The stories we are looking for throughout July and August.
Calling all readers, writers and reader-writers!
A Thousand Lives has enjoyed a lot of success since we started back in December 2020, and it’s been a joy to watch this bookish space grow over that period.
I have learned so much from editing and reading articles written by so many talented and like-minded writers.
Now that we have gotten the ball running and are starting to have more of a presence, I would like to start doing a specific call out for submissions.
I’m not planning on doing this every month (I wish I had the spare time!), but simply when submissions are running slightly dry.
Of course, we will still be looking at all stories and pitch ideas but are particularly keen to publish stories along these lines.
Without further or do, here’s what we are looking for specifically throughout July to August.
📙 Book reviews with a unique angle
We love a standard book review as much as the next person, but we want to move away from that slowly.
A traditional book review is a good place to start, but we want to go further and get more creative and informative for readers.
Instead of writing a straight-up book review, we are looking for pieces that provide a unique angle or takeaway for the reader and draw on a broader issue.
For example, pieces along the lines of the following:
- I’m Not Racist — But I’m Not Sure I’m Anti-Racist
- Why I Waited So Long to Read, ‘A Little Life’
- “Where the Crawdads Sing” Challenges Preconceptions of Loneliness and Leading a Simple life
- 4 Key Takeaways from ‘Living Better’ by Alastair Campbell
These are traditional book reviews at heart but focus on a personal discovery and merging that into a personal takeaway for the reader.
📗 Why reading matters and your relationship with it
We’re looking for pieces about why reading matters to you, how it has shaped you as a person and how your relationship with it has changed or fluctuated over the last year.
Also, we’re interested in publishing stories about how you read and why — whether that’s borrowing physical books from the library or reading on an e-reader.
We want to have insightful discussions about reading and what it can provide for us as people, and how it can connect us to others.
Examples of the types of stories we want to focus on include:
- How I Fell Back in Love with Reading for Pleasure
- Stop Reading Faster, and Instead Read Better
- E-Readers Make Reading More Inclusive
📕 Why you write
We are primarily a publication about books, but we also recognise writing has many cross-overs with readers and reader-writers who like to talk about writing.
And we’re here for it — as long as it has a bookish angle.
We want to know why you like writing about books and how books help you become a better writer.
If you’re feeling up for it, we’d also love to see pieces about what you gain from writing about books and why you feel people like to read them.
📘 Unique recommendation pieces
We love a quickfire, fast-paced book recommendation piece with an overarching theme.
Interested in feminism? History? Politics? Or LGBTQ+ fiction? Why not make that the theme of your next recommendation piece.
Alternatively, if something personal is happening (or has happened in your life) and you have a list of books that helped you get through it, why not construct a recommendation list around that?
Having a centralised theme and choosing a handful of books that coincide with readers interested in that or going through a similar issue will provide a more valuable takeaway for the reader.
Some examples of what we are looking for:
- Read These 4 Books to Make the Best of Your Quarter-Life Crisis
- 10 Books Every Woman Should Read in Their Lifetime
- 5 Books to Help You Live through Uncertainty
We are still open for ideas outside of this box and will consider anything book-related, so if you want to pitch us an idea, then go ahead! Our inbox is open: athousandlives20@outlook.com
A little reminder we are still seeking donations so that one day it might be possible for us to pay writers upfront for their work. To donate, please head over to this page. Thank you.
A Thousand Lives 