WHY vs WHY™ Submission Contents

If you’re a potential contributor, here's what to do next. 

If you are keen to contribute, and believe your topic, your ideas, your expertise and your writing skills can satisfy our needs, please first read the rest of this document in full to check you’re happy with our requirements, processes and terms.

Once you’ve done that, please send us the following three things, by post to our mailing address (which you will find here):

1) Your cover letter

In your cover letter, please include all of the following information:   

a) Your name and your full contact details

• Your name (as you would like it in the book), your postal address, your phone numbers (including mobile) and your email address.

• Also, if you have a personal website or a blog, its web address. 

• NOTE: It is very important to include your email address so that we can send you an email to confirm we have received your submission.  

b) Where you heard about our series

 

c) Identify the ‘Why’ topic you wish to write for us on

• Write a single and punchy one-liner (one beginning with the word ‘Why’) that frames the specific debate topic you wish to suggest to us. It should be a topic a mainstream general public audience wants debated.

• Examples: 'Why same-sex couples SHOULD/SHOULD NOT be allowed to marry', or 'Why we should say YES/NO to Nuclear Power’)

• NOTE: Though we will be selective, Pantera Press is open to considering any topic no matter how contentious, whether political, moral, social, scientific, religious, or otherwise. Our main criterion is that the topic will excite and engage a mainstream audience and can be written and argued for them in a civil manner.

d) Identify which "side" you wish to argue

• Specify clearly which "side" of that debate you wish to argue.

e) Confirmation that you agree to our terms should we select you

• Please note that by making a submission to us you will also be acknowledging that you have read this document in full (so, yes, we really do want you to read it) as well as agreeing to all the terms and warranties set out in it. That also includes you agreeing to our Style Requirements, at the end of this document.

• Effectively, this document is your Contributor Agreement with us. That agreement will only come into effect, of course, if we decide to proceed with your submission and ask you to commence writing your full 10,000-word main argument and your rebuttals.

• To keep our processes simple & speedy, please include the following sentence in your cover letter:

“I make this submission to you after reading in full Edition 2010.1 of your document, “Submitting to Pantera Press’s unique WHY vs WHY™ series - What you need to know”, and I acknowledge and agree to everything in it.”

If you don’t include this sentence, we will NOT consider your submission. 

f) Your short profile

• Please include a short profile you would be happy for us to include in the book as your bio.

• Your profile should make clear why you have the credentials to write this side of the book.

• Make it no longer than 150 words in total. (If we select you, we will later on agree the final form of this with you.)

g) Any suggestions you may have for a worthy opponent

• If you can, please provide the name and, ideally, contact details for any people you think would be worthy opponents for you; any capable and well-credentialed people you believe could be interested in writing a strong but opposing argument to yours.

• The stronger and more qualified your opponent, the more likely the book will attract popular attention.

 2) Your detailed credentials

• In 1 or 2 pages, but no more, please expand on why you have the expertise and the credentials to write on the particular topic and to take the particular "side" you wish to argue.

• In particular, specify in detail your relevant academic, political, work or other qualifications and experience. Also include details of any works (eg books, book chapters, articles, op-eds) you have already had published on this topic and other topics.

• Also please confirm that you are happy to assist us promote the books by giving media interviews, and outline you media experience to date.

3) Your outline of your main argument

Do NOT write or submit your full 10,000-word contribution to us at this stage. We may not proceed with your submission, so we don’t want you to spend more time than necessary. Instead, in no more than 4 typed pages, please provide us with the following.

a) Your short introduction/overview

• Write the first 300 words (only) of the opener/introduction for your side of the argument.

• We want this to help us form a view on your writing, its clarity, its strength but also its light touch and style.

b) Your 7 key ‘Because’ arguments (each one will be a chapter heading)

• Each writer we choose will stick to our format of seeking to persuade our readers to their cause by starting with a punchy overview in their Introduction, followed by dividing their case into 7 key arguments or steps.

• Each of the 7 points when written in full must be a complete explanation of one specific argument, not merely re-introduce or reprise part of the subject.

• So, please write a short, punchy heading for each of the 7 key arguments or steps you propose to use.

• To fit our series’ format, each of your 7 headings needs to be a succinct phrase or sentence beginning with the word “Because… ”

• For examples, please check out the 7 reasons in our Nuclear Power and Gay Marriage books, which you can see in the Introductions downloadable at the bottom right of the Nuclear Power book page on this website or the Gay Marriage book page.

c) A brief summary under each of the 7 ‘Because’ headings

• Under each of your 7 ‘Because’ chapter headings, please give a tight bullet-point summary of the argument you would advance in that chapter.

• Use no more than 5 bullet-points for each of the 7 chapter headings.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE:

Submission Formatting and Enclosures

• Please note we do not accept submissions by email or on disk.

• Submissions must be typed on single-sided A4 (or letter-size) white paper, using 1.5 or double-spacing and a common 12-point font, with a good margin all round (say 2.5cm, or 1").

• Also, please do not submit any more than we asked for above.

• If we select your submission, we will let you know then what you need to do next.

• If you wish to submit for more than one topic, please submit separate cover letters, credentials, and outlines (each complying with these submission requirements in full) so we can more easily compare submissions on the same topics.

• Pantera Press accepts no responsibility for any loss or damage to any material you send us.

• DON'T send us either your originals or your only copy.

• DON'T include return postage and packaging with your submission. If we don't choose your submission, we will let you know by email and we will dispose of the material you sent us, rather than return it.

Initial processes

• Submitting to us is no guarantee we will choose either you or your topic.

• As well as broadly seeking unsolicited submissions, we have also contacted universities, think tanks, NGOs, public intellectuals and others for suggestions as to topics and writers.

• Since the topics we choose will be quite narrowly focussed, it is most likely that some submissions will be similar, offering similar arguments, and possibly even similar headings and bullet-points. We may well choose a contributor for your topic who has made quite similar arguments to yours.

• If you submit to us, you accept that we have the right to accept/reject submissions at our complete discretion and without giving any reasons and that you won't disparage or dispute our decisions or actions.

 

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