special report

BOYS LIFE

Readership: boys 8 - 18 who are members of the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts or Ventures

SUBMISSION SPECIFICS:

SUBMISSION SPECIFICS from their guidelines

BOYS LIFE publishes both nonfiction and fiction. Nonfiction MUST be queried, as "unsolicited nonfiction manuscripts rarely are appropriate for publication and regrettably must be returned unread." Nonfiction queries should be sent to Senior Editor Mike Goldman. Fiction should feature a boy or boys. Guidelines suggest writing "for a boy you know who is 12."

WHAT THEY WANT:

Fiction: Short stories of 1,000 to 1,500 words. One or two short stories are found in each issue. After reading six issues of BOYS LIFE from last year, I was left with the feeling that they like stories much like the old Alfred Hitchcock anthologies when I was a kid -- exciting, tense, with a surprising twist at the end. They use humor, mystery, science fiction, and adventure. Stories are fast-paced and strongly plotted. None of the stories I read had a focus on "reader learns something from reading the story." -- the magazine does seem to focus on giving the readers an exciting read. Send queries or manuscripts to Fiction Editor Rick Haddaway.

Nonfiction: Major articles run 500 to 1,500 words. Guidelines suggest looking at "a current list of the BSA's more than 100 merit badge pamphlets" to get an idea of the "wide range of subjects possible." Departments run 300 to 700 words -- health, science, nature, earth, sports, space and aviation, cars, computers, entertainment, pets, history, music and others. They also run "back of the book" how-to features.

Submissions should be sent to:

BOYS LIFE Magazine
1325 West Walnut Hill Lane
PO Box 152079
Irving, TX 75015

BOYS' LIFE pays on acceptance and buys first-time rights for original, unpublished material. Payment for major nonfiction articles is $400 - $1,500. Payment for department nonfiction is $150 - $400. Payment for fiction is $750+.

ANALYSIS OF SPECIFIC ISSUE

Contents:
BOYS LIFE
July 2004
This was their "High Voltage" fiction issue

Hitchin' Rack: This is the letters page. In this issue, they published several letters on the relative funniness of their jokes. The editors answer letters, which is a nice touch.

Head's Up: This section features short pieces: Tyler Hamilton (a cyclist) and an accompanying sidebar about the injuries he's incurred, the new Spiderman movie, July historical dates, Hank Blalock (a babeball player) at the All-Star Game, several shorts on specific groups of scouts doing note-worthy things, a new computer device that may be able to sniff for drugs or explosives as well as dogs, and the possibility of making Segways into robot soldiers.

Swimming Lessons: [Aaron Derr] Article about a program that teaches swimming, increases swimming skills and helps scouts earn their aquatic awards. Includes a sidebar on what defines "beginners" and "swimmers" in the BSA and safety tips for swimming. (two pages -- lots of photos).

The Dark Zone: [Maureen Crane Wartski] A fiction piece about two brothers and their adventure caving. Written in third person. This piece does have a point of self-discovery for one character as he conquers the adventure in the cave, his problems outside the cave seem far less difficult to deal with. Four pages.

Gotta Be the Shoes: [James W. Bennett]. Third person fiction. A sports story of an extreme underdog on an underdog team and how he learns to look on the bright side. The sports action was interesting but it was mostly a "slice of life" story. Three pages.

The Samurai Hitter :[James Janik] First-person baseball story about first appearances and prejudice. Three pages.

The Witch at the End of the Block: [J. Lewis Messina]. Third Person fiction. A boy discovers that the neighborhood "witch" is just a lonely old lady with a lot of interesting stories. Three Pages.

The Night The Headless, Blood-Drinking, Flesh-Eating Corpses of Cleveland (almost) Too Over the World: [Gary Paulsen] Third person. Fast-paced adventure-mystery -- long on plot and voice, virtually no "theme," but very entertaining. 5 pages

The Billion Legger: [David Lubar] Third person. I saw a David Lubar story in another issue also. Both were tense with a slightly unlikable protagonist who comes to a bad end. Very much like the old Alfred Hitchcock horror stories. In this one, the "monster" is a centipede. Three pages.

Scouts in Action: Comic-book style nf story of a scout who won a medal for heroism.

Pee Wee Harris Looks at Aquatics: Regular comic humor feature.

Games: Reviews of games, gaming systems and news bits about games. Two pages.

Collecting: A single review of a collectable and lots of short reader notes about their collections.

Think & Grin: Jokes from readers. Two pages.

This page last updated on 01 February 2005