Clever
is known as the ezine for the neglected demographic. When I
created clevermag.com, the internet seemed to be for everybody except me. I
couldn't find the sort of content that entertained me and I figured there
were other folks who probably felt the same way. That's where I got the
idea to call Clever the ezine for the neglected demographic.
Plus, I figured there were other writers who would like to have their work
published but wanted a larger audience than a personal website might
provide. The first issue of Clever Magazine was
published in August 1998,
and we are going strong.
For the first four years we updated the site on a monthly basis. Beginning
in
2003 with over 1,000 pages archived, we decided to update the site about
every three months or so. We figure we'll change with the seasons.
The magazine features travel and personal
essays, a monthly humor page, nature stories, poetry, fictional short stories, book and film reviews,
a recipe index, an advice column, and a
bookstore. These are subjects that interest everybody, so it's safe to call
us a general interest magazine. Our format is designed to remind us of print
magazines and our goal is to amuse, entertain and inform the readers. Most
of the articles come from contributions and "Payment" is in
the form of bragging rights only.
Every issue is loosely constructed around a theme and
the theme for the next issue is always included on our home page towards
the bottom. But, if you have a piece you'd like us to consider, send it
along and we'll try to fit it into the upcoming issue.
We are looking for:
Features: art exhibits, investigations, short fiction, personal essays.
Travel essays: travel journals, destination articles,
adventure stories, or anything having to do with travel experiences. Accompanying
photographs are appreciated (.jpg and .gif files only)
The Environment: nature articles, travel experiences with an
environmental message or advocacy issues.
Poetry: Clever occasionally publishes poetry if the subject matter is
relevant to the issue, the time of year, or ties in with the current theme
in some way. Please
submit for review.
Book Reports: book reviews, short stories with books as the central story
element, critiques of books, or simply, interesting book lists you have created or would
like to comment on.
Humor: Our humor page consists of short jokes, funny stories,
one-liners -- the best of the current email humor that is making the rounds. If
the humor piece is your original work, please indicate that information with
your submission. All other material is considered to be anonymous email
humor and free
to anyone who cares to copy it.
Movies: reviews of current movies or videos and DVDs that
are available for rent or sale. We will also consider film essays, either
humorous or serious, on any film subject.
Pet Pages: personal essays or fictional short stories about
animals.
Kid Stuff: Essays, short stories, and humor that is specifically
suitable for children.
Reader Responses: Selected readers' letters to the editor will be
considered for publication.
The bottom line:
Send manuscripts as attached MS Word files to editor@clevermag.com
via email: If your
material is a relatively short length, you may include it in the body of
your email. Photos and accompanying artwork must be simple, quick-loading
images: .jpg or .gif files only.
Length (number of words): The maximum word length for the typical
Clever feature article is 3,000 or less. Shorter articles are encouraged. Personal
essays usually average about 2,000 words. Movie reviews average about 200
words. Clever will consider all submissions but we might ask you to edit
them for length, as well as spelling and grammar -- readability is our
number one goal. Surfers have notoriously short attention spans so keep
that in mind at all times.
Content: We are not
interested in publishing x-rated or pornographic materials of any kind. We
know it when we see it. We do not publish political or religious pieces
either, unless they are humorous. We always keep in mind that mom told us
we'd never get into trouble if we don't bring up those issues.
Review process: All submissions will be reviewed by the Clever
staff and you will be contacted within two to four weeks of our having received
your email. Our criteria for accepting work for publication are:
1) quality of the writing. We are eager to work with both previously
published and new writers.
2) whether the material will "fit' into a future issue.
Payment for your contribution is limited to bragging rights that your work
is suitable for publication on somebody else's website. Clever is
a non-profit, non-commercial site and therefore we are sorry to say we
cannot offer any monetary payment to writers at this time.
Other incentives: Please keep in mind that Clever
is listed on Yahoo! and dozens of other search
engines and has thousands of readers. Your work will be featured through
one publishing cycle (about 3 months) on Clever's home page. After that it will be permanently archived and
listed in Clever's Contributors' list. Readers
can view your work as a back-issue article, and writers can use Clever Magazine
as a reference and an electronic "clip" when submitting to other venues.
Restrictions: You are free to simultaneously publish your work on
any other electronic or print magazine.
If you have any questions about Clever Magazine's publishing
guidelines, please fire off an email to editor@clevermag.com.Diannek, Editor
Clever Magazine
( 2/03)FYI:
Here's the text of an interview I did with
rejectioncollection.com about editing Clever Magazine. Occasionally
Clever rejects material that we receive. This article might help
prospective writers understand the process.
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