Send us your smartest, strangest, funniest work.
Founded in 1999, Points in Case is one of the web’s longest-running independent literary humor publications. We’ve reached more than 50 million readers by publishing smart, original work from seasoned writers and fresh voices.
We don’t follow a formula when selecting work—if it’s funny, it’s funny. We welcome polished, previously unpublished submissions from all perspectives and voices, and we’re open to atypical concepts, unexpected formats, and offbeat ideas.
We accept submissions on a rolling basis. Article and list submissions are always free, our average response time is two weeks, and we reply to every submission. Optional paid add-ons are available for a faster decision or more editorial insight.
Submit Your Work
- Articles – Satire and parody, observational humor, funny stories, humorous guides and essays, open letters, topical pieces, listicles, and other offbeat formats. We prefer 600–1,000 words and pay $35 per accepted article.
- Lists – Shorter, punchier pieces built from a series of items or beats, including lists, quizzes, reviews, and other non-paragraph formats. We prefer 200–600 words and pay $10 per accepted list.
- Jokes – Original jokes, one-liners, observations, deep thoughts, tinylists, anecdotes, and absurdism of up to 250 characters. Jokes are submitted directly through your PIC account.
Before submitting, create a PIC account. This is where your Author Page and published work will appear. Your PIC account is separate from the Submittable account used to manage article and list submissions.
For complete requirements and additional guidance, view our full submission guidelines.
PIC is looking for smart, original, and entertaining literary humor articles, preferably 600–1,000 words. We welcome a wide range of humor styles and formats, but every article should have a clear premise or throughline and work as a complete, standalone piece. Please submit polished, proofread work with a descriptive, catchy title.
We pay $35 for each accepted article.
Payments are typically sent within five days of acceptance. Our average response time is two weeks, and we reply to every submission.
Guidelines
- Create a PIC account before submitting. This is where all of your published work will appear, so upload a photo and fill out as much of your profile as possible—readers are curious. Your PIC account is separate from the Submittable account used to manage your submissions.
- Submit one article at a time. Once you receive a decision, feel free to submit another right away.
- If your article is co-authored, each author should register their own PIC account. Include the names of all co-authors in the comments.
- Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw your article immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.
- We accept only previously unpublished work and do not publish satire news.
- We do not accept AI-assisted writing. Please do not use generative AI to draft or revise your work.
- For more details and guidelines, view our full submissions guidelines.
Add-On Options
Submitting to PIC is always free. For writers who would like a faster response or more insight into an editorial decision, we offer optional paid add-ons, including an Expedited Decision, Decision Breakdown, and Editorial Notes.
Add-ons do not affect whether a submission is accepted. They simply change the response time or amount of editorial feedback you receive.
PIC is looking for smart, original, and entertaining lists, preferably 200–600 words. This includes quizzes, reviews, and other short or non-paragraph formats built around a series of items or beats. Every submission should have a strong premise and a catchy title that establishes it clearly—for a list, the title may be what sells us.
We pay $10 for each accepted list.
Payments are typically sent within five days of acceptance. Our average response time is two weeks, and we reply to every submission.
Guidelines
- Create a PIC account before submitting. This is where all of your published work will appear, so upload a photo and fill out as much of your profile as possible—readers are curious. Your PIC account is separate from the Submittable account used to manage your submissions.
- Submit one list at a time. Once you receive a decision, feel free to submit another right away.
- If your list is co-authored, each author should register their own PIC account. Include the names of all co-authors in the comments.
- Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw your list immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.
- If you have longer work that happens to use a list format ("listicles"), use our 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 accept only previously unpublished work.
- We do not accept AI-assisted writing. Please do not use generative AI to draft or revise your work.
- For more details and guidelines, view our full submissions guidelines.
Add-On Options
Submitting to PIC is always free. For writers who would like a faster response or more insight into an editorial decision, we offer optional paid add-ons, including an Expedited Decision, Decision Breakdown, Editorial Notes, and discounted bundles.
Add-ons do not affect whether a submission is accepted. They simply change the response time or amount of editorial feedback you receive.