Where Did You Go? 🧳

Our writers' room grows

Illustration by Moy Zhong

blog.fifty-three // On Thursday, we shared that we’re opening up our next issue of Creator Mag to guest contributors.

We’ve had five folks submit pitches so far. These submissions have ranged from personal essays to short fiction to poetry, with all stories connecting to our season-long theme: “WHERE DID YOU GO?”

The thoughtfulness that went into these pitches does not go unnoticed. On our end, we’re delighted to work through each one—and see how they fit into the magazine spread as we continue to build it out.

Scroll down for more on the why behind our guest contributor process. Before you do, however, note that submissions are due by Saturday, May 10. Selected contributors will be compensated for their work; plus, they’ll receive a complimentary print issue, as well as tickets to our next Block Party on July 19.

Make sure you fill out the form here for consideration. We can’t wait to see what you submit.

— NGL

P.S. Last blog, we talked with Gabe DeSanti about the importance of budgeting—and preparing for the lulls. You can read it here.

One :: I think we’ve always wanted our voice to be bigger than just ourselves. Open up a copy of the fashion magazine GQ, and within the first few pages, you’ll find that dozens of talented individuals have contributed to make that issue great.

Similar to us, GQ publishes profile pieces, essays and more through its quarterly editions.* Unsimilar to us, GQ has been around for sixty years—and has a global audience of over fifty million.

When you’re a startup publication, you don’t have resources like a roster of editors or built-in brand cachet. The silver lining of this dynamic is that it allows you to be lean, and scrappy.

The core team / YouTube

In other words: We can move quickly. We’re worried less about blasting our zine to every grocery store checkout aisle or airport bookstore, and more about how to carefully curate the world we’re building.

Still, we’d be naive to think that the best stories will come from just our small team—and our small team alone. Diversity of background, thought, and lived experiences are vital to creating a well-rounded editorial slate that better represents our mission to Make the Internet Feel Smaller. In our creative neighborhood, the unique meal you bring to the block party holds more weight than the size of your house.

At this stage, creating a pipeline to a) take on guest contributors and b) edit them to fit our style adds more work onto our plate. But if we want this thing to be bigger than just ourselves, we view it as a necessary process to develop early on.

Two :: I think taste can scale. Something I’ve always loved about The New Yorker is that their collection of staff writers can pop in and out of the magazine while they pursue other projects elsewhere.

The prolific journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, for example, has written several best-selling books—and turned one of them, Say Nothing, into a critically-acclaimed FX show (he served as executive producer). Pulitzer Prize-winning TV critic Emily Nussbaum took a step back from her full-time gig at The New Yorker in 2019, and proceeded to write one of my favorite books of 2024, Cue the Sun! (she’s since returned to the magazine in a more limited role).

Radden Keefe’s most recent story for the magazine came out in February ‘24 (it’s a good one)

Famous actors like Steve Martin and Jesse Eisenberg have contributed several pieces to the magazine over the years. Both have said in interviews that they adore contributing for selfish reasons—collaborating with some of the best editors in the world certainly makes your writing sound a lot better, after all.

There’s a real je ne sais quoi about what makes a New Yorker story a New Yorker story. Yet therein lies the secret sauce. Over the last one hundred years, identifying and cultivating the right pieces has helped the publication not only survive, but thrive.

We’d love to find (and maybe even help develop) whatever our version of a Patrick Radden Keefe looks like. Even if they disappear to go pursue other projects, when they return to contribute something to the magazine, we know they’ll deliver.

Three :: I think what makes a Creator Mag story a Creator Mag story is intentionality mixed with a dash of self-discovery.

A piece of feedback I keep hearing from those who have read our latest print issue is that they enjoy how the caliber of the writing pairs with the scrapbook-y nature of the design. The zine almost feels like something you could emulate yourself, grabbing a stack of paper and running to the local Staples to Xerox your own words and illustrations.

While we strive to deliver that feeling, we also plan on keeping a high bar for quality storytelling. It’s never been easier to create something and throw it out there online. Our stories, therefore, call for a higher degree of rigor than the untethered nature of publishing on the modern Internet.

Nevertheless, we don’t aim to limit the very essence of what makes fourth wall-breaking, creator-centric formats like vlogging so magical. I may be biased, but I tend to gravitate towards stories where the storyteller is on their own (oftentimes imperfect) journey of self-discovery.

the center spread of our latest edition features this iconic image / photo by moy zhong

Four :: I think a unique challenge we face is determining what stories are not a Creator Mag story. It’s no secret that the word “creator” has become an overused catch-all these days.

I’ve heard people call themselves “newsletter creators,” or “event creators.” And when a word means everything, paradoxically, it means nothing.

We feel there’s a unique lane for the stories we’re telling. We believe in our thesis—that we can make cool shit with our friends, while pursuing harder-hitting reporting, too.

The roadblock we’ll continue to face on our journey is overexposure to countless exciting avenues we could take, even as we know our goals will require us to take a narrower focus. Because when what you do is for everyone, paradoxically, it’s for no one.

Five :: I think the people need more than just words from NGL. Look—through five issues of Creator Mag, I’ve written close to ninety-five percent of the two hundred-plus pages.

Past just what I’m humanely-capable of pulling off, dear reader…I don’t think I’m that interesting. We all only have so much to say, and I’m no exception.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m really invested in the stories I am pursuing this season. I’m also really pumped to feature new voices, from individuals who thrive within formats and story structures different than myself.

And if you’ve made it this far, why not throw a pitch into the ring?

Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.

* I’ve been reading GQ for years, and I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize it stood for “Gentlemen’s Quarterly” until, like, 2024.