Being a part of Allston Pudding’s family includes loud holiday parties, the occasional heated argument around Album of the Year season, group photos that land somewhere between “endearing lil’ family” and “dear god, why/how are they making those faces?”, almost always having someone to go to a show with you, different opinions and passions intersecting, barbecues in the summertime, and a deep love for one another’s contributions.

Unlike a lot of families though, we constantly question how we can be an even stronger, more inclusive group for writers, bands, and the community we’re in. With that constant pursuit in mind, Allston Pudding is officially opening its doors for contributing writing submissions. This will be an evolving, volunteer-based effort and, as such, this post may be updated to reflect new guidelines, suggestions, and thoughts.

What will remain constant though is that we want Allston Pudding to be a site that any interested music/arts writer in the area feels able to contribute to, no matter whether they’ve been in Boston for a week or know every venue’s door staff by name. To submit a pitch, please fill out our pitch form HERE or at the bottom of this article.

Guidelines and Tips for Pitching To Allston Pudding

• When filling out the form, please keep pitches under 400 words. Let us us know about the subject/artist, why you would like to write about it/them, what kind of piece you’d like to write (i.e. interview, long form profile, column, etc.), projected word count, and when you’ll be able to turn it in by. 
• Please do not send pitches, your band’s music, spam, or chain letters to my personal inbox. The pitch form exists to organize submissions. That’s it. Your music will likely go unlistened/unanswered in my inbox and I’ve been heartbroken by one too many chain letters in my lifetime to fall for another one. Please submit any news coverage, premiere requests, booking inquiries, or music be considered for a Localz Only mixtape to contact christine@allstonpudding.com.
• If a pitch is racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or just wildly off the reservation of good taste, we are not going to respond it. Think/research before you send and please avoid being a total jabroni.
• Before you send us your pitch, search our site to make sure we haven’t recently covered the topic/artist you want to write about. Additionally, if you are a new reader, check out some of our more recent pieces to get a better idea of what we’re looking for in a pitch.
  • To sum up Allston Pudding’s mission, we are a Boston-based music blog that covers the city’s music scene first, but welcomes coverage on artists from around the area/world that are touring Boston or somehow relevant to the city. Something overly generic and outside of our scope like “a think piece on the state of mainstream music” would not be a good pitch for AP.
• If your pitch is not approved, don’t be discouraged! You are always welcome to send in pitches as long as you follow these guidelines.

• I will make it a point to respond to a pitch within 1-2 weeks, but on the rare occasion that I take more than two weeks to respond, sending a quick reminder email is always helpful. That being said, please do not bombard my inbox with “did you read my pitch?!?” emails or contact us in any other capacity (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, at shows, etc.) That’s never helpful and lessens the chances of us posting your work.

• If we would like to pursue your pitch further, we will reach out by email and ask for 1-3 writing samples. Once we read your samples and reply with an ok, you are welcome to go forward with the piece or send a finished piece my way.
  • Samples should ideally be music/arts-related, but it’s more important that they showcase your writing and self-editing abilities.
  • Sending us your previously published samples is a huge plus, but not a requirement.
• Know that we fully aim to work with you on editing and publishing your piece once you send it in, but we reserve the right to not publish a piece for any reason. Big reasons include:
  • the final piece is different from the pitch in a way that is no longer publishable.
  • the piece is plagiarized either in part or entirely.
  • the piece is biased in a way that wholly affects the piece and cannot be edited.
  • crucial edits are disagreed upon/not made between writer and editor.

If you have any additional questions about writing at AP that aren’t covered above, please contact me at jackie@allstonpudding.com.