Submissions

When Falls the Coliseum only publishes pieces by our “regular” contributors. If you would like to become a contributor to When Falls the Coliseum, you should do the following:

1. Tour the site—read our About, FAQ, Categories, and Copyright and other links on the top navigation bar.

2. Ask yourself, “Am I good with words/art? Can I write/create amusing or engaging pieces about current events or culture? Am I capable of copyediting my own writing enough so what I post isn’t a typo-filled disaster? Will I tell people on social media about what I’ve posted so they will actually come to the site and read it?” If enough of the answers are “yes” move on to number 3 below.

3.  Email us and tell us about what categories you think you’re most likely to write in (see our categories page, but you are always free to write in any category). Please include a one-paragraph third-person bio telling us anything relevant and interesting about you, including professional background and publications (if any), not as an attachment but pasted into the body of an e-mail, to the following address (to limit spam, it is not a link; type it in manually following these instructions): sstein -symbol for at- whenfallsthecoliseum.com

The bio you send will be what appears beneath your posts in the about-the-author box. We can include links to your social media, author website, and/or books.

4. Beneath the bio, provide links to up to three online short essays, reviews, comedy pieces, or blog/social media posts that you have written. (If you don’t have any, that does not rule you out as a contributor, but it is easier for us to say yes if we can read your work.) If you plan to post cartoons, artwork, or photography, you should include samples of that instead.

5. The subject header of the e-mail message should read: submission to WFTC

6. Our contributors are invited to post as frequently as they like. We hope that they will post at least once per month and would prefer them to post more often, about any of the topics covered by our categories. We welcome commentary, reviews, humor, satire, and more and are open to brief blog posts as well as full reviews, essays, and comedy bits. The tone can be serious, comedic, or whatever else works best for your topic and approach.

7. Note that contributors are not paid (this is not a profitable endeavor—actually, we lose money on the deal). We’re happy to do what we can to tell people about your books, your podcast, whatever.

8. You maintain ownership of your own writing or artwork. By posting it on When Falls the Coliseum, you give us permission to publish it on our site and to make copy edits and other editorial decisions, like changing the title or the category it is posted in. We want to be the first place your post appears, but we don’t own it and the decision to publish it again elsewhere is yours to make.

9. Also note that our contributors are not permitted to use GenAI or chatbots for the writing or creation of anything for their posts on this site. You must agree to this in order to be involved with When Falls the Coliseum.

10. We look forward to receiving your submission and will respond if we are interested. At that time we’ll answer questions, give some general guidelines, etc. It’s not that complicated.