You keep copyright
You grant Fellowship Intelligence LLC a non-exclusive license to publish, archive and distribute the piece under the imprint, with your byline. No assignment, and no exclusivity window. You can publish it elsewhere too.
Partner and invited work
We publish other people, and we charge nothing to do it.
The imprint is open to writers we invite and to writers who bring us something worth publishing. No fee is paid and no fee is charged. You keep your copyright. The only thing that does not move: it has to be accurate and correct.
Not yet accepting submissions
The publishing agreement is with counsel and is not finished. Until it is, nothing partner-written goes out, because asking someone to write against terms that do not exist yet is not a fair ask. This page describes the terms as they will stand. If you want to be told when it opens, write to rights@thewrongdefault.com.
The four terms
These are the defaults. A signed agreement can vary them. Nothing else can.
One editorial standard
Your piece is held to the same standard as everything else we publish: accurate and correct. We hold final editorial approval, including the right not to publish. We do not rewrite your argument: we check it, we cut what will not stand up, and if we cannot put the imprint behind it we decline.
No money either way
We do not pay for pieces and we do not charge for placement. Reach and credit are the consideration on both sides. If you are looking to buy your way in, this is not that, and we would rather say so now.
Your name on it
Bylined to you, with a standing attribution line naming you and the imprint. A reader always knows whose argument they are reading.
How it works
Five steps, and none of them ask you to build us a citation package.
- 01
You pitch
A paragraph on the argument and a line on what evidence carries it. Not a finished draft.
- 02
We answer the angle in writing
Yes or no, with a reason, before you spend the week.
- 03
You draft
Write the piece. We are not asking for a sources file or a click-through sheet, just work that is accurate and correct.
- 04
We check it
We check the claims that need checking. Where something does not hold up, we come back to you before anything gets cut.
- 05
We schedule, or we decline
A decline comes with the reason.
House rules that apply to your draft
They apply to everything under the imprint, including the founder's own work.
No villains
Name the structural gap, not a culprit. Where a company is credited, the credit is load-bearing and survives the edit.
US English
Including when the subject is not American.
No em dashes
Anywhere. Rewrite the sentence rather than substituting another mark.
One image plus the cover
Where the piece carries a figure worth showing, that image is a statistical callout. Where it does not, a pull quote.
The short cut runs under 3,000 characters
No hashtags. No links in the body; the link goes in the first pinned comment.
What we do not offer
Hosting your publication
Your archive stays yours, on your own site. We publish individual pieces, not properties.
Running your pipeline
We do not operate production, build or release machinery under someone else's brand.
Payment or sponsorship
In either direction, and there is no arrangement that changes that.