Compost is a website dedicated to Australian food writing written in a lively, optimistic style with no footnotes or endnotes.
Notes for Compost Contributors
What we are looking for
Compost is for food writing you won’t find anywhere else.
We are looking for articles that stimulate and challenge while being entertaining.
We are looking for articles that focus on Australian foodways – producing, marketing, distributing, consuming.
We are not looking for material that would be found in an academic publication or technical manual. We are looking for articles written in plain language.
We are not looking for restaurant reviews or recipes
The sections on the site
Big Mulch
This is an article of up to 2000 words which deals in depth with a particular topic.
Small Mulch
This is an article of up to 800 words.
O[pi]nion
This is an article of up to 1000 words where the author can express an opinion about a topic without having to provide evidence for anything they say.
Diggings
This section notes articles in other publications or sites that may be of interest to Compost followers. It takes the form of a short teaser paragraph, a comment by the section editor, and a link to the original material.
Scraps
This section is for notices about upcoming events, books, films, videos etc. that may be of interest to Compost followers.
What we won’t publish
- Offensive, obscene, pornographic or indecent images or material.
- Material likely to cause annoyance, inconvenience or distress to some individuals or cultures.
- Discriminatory or sexually harassing material.
- Defamatory material or material that makes misrepresentations or could otherwise be construed as misleading.
We won’t publish advertorial copy.
Our publishing frequency
- The Long Read – monthly
- The Medium Read – fortnightly
- The Short Read – weekly
- Opinion – weekly
- Compost (the current newsletter Paul produces) – weekly
- Gallery – fortnightly
- A ‘swing page’ – varying content – weekly?
- Podcasts (interviews) – no frequency suggested but suggested useful where someone is a better talker than writer
- Short Cuts (e.g three books I am reading) – weekly
- Events diary – updates as they are publicised.
How to submit an article
Big and Small Mulch and O[pi]nion
Email us using the Contact form on the site attaching the article and any images.
If you have a preferred section of the site for your article, tell us. If we think there is an alternative section for it we will email you and discuss that.
If we have questions about the content or have editing suggestions we will also discuss that with you before we make any changes.
We reserve the right not to publish your article.
You retain copyright for what we publish.
Diggings
Email us using the Contact form on the site with the link to the article of interest and a few words about why you think it may be of interest to Compost followers.
How to send images
Images should be sent as an attachment with a clear description of where they are to go in the article in the body of the email or an indication in the text and any copyright/ attribution information.
Everything else –
If you have specific questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.