NewsThump
NewsThump is a satirical news website that accepts submissions from writers. They ask for an example 200-250 word article to showcase your writing ability and promise to read each one. If you succeed in getting an article published on the site you receive a 60% share of advertising revenue generated by that page. To submit your article click here.
We got in touch with editor Richard Smith to ask him for some advice on how Comedy Crowders can get their articles published, plus a little interview with some great tips to succeed:
Submission Guidelines (by NewsThump editor Richard Smith)
Below are some guidelines we share with writers who’ve started contributing a little more regularly, and it should help. But if any Comedy Crowders want to submit stories, they can do so here: http://newsthump.com/writing-for-newsthump/
Please mention you’re from Comedy Crowd when you submit so we’ll at least know you’re reasonably well briefed – it might get you a bit more leeway, too!
So, some guidelines…
1. Topicality always takes precedence. If your article is about a well-known current news story (preferably on the day it happens and within a couple of hours of the story breaking), then it has a MUCH better chance of being used. That said, we’re using more and more non-topical jokes, so if you have a good idea for something not related to today’s news, send it in – it might not be used straight away, but it will go on the long list if good enough for use on a ‘slow news day’.
2. If you have an idea for a topical story, but not the time to write it up, send it in anyway with an outline of where the joke was going. I will pass it on to another writer and you will still receive a shared credit if it’s used.
3. Make it funny. This sounds a bit obvious, no? But think about who the target of the joke is. NewsThump is all about satirising current affairs, so focus on the ‘target’ in your take on events. Who are you poking fun of? If something strikes you as ridiculous, ask yourself why? After reading your story, it should be blatantly obvious who the butt of your joke is. We’ll mock anyone if they’re fair game, but NOT with lazy stereotype jokes (as a general rule!). We like to think everyone we mock deserves it, and so don’t tend to punch ‘down’ when we’re mocking a subject.
3. It should read like a genuine news story, NOT a sketch. A good headline with a clear indication of the joke helps enormously, and makes a big different on how well the story does on social media. If the joke isn’t obvious in the headline, try again. The first paragraph should outline the story and potentially the central joke itself, again. Use as many fake quotes as you can. If you are looking for style guidance then look at existing NewsThump stories, or even the news.bbc.co.uk site. There is a reason we mimic their style – they do it best!
4. 200-250 words is the guideline target. We do use articles as short as 170, and as long as 400, but if you’re going to deviate too far from that 250-ish word guideline, it had better be good!
5. Include your preferred method of credit. Do you want me use a different name? It saves me time chasing you if it’s in the article already.
6. We reserve the right to use anything used on the website in any other NewsThump materials, whether they be podcasts, radio, video, books etc. You would be compensated for this in the same way as the original article, i.e. a % of the the profits based on how much you contributed to the overall total.
7. Please don’t ‘borrow’ ideas from other sites or social media. We do check, but it’s important your story is 100% original. A quick search on Twitter or Google will tell you if your joke idea has been done already
Comedy Crowd interview with Richard Smith
CC: Why did you start NewsThump?
RS: Because I crave the validation I get from strangers on the Internet. That’s only partly a joke. Any comedy writer who tells you different is lying. NewsThump actually began back in 2009, but solely as a place to put topical jokes I couldn’t sell elsewhere. Over the previous few years I’d had some limited success writing jokes for TV and radio, but topical jokes that weren’t sold often ‘died’ within a few days never to be seen again. I’d had a ‘blog’ since 2003, so knew a little bit about how to set up a website, and thought it would be a good way to at least put out material I couldn’t sell elsewhere. A couple of other comedy writer friends joined in, but at the outset NewsThump was only ever intended to be a home for things we thought had no value (some might suggest that hasn’t changed).
It was probably 2011-12, when the site was getting over 100,000 visitors in a month, that material started being written specifically for NewsThump, but even then it was only ever a couple of things a day, three or four at the very most.
CC: How many submissions do you publish?
RS: We tend to publish between 5 and 10 stories a day, though it really depends on what’s happening with the news, and the quality of the submissions we get. Slow news days are the hardest, when there’s very little to actually mock. We do publish more non-topical satire and spoof pieces now, but they tend to be something we fall back on when there’s less topical material around.
CC: Why should an aspiring comedy writer be submitting material to NewsThump?
RS: There are a few good reasons, and some not-so-good.
Firstly, there are writers who started their satirical writing career by submitting to NewsThump who are have now written for BBC radio and podcasts, and shows like Have I Got News For You. It’s a good place to start if you are interested in writing topical material.
Secondly, any writer will tell you that one of the most positive learning experiences you can get is the audience feedback you get on your writing – and you get that in spades at NewsThump. You can go from having a funny idea to seeing it online in front of a quarter of a million people on social media in about an hour. Nothing will help teach you what people find funny quite like seeing the written reactions of thousands of people. In the interests of balance, that feedback is NOT always good – but you always learn from it.
Thirdly, you get to show off a little. It’s quite nice seeing a story go viral on social media and have your friends like or share something you wrote without even realising you wrote it. You’re a comedy writer, so you have an ego that needs a little attention every now and again, don’t worry, no one is judging you. Much.
Finally, you get paid, and paid writing gigs in the comedy world aren’t all that easy to come by. Writers at NewsThump get paid a share of the profit generated by their articles. So if your stories do well, you get paid more, as they generated more ad revenue. If your stories don’t do well at all, you don’t earn very much.
“But how much can I expect to earn?” I hear you ask. That’s the million-dollar question. There is no ‘average’ as story earnings vary so wildly, but I will say that so far in 2016 we’ve had three stories earn their respective authors over £1,000, a further 10 have earned over £500. But the vast majority of articles don’t to that well, obviously. There are far more that barely pay for a can of Coke than a weekend away. What it does mean though, is the most successful stories – i.e. the funniest – earn the most, and we like it that way. You would earn far more for 5 great stories, than 20 average ones.
CC: Tell us about the judging process for submissions that come in.
RS: Submissions arrive throughout the day after people post them via our website, and they will be reviewed by the editor on duty that day. That would usually be me, but others also cover when I’m not around. The first thing I look for is the story’s headline. This is where most stories live or die – is the title funny? Is the joke obvious? Are people on social media going to get it?
If the headline/title is funny, we can work with the rest – even if it’s not as strong. Very little goes up onto the site without being edited ‘a little’. Even if it’s just to tweak it to better reflect our house style. I’ve included some guidelines and tips on what we look for, so that should help. But the single biggest thing we look for, is ‘funny’. If the headline doesn’t make us laugh, it has little chance of getting on the site.
We get anywhere between ten and fifty submissions a day, but we’ll rarely use more than one or two sent in from people we don’t know. The majority of our content is still written by the 7 or 8 regular writers who have been doing this for a while now.
CC: Can you point us to a great submission you received recently.
RS: This is difficult, as the topical nature of the submissions make them seem less funny after the fact. A couple that tickled me personally (and did quite well on the site) are:
http://newsthump.com/2016/07/19/life-was-hard-as-a-black-woman-growing-up-in-america-says-donald-trumps-wife/ (the day Melania Trump was accused of plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s speech)
http://newsthump.com/2016/08/15/wheres-my-fcking-medal-demands-horse/ (the day Team GB won dressage gold in Rio)
I haven’t included any from the regular writers, or myself, as I wanted to show things that have done well from submissions by writers we’ve not really used before.
If you want to better understand what works on the site, have a look at the Facebook page. Everything we publish is shared there, and you’ll soon get a feel for what people respond well to with likes and shares, versus they stuff they’re not interested in, or don’t ‘get’.
CC: Are there any topics that you are particularly looking for at the moment?
RS: No, if it’s in the news, it’s fair game. There’s very little we won’t mock, if the criticism is legitimate.
CC: What’s the most common mistake you see in submissions?
RS: Hiding the good stuff in the body of the article. If your article has a killer gag, get it in the headline. This isn’t like writing for stand-up, or a sketch, where you can build to a joke KNOWING the audience will hear it. Unfortunately, people won’t click through and read your story if the headline isn’t funny enough – so don’t hide your best stuff 150 words in.