Salvo welcomes unsolicited submissions.
Before submitting an article, please read previous issues of the magazine or read a selection of the articles posted on our website to see the subjects we treat and the way we treat them.
QUERIES
If you are not sure that an article will work for Salvo, please send a query to the editor. The query should give your thesis, describing briefly what it is that you will be arguing, how you will develop the argument, and explaining its importance and appeal. The query will be sent to a group of reviewers, who will need to know in some detail what you will say about your subject to be able to tell if it might work for us.
You should also explain your qualifications for writing on the subject (these need not be academic or indeed official in any way, and may include personal experience). An example or two of your writing would help if you have not written for Salvo before.
Please note that a positive response to a query does not guarantee acceptance of the submitted article. The article will still be evaluated by the reviewers. A positive response means only that if the article meets our standards and is written in our form, we will take it, and that the editor will help you try to meet those standards.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
We will consider an article that has appeared elsewhere, if 1) the readership of the magazine or website where it first appeared does not overlap with ours and 2) if you are willing, if necessary, to radically rework the article for our purposes. You must own the copyright to the article. Of course, original submissions are much more likely to be accepted.
Salvo publishes an eclectic range of articles in the areas of sex, science, and society. What distinguishes our content is its systematic deconstruction of false ideologies, philosophies, and worldviews. Articles should be well-researched and logically sound, as well as somewhat timeless in subject matter. Salvo is intended as a permanent resource; thus, articles that are overly tied to current events will be rejected.
We do not accept fiction or poetry.
We do not accept articles that are overtly religious, that proselytize, or that contain scripture references.
We do not review current movies or music. Being a quarterly, we cannot get such a review into print without appearing behind the times. And we do not publish straight book reviews. If a book is the focus of an article, it should be used as a launch pad for inquiries into the subjects with which Salvo is concerned.
We do not take sides in partisan political matters and rarely publish articles with a policy focus.
We do not publish scholarly articles or articles that are strictly journalistic, such as those found in a newspaper.
AUDIENCE
Articles should be written for secular young adults between the ages of 25 and 40. Salvo is a popular magazine aimed at a general readership, and the writer should bear this in mind when composing work for us. Articles should be informative and entertaining, and they should be somewhat "cheeky" in tone. Humor is encouraged, as are sidebars to help supplement an article's content.
LENGTH
Articles should be no less than 600 words and no more than 2500. These are not absolutely fixed limits, but a query is wise before you exceed them.
In all cases, shorter articles are more likely to be accepted and more likely to be published soon.
SUBMISSION & REVIEW
All submissions should be accompanied by a cover letter introducing yourself, describing your article, and containing your contact information (email and postal address and phone number). Please include a brief biographical note of 50 to 60 words that could be published with your article, specifying your profession or occupation, your latest book or other identifying mark (office in a national organization, for example), and your family (if you wish).
Articles should be submitted by email, as an attached file (Microsoft Word is best) addressed to the editor (send to [email protected]). The editor would be grateful if you used paragraph returns and tabs to separate paragraphs, and not automatic indents. This makes editing easier.
Submissions are reviewed by a diverse group of reviewers, which mixes editors and outside readers. You should hear from us within 30 days. If you don't—and the large number of submissions sometimes slows down the process of reviewing them—please write the editor.
The articles in Salvo are closely edited. Submitting an article indicates agreement to work with the editor in creating an article in our style and to our standards. This includes such matters as length of paragraph and level of vocabulary, but also the clarity of the prose and argument, the value of the evidence, the tone, and the like.
We do not accept simultaneous submissions.
PAYMENT & RIGHTS
Original articles are given an honorarium of twenty cents per published word.
Authors receive one author's copy of the magazine.
Salvo buys the right to the first publication of an original article, with the following conditions: that 1) it not appear elsewhere (including websites) for 90 days from the date of publication in Salvo; 2) whenever it is reprinted elsewhere (including websites), the following notice be included with it: "This article first appeared in the _____ issue of Salvo magazine (salvomag.com)"; 3) we retain the right to use without further payment a portion or description of your article with your name in our promotional materials; and 4) we retain the right to use your article without further payment in any Salvo anthologies, reprints, or in electronic form. These conditions apply to a reprinted article that has been reworked for publication in Salvo.