Submissions

What is Comment looking for in a submission?

The best pitches come from writers who are familiar with Comment’s archives and animated by the same spirit of intellectual hospitality and literary excellence that characterizes our work. We’re not interested in hot takes, polemics, or preachiness; rather, we are looking for non-bland analysis on consequential or evergreen topics that you can speak to from a position of intelligent engagement (whether because of deep interaction with the topic, personal history, or both). In general, Comment publishes only original work.

For more detailed insight into what we’re looking for, read through our editorial principles below.

We do not currently accept unsolicited submissions for poetry or art.

What should I include in my submission?

Your submission should include:

• Your full original manuscript (we do not accept essays that have been published elsewhere)
• A clear, short, one-paragraph summary of your piece
• Links to previously published writing, if available
• Brief biographical information (particularly expertise or experience relevant to your topic)

When can I expect a response to my submission?​

We aim to respond to all submissions within six weeks. We do not offer editorial feedback on pitches or submissions that we do not accept.

Can I pitch my idea to Comment without a full manuscript?

Yes. We do not, in general, accept pitches on spec, but it is a good way to gauge our interest in a topic or angle.

What should I include in my pitch?

Your pitch should include:

• A clear one-paragraph summary of your proposed piece, including the specific angle you intend to take
• Links to previously published writing, if available
• Brief biographical information (particularly expertise or experience relevant to your topic)

How can I submit a pitch or manuscript to Comment?

Any pitches or submissions should be emailed to team@comment.org. We allow simultaneous submissions, but if you have not heard from us and your piece is accepted elsewhere, please let us know immediately.

When can I expect a response to my pitch?​

We aim to respond to all pitches within two to three weeks, though during busy editorial periods it may take a little longer.

What style or voice is Comment looking for?

Comment aims for an intelligent general readership. We do not condescend to our readers, but we don’t assume that they have specialist knowledge. Terms of art should be briefly explained or used in such a way as to be self-evident. Language level is approximately that of The Atlantic or The New Yorker, but style may vary according to writers’ individual voices, the nature of the piece, and so on.

Comment adheres to the style guidelines set forth in The Chicago Manual of Style. Authors are asked to use Canadian spellings, which are roughly a hybrid of British and American spellings (so, “neighbour” and “favourite,” but “realize” and “civilize”).

What citation style does Comment use?

Comment does not publish footnotes or endnotes. Where possible, please work narrative citations into the body of the text. For online pieces, links can be embedded in the text. Page numbers and other academic bibliographical information will be deleted in the editing process.

How long is a typical Comment piece?

We are open to pieces of a wide variety of lengths. Our essays and reviews usually run from 2,500 to 3,000 words, with 4,000 words as a rough maximum. We do not accept submissions under 1,500 words.

Does Comment pay its writers?

Comment pays all contributors an honorarium. For unsolicited submissions, the honorarium will be determined upon acceptance. Authors are typically paid on the publication date.

Comment has no obligation to publish submitted work, and we reserve the right to change publication dates and/or media (i.e., print or online). Should we choose not to publish a piece we have accepted in writing, we pay 40 percent of the original committed honorarium.

Editorial Principles

The following principles guide Comment’s editorial judgments and public engagement:

1. Excellence: All content must be original, perceptive, honest, and consequential. We want thinkers with a large vision of history and doers whose decisions discerned in real-time are helping to cultivate the neighbourly economy. We do not aim to cultivate a conversation focused primarily on pastoral care or direction, worthy and needed though that is. We aim rather to host a conversation devoted to recalibration, reflection, and renewal, at both individual and structural levels.
2. Hospitality and Collaboration: Comment delights in embodying generosity of spirit and intellectual hospitality, respecting participants’ different traditions even as we leverage our commonalities to build a pluralistic approach to the critical issues at hand. We strive to attract a contributor pool that is reflective of the rich diversity of God’s people.
3. Humility and Discernment: We will reject submissions that indulge in Christian triumphalism, historical inevitability, and/or the temptation to read current events—however dramatic—as the confirmation of a particular set of ideological priors.
4. Hope and Generativity: Comment is fundamentally oriented toward Christian hope. We trust in a God who is alive and able to create beauty from ashes, and we strive to embody this hope in all content, events, and collaborations, in the force of our originality, and in our civic usefulness.
5. In Service to Practitioners: Comment seeks always to bridge the worlds of elite thinker and local doer, and will do what we can to make this content accessible and generative to all those seeking to faithfully fulfill their civic roles and vocations.