A publication for people who make publications
Why this exists
The Quarry started in 2020 as a set of notes between four editors who had all just been made redundant in the same quarter. The notes were about process — how many edits a piece should get, what a correction ought to cost, whether anybody was reading past the fold. They were not meant to be published.
Six years later they are the entire publication. We write for the people who run small publications: the founders, the editors, the one-person newsletters that pay a mortgage. Everything here is reported from inside that work rather than about it from a distance.
What we publish
Four beats, in rough order of volume: essays on independent media, interviews with editors and founders, field notes from publications trying something specific, and craft pieces on the mechanics of editing and type.
- Essays — arguments about how the industry works and who it works for.
- Interviews — long, edited transcripts. The subject sees their quotes before we run.
- Field notes — short dispatches, usually with numbers attached.
- Craft — house style, editing passes, typography, the unglamorous half.
If a piece would be better as an email to one person, we send the email instead.
Editorial standards
Every piece gets three passes — structure, argument, line — and no piece ships on its first. Corrections run at the top of the affected post, dated, with the original wording intact. We do not take sponsored posts, affiliate links, or paid placements in the recommendations list.
How it's funded
Members, entirely. Free members get the weekly essay and the full archive. Paid members get the interviews, the annual field report, and the knowledge that five writers are paid a rate they agreed to rather than accepted.
Get in touch
Pitches, corrections and complaints all go to the same address, and all get read: editors@thequarry.press. We answer pitches within two weeks or not at all — if you haven't heard, it's a no.