For Contributors

Submissions

Send a pitch, not a manuscript. Two hundred words is plenty.

Letterhead publishes essays that set one rare or archaic thing beside one thoroughly ordinary one. We are interested in obsolete systems put to real use, in diagrams of things that have no business being diagrammed, and in the small psychology of rooms, habits and objects. The three standing formats, with structures and specimens, are set out on the formats page.

How to pitch

Name the format you have in mind.
One paragraph: the rare thing, the ordinary thing, and what you expect to happen.
One line on your source, and one line on yourself.
Send it to submissions@letterheadjournal.com.

House rules

One genuine source. Every piece rests on something real — a text, a system, a study — cited plainly in the body.
No winking. The voice is deadpan throughout. If the piece explains its own joke, it is not finished.
The mundane half must be specific. Not "errands" but a particular Tuesday, a particular list, a particular stairwell.
Under 1,500 words unless we have agreed otherwise in advance.
U.S. English, and one plate or diagram wherever the argument can be drawn instead of stated.

Terms

We reply to pitches within three weeks. We buy first publication rights; the piece reverts to you on publication, with a request that reprints credit Letterhead. Rates are modest and stated before commissioning. Illustration is welcome — if you draw your own plate, say so in the pitch.

Other business? Contact the editors.