For 30 years, the UK Anime Network has been a home for people who love to write about anime, manga or other passions originated in Japan. What started as a personal blog (not that the word existed in 1995!) for our senior editor Ross Locksley has grown into a well-read publication where anyone who wants to express their opinions can do so.
Who can apply?
We’re open to anybody who wants to express an opinion in a fair and balanced way. We don’t accept submissions that are advertising other sites or services, these would be considered advertising and such submissions would need to follow our advertising guidelines.
What can I write about?
We try not to touch on politics unless it’s engrained in what we’re discussing and the opinion is balanced. Otherwise we’re happy to look at articles, reviews, interviews or news items of anything relevant to the topics covered by the site.
We are regularly sent access to review material and all writers have access to these assets if reviewing them.
We are also on many press lists for events, where we can provide free entry to writers who are willing to attend. In some cases we will cover travel costs as well, but we aren’t flying people to Tokyo, sadly :)
What is the submission process?
You can email submissions to us, or once we’ve had a chat, give you access to our content management system so that you can submit your work directly.
All submissions are reviewed before being set live. Ross is a qualified journalist with 3 decades of copy writing experience, but be assured he has a light touch and mostly looks for grammar or spelling issues. Any substantive changes will always be discussed with the author, but this is extremely rare.
Do you pay for submissions?
No. The UK Anime Network is not a company, it’s a site run by fans, for fans. While we do offer advertising on the site, we are very picky about what can be advertised and where, subsequently we run very few campaigns and any money from these is used by the site to cover costs of hosting, maintenance and a small kitty to cover travel costs for any writer covering a show or event if available. One of the reasons the site has lasted so long is that it’s resisted monetisation and mostly relies on corporate sponsorship by Ross’ company, Etharius Ltd (who also own the site for legal and liability reasons).
Do you provide references for contributors?
Yes, if you’ve written for us we are happy to provide written references for job applications. We’re very pleased to have helped past writers find work at anime distributors, game companies and magazines, if we can help you find work, that’s our pleasure.
Anything else I need to know?
We have numerous writer-only areas online where writers can discuss ideas and support each other.
If you're happy with the above and want to join the team here at UKA, we'd love to hear from you.
