Send me Something
Steal something from the tech overlords to share with the precious printed world.
Floral Observer is open for subscriptions for 2026! We’re at nearly 70 subscribers of the 200 subscriber goal. Please leave a note if your subscription is a gift. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH.
Tomato Diary is in the shop! And it’s so good.
Next week you can pick one up from me at short run.
I’m back from Pittsburgh zine fest. A solid fest always. Organizers take note: the option to buy swag and a pay-what-you-will coffee cart and food table. Cheap table fee! Great turnout! Zine Fans. Excellent. I had a very taxing out-and-back drive. As I walked back to my car in the rain with my bubble tea I reflected on the day.
One of the most common questions people ask when I table is how I get contributors or if I take submissions. This post is dedicated to that question. YES! I take contributors! I put it in every issue of Floral Observer at least three times. Send me a pitch! Send me a classified! Send me a nature sighting! For winter we’re now taking nature sightings and classifieds. Please put one in.
In years past the biggest task of Floral Observer was the physical work of laying out and printing the paper. A drum would breaks, a dream would die. I’d drink my sugar free strawberry apricot redbull as a late night studio session ended in defeat. Now I’m gloriously home in my off brand slides, taking breaks. Even when my blue drum broke printing the cover of the fall Floral Observer all was well. Hydrate, regroup, pivot. I also feel a little more confident as a printer. Refining the template of the paper over four years means that layout is a few solid days of work once final drafts are in.
Now, for year five, my main objective is to get more people to tell their own stories about interacting with nature. I want new contributors, new topics, more people taking the time to tell a story outside of the algorithm. I find myself fishing through Instagram trying to convince someone to take their nature delights off-grid. This recent Herpetology photo-roundup from my friend and talented printer Alex Luciano was a piece like that. Alex is always adventuring and sharing her snakey-salamander-y finds as she rock climbs and bikes around Richmond and I am always commenting “SEND ME THIS CUT LIL GUY!” She made this wonderful photo grid with captions of her favorites. I want more of this for next year’s paper!
For 2026 I am actively looking for:
BIRDING CONTENT!
INSECTS!
PHOTO ROUNDUPS!
RECIPES THAT INCLUDE FORAGED/SEASONAL HARVEST INGREDIENTS!
PIECES THAT SHOW URBAN NATURE! (Nic’s piece in the fall Floral Observer about the Urban Bat project is my dream piece. Nature intersecting with the personal! Inclusive of people who do not own land!)
AMPHIBIANS/HERPETOLOGY ( I just love frogs and turtles so much. That’s it.)
DIARIES OF PLACE Tell us about the environment where you live. The plants, animals, weather, landscape, etc.
WORK THAT CENTERS CLIMATE DOOM/SOCIAL JUSTICE (buckle up)
I’ll have a summer open call for Water Worship. Other open calls TBD.
I am also shaking up the comics section. Taking things that are more like comic-essays, and some smaller comics that are 1/2 a letter-sized page vertically or horizontally. My talented friends BearBear made me see that this layout was not only possible but great with their half-page mushroom comic in the summer issue. Big thanks to the mycologist that emailed me to pointed out how Golden Oysters are invasive. They’ll be writing about it in the winter paper.
I am still not taking spot illustrations. I pay contributors of all features and comics and don’t have the budget to add in spot illustrations. All the small images are sourced by me from Wiki Commons and or other antique botanical engravings.
Best Practices:
Send me an email about your idea for a piece. This is especially good when you’ve read the paper and get what we print. The further ahead of time the better.
When I let you know “Yes! I’d love this piece! How about the (insert season) issue? Please reply! let me know that works for you. If people do not confirm I continue looking for content.
You’ll submit a rough draft by the deadline and I will send you back a round of suggested edits. You’ll be able to respond/edit your draft. Any final edits or cuts are up to my discretion but I always give writers a chance to collaborate.
You’ll submit your final draft along with your address/bio etc.
I’ll pay you! This is usually the week we go to print. You’ll also get three copies of the issue mailed to you. I have raised the pay for writers and now am able to pay $50 for features. Features are 800-1000 words. I’ll also be able to pay $25 for recipes or other how-to’s. Comics pay $50. I do not pay for the shorties: nature sightings or form open call pieces but I appreciate each and every one of them.
Right now we do not take:
Poetry Because the paper is column formatted I cannot give poetry the space and layout it deserves.
Houseplant Content
There are some other topics like bee keeping that I feel like we’ve covered in a lot of thoughtful detail. But please! Reach out! Maybe there’s a new angle to explore.
I can’t wait to hear about your piece.
LUV
RAH
Do you ship the floral observer internationally?