Submission Guidelines
The more experimental, undefinable, inchoate, the better. We want creative work that plays with form and merges music writing/criticism/journalism with essay, fiction, or poetry; vignettes accompanied by photographs; a fictional album review. What songs split your chest open and live in your bloodstream? Which albums conceptualize something in a new, subversive, or otherwise interesting way? How does a certain piece of music or artist engage with, or change, culture? What’s your favorite unconventional breakup album or love song, and why? Music carries and bleeds and ferments so much; there is no wrong answer here.
Please use the following guidelines when submitting:
Submit your work as a Word doc via email: hotknifemag@gmail.com with the subject line: SUB_LASTNAME_TITLE
In the body of your email: please include your name, email, as well as a brief third-person bio with any info, publications, or social media handles you’d like to accompany your piece if accepted.
No hard word limits. Up to 5000 words (for an exceptional piece); but our sweet spot is anywhere from 500-2000 words.
Any genre is welcome, as long as your piece is in dialogue with/about/around music in some form or way, even obliquely. We’re excited to receive your work and we thank you/appreciate you very much for sharing it with us! We will treat it kindly and with the utmost respect.
Send your best work, whatever that means to you. If accepted, we will be will be in touch to discuss potential edits with you (beyond copy-editing) and you will be able to see the finished product before it goes online.
For photographers and artists: please send us your stuff! We regularly need people to create art for specific written pieces, or to take photos of certain concerts; send us an email at hotknifemag@gmail.com if you’re interested.
For musicians and PR folks: email us at hotknifemag@gmail.com. We would love to connect with you and potentially cover/review your music or performances or feature you on a playlist.