||| – + = { Real Pants } = + – |||

Real Pants is coming soon! The world’s newest literature-related website will launch on January 1st, and needless to say all the people are very excited. We’ve started sending out our PRESS RELEASE, which you can read here, but for more info check out this handy guide. Thanks for having a look! For a good time, follow us on Twitter @actualpants and like us at Facebook.com/actualpants.

What is it?

Real Pants is a website about literature. It’s run by Adam Robinson (publisher) and Amy McDaniel (executive editor).

Are you accepting submissions?

Yes! Here are the guidelines.

What does the name mean?

Nothing. (You’re not, like, missing a brilliant joke or anything. But one day after talking for hours about what we should call the site, Amy had to leave home and dash off to a meeting. She said, “Oh I have to put real pants on.” After the laughter stopped, we had our name.)

So it’s just another lit blog?

Well, we think RealPants.com is unique because all of the contributors will write a column on a particular subject, which we call a “beat.” We’ll publish each beat at a scheduled time, in the same way that TV shows are programmed to run at the same time each week. We also have plans to partner with other organizations to host events around the country. For example, on January 24 we are throwing a big party in Brooklyn to celebrate John Dermot Woods’s book, The Baltimore Atrocities (which Coffee House Press just put out).

Who are the contributors?

So far, we’ve signed on some great “full time” writers—

Amber Sparks, Bruce Covey, Dylan Kinnett, Elisa Gabbert, Jeremy Spencer, Justin Taylor, Kristen Iskandrian, Leesa Cross-Smith, Mark Cugini, Mike Young, Natalia Castells-Esquivel, R. M. O’Brien, Richard Chiem, Sarah Jean Alexander, and Shanna Compton.

Plus Amy and Adam will write articles, too. Everyone signs on to write about a specific thing for a few months.

What will they write about?

Lots! There will be stuff about reading and politics and music and food and style, plus lots behind-the-scenes news about publishing.

I’m an author/publicist/publisher or whatever. How can I send books for review?

There are lots of ways that we’ll promote new books we love—but Real Pants won’t run “traditional” reviews—the closest thing to that would be Shanna Compton’s “By the Cover” beat, where she reviews books based on their design elements. We’ll also spread the word about good books in the “Table of Contents” beat, in which authors can put together a menu that relates to their book, and the Prompts feature, where we ask authors with new books to come up with a writing prompt, which readers can respond to in comments. If you’ve got something upcoming that would be a good fit, contact amy@realpants.com.

Do you pay your writers?

We pay the beat writers, yes.

How do you get the money to do that?

We sell advertising space. The more we sell, the more we pay. If you want to advertise with us, wow, great! Contact adam@realpants.com.

Will all the writing come from these “beats” you keep talking about, or will there be other stuff too? 

Our writers can post about other stuff, too, whenever they want. And we’ll also feature random articles about interesting subjects, as they come up.

Will you accept submissions for those?

Yep! Look for our Call for Submissions once we launch.

Why do we have to wait until January?

I hate to say it but we’re still working on building the site, and setting up the ad model, and figuring out the process for lots of stuff. But I mean, anyway, January is only a month away.

What else do I need to know?

Uh, I’m sure there is something I didn’t think of. If you have any questions, hit us up in the comments.