ask you for stories, there is a financial obligation on our part. If you file a commissioned piece that fulfills what you pitched to us, we will pay you our basic rate for the piece whether we run it or not. If the commissioned piece you deliver is unsatisfactory, we will ask you to rework it or we will pay a kill fee, usually half the basic rate. We may not pay a fee, however, if the story arrives too late for avoidable reasons.
It's important that freelancer and editor clarify whether we are commissioning a piece or asking to see a story on spec.
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Payment and expenses
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Our basic rate for a story is $200 to $225. But please be in touch with individual news and section editors (see entries below) about any variation from this rate. Longer stories can pay appreciably more. Short stories or sidebars often pay half the basic rate.
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Targeting your written work
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Opinion page
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Editor: Josh Burek
Preferred e-mail for queries: Op-Ed
Overview
The Op-Ed page invites a written version of what you might imagine the conversation would be like at a cozy dinner party with interesting people: serious, funny, broad-ranging discussion on any topic imaginable. The Op-Ed page provides a forum for opinions and commentary on politics, life, family, society, and culture. We aim to provide fodder for the public conversation that's both engaging and enlightening. If it's a subject people care about, and it's well-written, we'd probably be interested in seeing it.
Best opportunities for freelancers
You don't have to be a policy wonk to write for the Op-Ed page, but you should be qualified to speak about your subject. Our contributors include ambassadors writing on foreign affairs, parents and teachers on standardized testing, foreign journalists on the human side of wars. While we like to receive articles of 750 words or less, we are always looking for shorter pieces.
How to pitch and follow up
We prefer to see completed submissions rather than queries. Contributors should e-mail Op-Ed or fax (617/450-2317) their submissions. The Op-Ed editor is Josh Burek.
We publish only submissions that are exclusive to The Christian Science Monitor. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we can neither acknowledge nor return unpublished manuscripts. Due to volume, only the occasional query can be answered. If we choose your submission, we will always contact you to verify that it is still available exclusively to us, and you will be included in the editing process. If you haven't heard from us within 48 hours for articles pegged to news events, or within 2 weeks for articles without a news peg, please feel free to submit your piece elsewhere. Due to high volume, do not call us to check on the status of your submission. Any item submitted by e-mail will receive an automated reply as confirmation of receipt.
If we have commissioned you to write a piece, or have accepted a concept on speculation, you may not represent yourself to officials, sources, or credentialing authorities (or anyone else, for that matter) as a representative of The Christian Science Monitor. And you may not identify yourself as a Monitor writer for the purpose of obtaining a conference or event credential, nor may you use a Monitor assignment to obtain visas from a foreign government without the express written consent of the Op-Ed editor.
Payment
Pay starts at $150 and is determined on a case-by-case basis.
Please note
The average size of an Op-Ed is 700 words. While all manuscripts are given attention, the editor will not review dissertation-length papers. Any manuscript of more than 1,200 words risks being disqualified purely out of lack of staff time to edit it to a publishable length.
The Home Forum
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Editor: Judy Lowe
E-mail address for queries and submissions: The Home Forum
Overview
The Home Forum is looking for upbeat, personal essays of from 300 to 900 words. (We cannot consider any essay longer than 1,100 words and works of that length will have to be trimmed if they're published.) We also welcome short poems. On Tuesdays the section is devoted to Kidspace, feature stories (main story and at least one sidebar) aimed at children ages 7 to 12. The best way to understand what we're all about is to read our five-days-a-week section online for several weeks. Go to The Home Forum and click on Essays, Kidspace, or Poetry.
All material must be original and previously unpublished. For seasonal material, recognize that if you submit something that is about a particular month, holiday, event (back to school, graduation), or season, we need to receive it a minimum of four weeks ahead (the earlier the better) because we work several weeks ahead. At the end of each season (and at times such as the beginning of school), we often receive a rush of otherwise excellent material that can't be used because we didn't receive it in time.
More on essays
These are first-person, nonfiction explorations of how one responded to a place, a person, a situation, an event, or happenings in everyday life. Tell a story; share a funny true tale. The humor should be gentle.
At the moment, we are looking for more first-person essays on travel, parenting (your experiences in solving a situation involving children; not just advice for someone else), home, family, and food (including, if it's pertinent, a recipe.) In the appropriate seasons, we also look for gardening-related essays.
Another need is brief travel vignettes. These are descriptive pieces - typically less than 800 words - focused on just one aspect of a particular destination - maybe a walk, a landmark, a building - armchair travel, but something that the reader could also do or see, should he or she want to. We are unable to accept travel pieces that are the result of a sponsored trip (i.e., the writer accepted free transportation, lodging, etc.)
An essay is more than a description: A theme should be present. The essay should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The best essays contain fresh observations and take the reader along with you on a journey of self-discovery. They are surprising; they have a point; they share. They are personal, but not self-serving. They are honest and anecdotal. They are rooted in experience. Nostalgia may work, but it should not be mere nostalgia. We're still looking for a theme, insight.
The mistakes we see most frequently: "essays" that are mere descriptions, that lack forward motion or a theme; essays in which the story has obvious meaning for the author, but he or she has failed to communicate the significance to the reader, to show why anyone else would care. Pay close attention to the ending of your essay - it's one of the determining factors in whether or not the piece "works."
Essays on time-sensitive subjects (Christmas, Father's Day, first day of spring, etc.) should reach us a minimum of four weeks in advance; earlier is better.
Payment ranges from a minimum of $75 for short pieces (300 words) up to $160, and is paid upon publication. See below for submission details. All submissions should be by e-mail. We prefer a Microsoft Word attachment, if possible. We cannot consider queries for essays, only completed manuscripts.
More on Kidspace
We're looking for stories on high-interest topics that will engage, empower, entertain, and educate kids ages 7 to 12. You should stand as close to your subject as possible: Interview an engineer in the locomotive cab, for instance; go on an expedition to collect fossils; try out the high-tech sled. The best stories have this "live action" component. Consult primary sources: experts in magnetism, for instance, not encyclopedia entries on magnets (though you should read those, too, for background). Any expert worth his salt should be able to respond satisfactorily to the question: "And how would you explain that to an intelligent 9-year-old?" You have to know enough about the subject to explain it simply and accurately. No hiding behind a quote that you don't understand.
The writing should be simple, but not condescending. One idea per sentence, as a rule. The writing must be lively and pull the reader along. This is a tough audience: They have to WANT to read what you've written, because this story is optional. As often as possible, include a "hands-on" sidebar - an activity of some kind. An annotated list of books, websites, or other resources for further information is also welcome. Once kids get interested in something, how can they find out more, experience it more?
Topics have included: tagging along with a skywriter; where does a candy bar come from? (short histories, anecdotes about sugar, peanuts, chocolate, etc.); how animated cartoons are made (visit to a Hollywood studio); riding on a US Navy sub. We've interviewed people who are celebrities to kids (Tomie de Paola, a visit to Eric Carle's studio).
Some of the most successful stories are ones that help children see the wonder in everyday things, things they can relate to, things they see and interact with every day - pencils, traffic lights, pizza, crows, bees, snow. We've also done stories on "kids who do interesting things," such as a teen radio host, a "ball boy" for the Utah Jazz, a 12-year-old composer whose composition has been performed by major city orchestras.
Query first by e-mail. Let us know if you have online clips we can access, or if you can fax us clips. Word lengths: 700 to 900 total, plus possibly a sidebar (a resource list, bulleted items, etc.) Think how the story might be broken up into chunks instead of being one long article. We pay from $230 up for the package. We need visuals, too. We pay extra for writer-provided photos.
A new need is very short bits of information of interest to kids - 150 to 400 words. Feel free to query about these. We can also use poems and stories written for kids. These should be submitted after they're written. Pay is variable, according to length and use.
How to pitch and follow up
1. Personal essays and poetry: Submit finished work only, via e-mail: The Home Forum
2. Query on Kidspace articles. In an e-mail, tell us what you know about the topic, how you would like to cover it, your experience, and what you see as visual possibilities.
Please note that clicking on the above link takes you to a form where you can cut and paste your submission, or ask us a question.
You will receive an automatic acknowledgment of receipt by return e-mail. Please note that if you do NOT receive an acceptance letter within three weeks of the acknowledgment, you can assume that we have declined to accept the submission.
Please be aware that if your e-mail account has a spam filter that blocks messages from "unauthorized" senders - and you have not added Home Forum to your authorized list -- you will not hear from us. This is becoming an increasing problem for us, and we simply don't have time to fill out special forms in order to get through.
Thank you very much for not e-mailing the section's editors directly; that only slows down consideration of your work. Always use the e-mail address in the auto-reply message.
Payment
Personal essays: $75 to $160, depending on the way it is used, length, and the editor's subjective assessment.
Kidspace articles: About $225 to $260 for full-length pieces; less for very short ones.
Please note: Be sure to include all of your contact information (e-mail address, daytime telephone, mailing address) with your submission or query. Please include a word count with essays.
ONE submission per e-mail, please.
ONE essay submission per author per week.
We are unable to accept:
Faxed submissions.
Telephone queries.
Simultaneous submissions.
Previously published material.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Judy Lowe
Editor, The Home Forum section
Books
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Editor: Marjorie Kehe
How to pitch and follow up
Pitch should be a paragraph or two at most, and always come as e-mail. Book review queries should go directly to the acting book editor, Marjorie Kehe. Section editor will always answer an e-mail upon receipt with a yes, no, or "tell me more."
Payment
Pay is from $150 to $350, depending on length, degree of difficulty, and quality.
Weekend
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Editor: Stephen Humphries
Deputy Editor: David S. Hauck
Preferred e-mail(s) for queries: Weekend
Overview
In a word, the Monitor's Weekend section is about everything - everything people do when they're not at work. We cover movies, TV, music, fine arts, reading, recreation, leisure, lifestyle, and all points in between. We're interested in trends, what's new, and what's next. We want to give our readers practical information - how they can participate and reviews they can trust. And we want them to enjoy their stay in Weekend - we put a premium on snappy, engaging writing.
Best opportunities for freelancers
We will take pitches from all parts of the US, but we are always looking for things from a noncoastal perspective. And leisure stories are of particular interest, especially those for and about women, seniors, and the family.
How to pitch and follow up
Pitch your stories to the e-mail addresses above. Keep them brief (no more than a paragraph or two) and focus on telling us why your story is important to readers from Maine to Georgia to California.
Payment
We always take the first two articles on spec. Starting pay is $225 per article plus up to $50 filing expenses. Any travel or other expenses would have to be cleared by the department beforehand.
All pieces must be original for the Monitor. We cannot accept stories that have been or will be published elsewhere.
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