Points in Case publishes enlightening and irreverent comedy daily.
Believe it or not, we’ve been online for over 20 years! Since 2000, PIC has indulged over 50 million readers through all sorts of literary comedy styles and forms.
Our editors don't follow a viral or utilitarian formula when it comes to selecting submissions—if it's funny it's funny, and we'll do our best to make it work. We invite thoughtfully-crafted, finished drafts from all perspectives and voices, and are willing to take risks on atypical concepts or formats, as long as they're humorous.
We currently accept the following public submissions on a rolling basis:
- Comedy Articles – Satire and parodies, observational humor, funny stories, humorous guides or essays, and open letters, including evergreen topics with an original approach, timely and topical humor, and offbeat ideas. We're looking for smart, fun, and eloquent comedy writing with personality or pizzazz, a strong premise, and a clear throughline. We pay $35 per accepted article.
- Funny Lists – Shorter, punchier comedy formats encompassing lists, quizzes, reviews, and other non-paragraph-style formats typically involving a series of beats. We pay $10 per accepted list.
- Jokes – Submit original jokes, one-liners, observations, deep thoughts, tinylists, and anecdotes directly through your PIC account.
We also offer the following private services from our experienced editorial staff:
- In-Depth Written Feedback – Get detailed insight and feedback on one article: how it’s working, where it could use improvement, and what's falling flat—plus tried and true comedy strategies for your work. These notes are designed to strengthen both your article and your humor writing process in general.
- One-on-One Video Coaching – Spend a full hour via video chat working on your comedy. Use this time to workshop articles, get feedback on ideas and premises, explore alternate directions or formats, expand your premises and angles, hone your comedic voice and toolkit, and more.
PIC is looking for creative, thematic, and entertaining Comedy Articles preferably 600-1,000 words. The ideal submission is irreverent but approachable, laugh out loud funny or bitingly witty, spell-checked and at least lightly copyedited, with a descriptive but catchy title. We're not afraid to take chances on a variety of humor styles and formats, but your article should be funny in standalone fashion.
Contributor payment is $35 per article.
Payments are typically sent within 5 days of acceptance. Our average response time is 14 days, and we reply to every submission.
Important Guidelines:
- Register a PIC account here before submitting! This is where all of your published work will go. Upload your photo and fill out as much info as possible; readers are curious. Note that your Submittable account is only used to manage submissions, and is entirely separate from your PIC account.
- Submit one article at a time. After receiving a decision, feel free to submit again right away.
- If your article is co-authored, be sure each author has registered their own PIC account, and then note the names of all co-authors in the comments.
- Simultaneous submissions are ok, but please withdraw your submission immediately if accepted elsewhere.
- We don't accept satire news, or articles already published anywhere, for any reason.
- Add-on options like Editorial Notes are available for a small fee; submissions are free.
- For more details and guidelines, view our main submissions page.
PIC is looking for Funny Lists preferably 200-600 words. Lists, quizzes, reviews, and any non-paragraph-style or short creative formats typically involving a series of beats are welcomed. Lists should have a catchy title reflecting a strong premise—for a list, the title may be what ends up selling us.
Contributor payment is $10 per list.
Payments are typically sent within 5 days of acceptance. Our average response time is 14 days, and we reply to every submission.
Important Notes:
- Register a PIC account here before submitting! This is where all of your published work will go. Upload your photo and fill out as much info as possible; readers are curious. Note that your Submittable account is only used to manage submissions, and is entirely separate from your PIC account.
- Submit one list at a time. After receiving a decision, feel free to submit again right away.
- If your list is co-authored, be sure each author has registered their own PIC account, and then note the names of all co-authors in the comments.
- Simultaneous submissions are ok, but please withdraw your submission immediately if accepted elsewhere.
- If you have longer work that happens to use a list format ("listicles"), use our Comedy Article submission form instead. For example, if the beats in your work each have more than a few sentences, we would typically consider that a listicle.
- We don't accept lists already published anywhere online, in part or whole, for any reason.
- Add-on options like Editorial Notes are available for a small fee; submissions are free.
- For more details and guidelines, view our main submissions page.
PIC offers paid services from our experienced editors, including feedback, notes, and advice to take your comedy to the next level. From first draft to final copy, we offer guidance for writing at any stage. Read testimonials from both established and new writers.
To place an order, add an article and associated details to the form below, then check the box at the bottom to pay for the desired service.
Punch up your writing and technique with us through:
In-Depth Written Feedback ($29)
- Get detailed insight and feedback on one article: how it’s working, where it could use improvement, and what's falling flat—plus tried and true comedy strategies for your work.
- These notes are designed to strengthen both your article and your humor writing process in general.
One-on-One Video Coaching ($49)
- Spend a full hour via video chat working on your comedy.
- Use this time to workshop articles, get feedback on ideas and premises, explore alternate directions or formats, expand your premises and angles, hone your comedic voice and toolkit, and more.
- Schedule a time that works for you.
- This service may encompass more than the one article submitted via this form; feel free to follow up in the comments or during the scheduling process with your goals or additional info.
These services are currently offered by our managing editor, James Folta, who also:
- Teaches comedy classes on parody and humor writing for NYC's Magnet Theater and elsewhere
- Works one-on-one with writers in NYC
- Co-created and co-edited The Neu Jorker, a New Yorker parody, and Paul Ryan magazine, a political satire project
- Co-created The Satire and Humor Festival and hosts the monthly live reading series “An Evening of Humorous Readings”
- Is regularly published by The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and more.
James is excited to work with you!
Questions? Drop us an email, we're happy to help.
Please note that standard PIC content submissions are free, and our editorial process is always unbiased.