Writer’s Guidelines

The BandWagon is northern Colorado’s fastest-growing music and entertainment magazine. We distribute 15,000 print issues in Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins, and the surrounding areas. Our focus is primarily the local music scene, but we also cover local business, art, and politics. Much of our content is written by a group of staff writers, but we welcome freelance pitches for both our print edition and our blog.

Send clear and concise pitches, along with a couple writing samples, to editor@bandwagmag.com. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be considered, with the exception of creative writing (see the Fiction guidelines.) Please address your email to the appropriate section editor (a staff list is available on our “About” page.)

Take a look through our back issues and current blog content before sending us a pitch. This is the best way to get a feel for the kinds of articles we publish and avoid submitting an idea we’ve already run.

Sections

  • Entertainment:

    Album reviews are typically between 300 and 500 words. We prefer reviews of local Colorado bands or up-and-coming underground artists nationally. Film reviews are between 600 and 900 words and should be of new releases (ideally during the month of or before publication.) Local band profiles run from 500 to 1,000 words about bands from northern Colorado and the Denver area.

  • Community:

    Local business profiles highlight businesses that are new, interesting, or undervalued in the community. Nothing under 500 words for this section. Art pieces are about local artists and galleries. We prefer profiles of artists who have a gallery opening during the month of publication.

  • News & Politics:

    News and politics articles are generally around 1,000 words depending on space and subject. They should be as current as possible and consist of completely original reporting. We do not publish op-eds or essays. Keep news pitches local to northern Colorado issues. Political articles can be about national issues but should affect or involve Colorado in a specific way.

  • Fiction:

    Short stories should be around 3,000 words. Please provide a short summary with your manuscript. We do not publish poetry.

  • Blog:

    We prefer our bloggers to write weekly columns about topics related to those in our print issue. One-off and time sensitive posts (like concert reviews) are staff written.

We require freelance writers to supply their own art and photography.