Write for Us
What We Want:
Family-Friendly. No drinking, no sexual content, no bad language or abuses of God's name. Our readers love our material because it's appropriate for all ages.
Personal Stories: tell us about your first car, your dog, a special memory from your childhood, the time your dad set the house on fire.
Clean Humor: we love to laugh until we cry (and we love a good cry too if you want to go that route!). We are always looking for funny stories!
Inspirational: we are looking for deep thoughts that provoke our reader's imaginations and spirits. Lead them to wisdom.
More Information
Do you think you have what it takes to become a writer? We would love to find out!
Please Download and Read Our Official Writer's Guidelines.
We have limited space and many writers, so please submit only one thing at a time, no more than 8 stories per year.
Our issues fill up five to six months in advance, so if your story is centered around a particular time of year (a holiday or season) submit it six months before you expect it to be printed. We often can't accept last minute submissions!
We publish material from all ages (our youngest writer was 6!) on a variety of topics, but do require a few things from our writers.
Acceptance & Payment: Turn-around time on an e-mail manuscript is usually a response within a week (unless you submit the last week of the month; then, our editor is busy designing the next publication's layout, and reading your e-mail will be postponed until the first week of the next month). Paper manuscripts may take longer response times. We pay by length. Payment follows the publication (usually two or three weeks later) and is generated on final word count.
We print local & American writers: out-of-country submissions will be declined. Out-of-state submissions are fine, but only if they fit our writer's guidelines. Colorado-based writers are welcome to submit, provided we have some indication that you are familiar with our publication and are writing in our unique flavor. (Make sure what you send us fits our tone.)
Include your name and address on your manuscript. We get submissions all the time with no name or return address on the manuscript. Don't do that!
E-mail your submissions to: charity@prairietimes.com or mail to: Prairie Times Editor Box 880 Byers, CO 80103