To pitch or submit an article, please write to editor[at]chinabooksreview.com with:

• Your brief bio (if a new contributor) and links to similar work by you.
• What you want to write, and the work(s) you want to cover (including if you need a copy).
• Paragraph pitch (ideally with a structure outline, see below).

Below are further details, and the sections we currently accept contributions for:

Reviews — Argument-driven reviews of recent (<1yr) single works (1600-2000 words), or longer review-essays that engage with multiple works (3200-4000 words). We like our reviewers to synthesize what’s in a book (or film, TV show, album, game, performance, exhibit), picking out the best details and quotes, but also to say something of their own about the topic. That is, draw out an original argument from the work that tells us something new about China or the Sinophone world, don’t just summarize it and rotate your thumb 180º.

Essays — Lively essays (either 1600-2000 words or 3200-4000 words) that engage with broader ideas and trends relating to China or the Sinophone world. We prefer a focus on society and culture, but also run general essays on politics, economics and history. Your essay doesn’t need to focus on a particular book or work, but should engage with existing literature on the topic — that is, tell us what’s already been written or said on this topic, as well as making an original argument based on your experience and perspective.

Profiles — Literary profiles (3200-4000 words) of prominent Chinese or sinophone authors (or film-makers or other artists), written up as a narrative that engages deeply with their work and life. Ideally, there would be recent work by the subject to peg it on, but we also accept general profiles that overview their oeuvre. The profile should focus on a specific angle so as to make a particular point about their work as a whole. Think of it as a “review profile” that takes in multiple works (which you should read) and discusses their biography too. We expect you to interview the profilee and at least one other person about them.

Excerpts — If you are an author or publisher, feel free to propose a stand-alone passage for excerpt (1600-4000 words) from your upcoming or recently published (<1yr) book, that tells an engaging story or reveals something new about China or the Sinophone world. Please send the full digital copy of the book as well as flagging excerpt potential, and indicate if other excerpts have appeared, or will be appearing, elsewhere.

In your paragraph pitch, tell us: what the work (or topic) is about, including the key point a book makes or theme it explores; any context (or other works) you want to explore that is critical to understanding that; and what your argument or point in response to this all will be. A brief outline of a proposed structure is always helpful, even if just a few words indicating the order of the sections (typically 2-3 sections for short articles, 5 sections for long articles).

When pitching, consider how your idea is focused and original. What question will you answer? Why should the general reader care about it? What does it say more broadly about China or the Sinophone world? Will it surprise us, or tell us something we already know? We don’t need topical news pegs, we’re a general-interest magazine, but it should feel new/informative.

Principal works under review should have come out in the last year. Additional works that are paired or mentioned need not be recent, and you can draw on the deep archive. Our definition of “China” (中华) is broad, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and the diaspora. We accept pitches for reviews of untranslated Chinese-language works, or works in other languages about China and the Sinophone world, but prefer if there is an English-language version available.

We pay a competitive flat rate for all original articles, roughly equivalent to 25c/word. Before producing work for the site, please read our contributor guidelines which have further information, including our policy on conflicts of interest and kill fees.

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 the idea. Pitches written by LLMs will be ignored.

If you are an author, publisher, illustrator or reader, please see how to contact us instead. ∎