Special notice: We’re expanding our operations, seeking an experienced editor with knowledge of China and Chinese language, based in New York. Click here for further information and how to apply.
To pitch an article to us (or to submit a drafted article along the lines below) please write to editor@chinabooksreview.com with publisher links and a paragraph summay.
Below are the sections we accept contributions for:
Reviews — Punchy, argument-driven reviews of recent (<1yr) single titles (~1600 words), and longer review-essays that engage with multiple titles and deeper themes (~3200 words). We like our reviewers to say something of their own about a topic, using the reading as a springboard, rather than just rotating their thumb around the book.
Essays — Essays that engage with broader ideas and trends relating to China and the Sinophone world, from culture and society to politics and history, adding original voice or reporting while engaging with existing literature on the topic. Either short (~1600 words) or long (~3200 words), but arguing something new about a specific topic.
Excerpts — If you are an author or publisher, feel free to propose a stand-alone passage for excerpt (2000-4000 words) from your recently published (<1yr) book, that tells an engaging story or reveals something new about China or the Sinophone world.
Profiles — Interviews with prominent Chinese or China-focused authors, thinkers, artists and other cultural figures, written up as a narrative with a particular angle, in long-form (~3200 words). We are especially seeking “literary profiles” that engage with an author’s body of work as well as their life, pegged on a recent publication.
Book lists/archive picks — We also occasionally accept outside pitches for curated lists of New China Books (five recent books around a theme, with an introduction), as well as for our My China Bookshelf column (five books from a China expert’s shelf, with a Q&A), and for The China Archive (~1600 words on a book published >10yrs ago).
We pay a competitive flat rate for all accepted articles. Long articles (~3200 words) run as our cover story, paired with original artwork and featured at the top of our newsletter.
To pitch, please send publisher links to all books you are proposing, and write a paragraph or two that synthesizes their content, then succinctly conveys the argument or approach you would take (or for profiles and excerpts, the main thrust of the narrative). Please keep it short, to demonstrate that your idea has a clear single focus. Also include a brief bio, your location, and links to previous work of a similar form.
Note that principal books under review should have been published in the last year. Additional books that are mentioned, paired or recommended in lists, need not be recent and can draw on the deep archive. Our working definition of “China” is broad, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora.
When pitching, consider why your proposed piece is thought-provoking and relevant. Why should the general reader care about this topic? What does it say more broadly about China or the Sinophone world? Will it surprise us, or tell us something we already know? What key question does it answer? You should be drawing out an original argument about the topic under consideration, not just surveying a subject neutrally.
Please review our editorial standards before pitching and/or writing for us, for our expectations of contributor diligence/impartiality, and further details.
We read all pitches and endeavor to reply in a timely fashion, but we get a lot of mail. If you have not heard back from us after ten days, please accept our apologies for not replying and assume that we are not accepting it.
If you are an author, publisher, illustrator or reader, please see how to contact us instead. ∎