Submissions

We welcome the opportunity to consider compelling thoughtful articles exploring the principles underlying a free society: private property, the rule of law, voluntary exchange, individual rights, morality, self-responsibility, charity, mutual aid, and limitations on power. We publish nonfiction articles that are accessible to intelligent lay readers—particularly young people.

Although a necessary part of the literature of freedom is the analysis of collectivist and interventionist errors, we emphasize the positive case for freedom in the political, social and economic spheres. We avoid name-calling and partisan politics. We do not advocate political action as a cure for problems caused by government intervention. We want to set out the vision of a free society, leaving transition measures largely to other organizations.

(Find Poetry Guidelines here.)
 

Rules of Thumb:

Length. We are looking primarily for pieces no longer than 800 words. We are willing to look at pieces between 900 and 1200 words. If you have an idea for a piece longer than 1200 words, we suggest you pitch your idea first because we are only looking for a few long articles.

Documentation. We want to see fully documented facts and quotations, with attributions incorporated into the text. (No endnotes or footnotes.) When citing online sources, we strongly prefer in-line tinyURLs; please do not include hyperlinks. Freeman staff will review all links during the editing process. 

Tone. We are looking for a specific tone: Imagine you are talking to a group of smart freshmen at an Ivy League-level university. While we don’t want to lose your unique voice, we want the tone and style to be relatable to young people who are the future of our movement. 

Style Basics. We look for strong hooks, compelling leads, colorful quotes and an effective close—in addition to the kind of evidence and reasoned argument people expect from Freeman writers.

Rights. By submitting an article, the author warrants that he has unencumbered rights to it and that it has not been submitted, accepted, or published elsewhere. Authors are paid at the end of our monthly publication cycle. 

Submission. Submit articles via e-mail in MS Word format, with either “submission” or “query” in the subject line. Include the author’s name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and a sentence or two that we may use to identify the author to our readers. (If electronic submission is impossible other arrangement may be made.)

Don’t take rejection personally. There are all kinds of reasons that pieces may not fit. 

Rates

The basic rate for web features is $100. For unsolicited features for the print version of the magazine, the basic rate is $0.20/word for the first 800 words and $0.10/word thereafter. When the editors solicit specific pieces, we may negotiate different rates. 

Rights

FEE purchases the full rights to any article unless a separate arrangement is reached between FEE and an individual author on a per-article basis. FEE reserves the right to distribute articles accepted for publication in any format, including print, web, e-reader and formats currently known or yet to be discovered.  Additionally, to disseminate the freedom philosophy to the maximum extent, FEE has maintained an open-reprint policy from its inception. Upon request and before an article is accepted for publication, FEE and Freeman staff may agree to withhold permission to reprint an article originally purchased by FEE in any publication not published by FEE or by any organization or individual separate from FEE. 

Submissions may be addressed to:

Michael Nolan, Managing Editor

mnolan@fee.org