Thank you for your interest in writing an article for us! Anime Feminist publishes a range of feminist critique and welcomes diverse opinions. This includes those which challenge articles we have already published or the opinions of anyone on the Anime Feminist team.
Who should pitch to Anime Feminist?
You are not required to disclose your identity to write for Anime Feminist. The strength of the pitch will be our highest consideration. All things being equal though, we will choose to publish the work of someone from a marginalized background (women, people of color, LGBTQ+ or disabled folks, etc).
We’re more than happy to work with new or aspiring writers, so don’t feel like you need to be previously published to pitch to us. That said, it is really helpful if you include a writing sample with your submission so we have a general idea of your style and tone. This can be anything from a blog post, a school essay, an article published to another site, or even a Tweet thread. Bonus points if it’s feminist-relevant!
We support the use of pseudonyms, as we understand that you may be concerned about backlash, want your writing here to remain disconnected from your writing elsewhere, or wish to write about something very personal. If you make this request in your pitch, your identity will not be disclosed without your express permission.
You are not required to identify as a feminist to write for Anime Feminist, just to be aligned with intersectional feminist principles of social justice and equality.
We encourage pitches from potential contributors who are 21 or older.
What should you pitch?
We aim for a content breakdown of roughly 40% anime, 40% manga and 20% other Japanese pop culture (video games, live-action television and cinema, fashion, art, music, etc).
We currently get a majority of anime pitches, so those will be more competitive than manga, games, and other pop culture topics. We generally prioritize pitches on shows or films which do not yet have an in-depth feature on Anime Feminist. We will not accept listicles or reviews, so please don’t pitch them.
Please note that a series does not have to be licensed in English for us to accept a pitch on it, but all screenshots and translations must either be your own work or the work of an official release. We will not accept articles that cite scanlations or fansubs.
This may go without saying, but all pitches should have an intersectional feminist focus. If the pitch doesn’t clearly tie into a progressive topic (such as gender, sexuality, race, disability, mental health, etc.), we will not consider it.
Your proposal should fit into one of the following categories:
- Analysis (Features): Articles that explore a feminist-relevant topic related to Japanese media in depth. If you’re not sure which category is the best fit, just submit the piece under “Features” and we can change it if needed. Example: Good Soil Makes a Good Crop: The Story of Saiunkoku and the myth of meritocracy
- Creator Spotlight: Articles that highlight a person or group of people (such as a manga artist, anime director, or studio). They can focus on the creator’s career, personal life, artistic style, overarching themes, or all of the above. The creator should be a marginalized voice in the community (such as a woman or disabled person), though we may make an exception if the focus is on the feminist-relevant themes present in the person’s work. Example: Art as Discovery, Art as Hope: Kamatani Yuhki, x-gender and asexual mangaka
- Interview: A Q&A in which the contributor interviews a primary source knowledgeable on some aspect of Japanese pop culture from a feminist perspective. Examples: Sayo Yamamoto, director and storyboard artist; Zeno Robinson, My Hero Academia star, talks favorite roles, fighting harassment, and voice actor unionization
- History: Articles focusing on the historical context or importance of creators, genres, or series. Examples: Shoujo Manga’s Lost Generation; Banana Fish and the real-world racist politics of 1980s America.
- My Fave is Problematic: Articles that explore both the positive and problematic aspects of an anime or manga you can’t help but love. Examples: Attack on Titan; Samurai Flamenco.
- Perspectives: Essays that focus on the feminist-relevant impact a particular series or character had on the writer. These are personal pieces meant to highlight a variety of voices and experiences. Examples: Indecent Exposure of the Soul: Trauma and recovery in Gintama; Boys Run the Riot, Visual Kei, and Gender Euphoria Through Fashion
- Versus: Analysis that compares how two series or a source material and its adaptation handle a particular topic or issue. This comparison should demonstrate how creative choices affect the representation of marginalized figures. Example: Power, Oppression, and Victimhood in The Twelve Kingdoms versus The Rising of the Shield Hero.
We don’t have any strict word count limits, but generally encourage writers to aim for somewhere between 1,200 and 2,000 words.
All pitches should be for one-off articles; unfortunately we do not have the funding to accept pitches for regular columns at this time.
How do you pitch?
All pitches should be through our submissions form. Extenuating circumstances aside, anyone pitching through other means such as email or Twitter will be redirected to this form.
Due to the number of submissions we receive and the small size of our staff, it may take us a few weeks to respond with an acceptance letter. It is also unfortunately not possible for us to respond to every query.
If you have not heard from us after two weeks, please follow up through our general contact form. If you do not hear from us within five days of your follow-up, please feel free to submit your article idea elsewhere.
Please do not submit completed work. Our editors wish to collaborate with you at the earliest stages to ensure your articles will be the strongest possible fit for Anime Feminist.
All contributions must be written in English, but we welcome submissions from contributors who may need extra support with spelling and grammar for any reason.
We welcome submissions from potential contributors with disabilities which require extra accommodations we have not covered here. The strength of the pitch will be most important, and we will do everything in our power to help contributors turn an intriguing pitch into a great piece.
If we do not accept your first pitches, please don’t be discouraged, and do pitch again! We may not reply because our pipeline is full for a few weeks, or we already have an article planned on the topic of your pitch, or simply because we are swamped. Give us a month or two to catch up, then try again with some fresh ideas.
Our editing process
When you submit a pitch to Anime Feminist and it is accepted, you consent to working with a staff editor with the most relevant knowledge to your article.
You and your editor will work together to prepare a detailed outline. Once the outline is approved, you can start working on the article. Once your first draft is approved, the piece is officially commissioned. While we are happy to work with contributors to fine-tune a piece, we do reserve the right to reject the first draft if it varies significantly from the outline, is missing key details, or does not have a clear through-line.
Your editor will be your day-to-day contact, available to answer questions, offer advice and support, and read through any drafts. This editor will adjust your wording for readability and clarity, and ensure you are both happy with the final draft, which they will submit to the content and technical editor(s) for approval.
Changes for style and tone at this stage are at the content or technical editor’s discretion. They will continue to work with you to incorporate these requests into the article.
Once the managing editor has approved your final draft, it will be scheduled for publication on Anime Feminist and promotion on social media. As soon as the article is published, you are welcome to include an extract on your own site and link to the full article on Anime Feminist.
No significant contextual changes will be made after the final approval. However, we may make cosmetic changes to articles before publication, such as adjusting titles and sentence structure or adding paragraph breaks, link citations, or extra images to improve readability. If you notice any changes to the final version that raise concerns, please reach out and we are happy to discuss.
Anime Feminist reserves the right to cancel a commission at any point before publication, or take down any article after publication. In these unlikely circumstances, the contributor will be paid at the rate agreed and free to post and promote their work elsewhere, but Anime Feminist will not host or promote their article.
Prospective contributors are required to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest. Failure to do so will result in prominently placed corrections. If an editor discovers plagiarism in the article, it will not be published, and the contributor will not be paid.
Payment and Publication
Anime Feminist pays contributors $75 per article. Contributors must invoice Anime Feminist and will be paid within 30 days of publication. We will email you invoicing instructions the same week the article is scheduled to be published.
PayPal is our preferred payment method, but we can also send payment through Zelle or Google Pay for U.S. bank accounts. We are unfortunately unable to offer direct deposits at this time.
After publication, we encourage contributors to post an extract of their article on their own blog and link to the full article on Anime Feminist. The full article should not be reposted elsewhere.
If a contributor’s relationship with Anime Feminist ends, Anime Feminist retains the right to host all articles previously submitted and contributors do not lose the right to link to their work. We also retain the right to continue promoting their articles on social media at our discretion.
If you’ve read over our guidelines, click here to submit your pitch!