Report on The Believer

By Andrea Grant and Dilan Schulte

Overview

The Believer is “a bimonthly literature, arts, and culture magazine.”[1] The magazine was partially conceived by Dave Eggers and founded in 2003 by “the writers Heidi Julavits, Vendela Vida, and Ed Park,”[2] and is “based at the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute, a department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.”[3] The current editor-in-chief is Joshua Wolf Shenk.[4] It is available in both print and digital formats. Viewing digital content of the magazine is free. A yearly subscription to the print copy of The Believer is USD$48.00 and contains comics that are exclusive to this medium. The print edition has also come with CDs and other bonus materials. The magazine operates under the McSweeney’s publishing, a non-profit publishing company founded in 1998 by Dave Eggers.[5]

The magazine is a five-time “National Magazine Award” winner, with some contributors of note being “Hilton Als, Anne Carson, Nick Hornby, Susan Straight, and William T. Vollmann.” [6] It also once included an advice column from Amy Sedaris — which featured guests such as Eugene Mirman — as well as a section called “‘What the Swedes Read,’ by Daniel Handler, which examines the work of Nobel Prize Winners,”[7] and a rock and roll listicle written by Greil Marcus. In 2020, the editor’s longlist of awards given to Believer contributors totaled, 10 awards for fiction, 10 awards for non-fiction, 12 for poetry, and 10 for graphic narrative.[8] The magazine also gives out its own annual book award called “The Believer Award.” A list of recent winners and finalists can be found at https://believermag.com/the-believer-book-award/.

Some “Vibe-Based” Reporting

Although the published content of The Believer is eclectic, its mission statement is centered around positivity in content, rhetoric or both. The general aesthetic of the magazine (its pop comic-styled imagery, its use of neon whites, yellows and greens, its often irreverent and youth-centric subjects, etc.) establishes this vibe. A 2005 article in The New York Times by A.O. Scott, outlines the inception of the magazine, describing how the magazine was originally intended to be called “The Optimist” and how the magazine has a youthful sensibility encapsulated by its “habit of nonchalantly blending pop culture, literary esoterica and academic theory” and its “unnerving ability to appear at once mocking and sincere.”[9]

A 2009 listicle in Paste Magazine ranking the “20 Best Magazines of the Decade” ranked The Believer at number five and included a quote from Nick Marino — Paste’s managing editor — describing the magazine as representing “several platonic ideals of the magazine industry: The writing is smart; the book feels great in your hands; the subjects share a particular sensibility but maintain some element of surprise. It’s a miracle that, with such a lean staff and so little advertising, the editors can do what they do.”[10] This does not mean that every submission in the magazine will be a love-fest — see our chosen article — but it does mean one can expect to encounter articles with a more introspective, contemporary, or at least “poppy” feel than say the cynical, doomsaying pieces one may find in other, dourer publications.

I copied several of their newest essays and interviews with the aim of getting a general word-count. Essays ran from 4000-to-10000 (ish) words although Dutrope.com claims that their essays are usually between 4000-8000 words.[11] Interviews were around 4000-to-5000 (ish) words. One of the recently featured interviews was with George Saunders (I’m a fan, so I included this). Other submission guidelines are not specified. At present, “features” and poetry submissions are closed, but submissions for illustrations, non-fiction comics, and books for review (and possible awards) are open. You can check out this link https://believermag.com/submissions/ for details.

Conclusions

The Believer has a good deal of enjoyable think-pieces, comics and interviews. If you have a cheeky, astute, topical, and/or pop-culture based submission in mind, you may want to submit to The Believer. You may also want to submit recently published works for reviews (publicity!) and see if you can win or be on the short-list for their awards. If you don’t have these things, stay away from The Believer, for there will be no forgiveness.

[1] Quoted from “About” section of believermag.com. See https://believermag.com/about/

[2] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Believer_(magazine)

[3] Quoted from “About” section of believermag.com. See: https://believermag.com/about/

[4] Staff can be found at https://believermag.com/masthead/

[5] See https://www.mcsweeneys.net/

[6] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Believer_(magazine)

[7] Ibid

[8] See https://believermag.com/logger/the-believer-book-awards-editors-longlists-3/

[9] See https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/magazine/among-the-believers.html

[10] See https://www.pastemagazine.com/books/magazines/the-20-best-magazines-of-the-decade/?p=2#6-oxford-american

[11] See https://duotrope.com/listing/1695/the-believer