Happy Tuesday, Modern Nexus community!

Some of you may have noticed a new page that has appeared at the top of our Modern Nexus menu. I've gotten plenty of emails, comments, and messages from users about how they can contribute to Modern Nexus without being a Staff Writer. "Can I submit a tournament report?" "Would you host my deck primer?" "Want this theory piece I've been mulling over for months?" Today, we are unveiling the "Volunteer Contributors" program to answer these questions and give the Nexus readership and Modern community a new way to help out the team and the website.

Volunteer Contributors are Moderners who want to contribute their work to the website and the general Modern knowledge pool. The online Modern community is brimming with detailed tournament summaries, high-quality deck guides, riveting theoretical discussions, and intricate card analyses, and many of these authors have asked me if there's a way they can get their work featured on the Nexus. After talking with some of these prospective contributors and looking at some other content sites, I'm rolling out this Volunteer Contributors option as a way of expanding our content offerings and providing Modern contributors an outlet for their work.

You can find many details about the new program on our "Contribute Articles" page, but I wanted to use today's announcement to highlight a few pieces of the program and preemptively address some questions.

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What kind of material does Modern Nexus want?

If it's related to Modern, we probably want it. This includes, but is not limited to, tournament reports, deck primers, sideboard and matchup guides, theory pieces, op-ed articles, banlist analyses, card evaluations, and much more. As long as it's focused around Modern, meets the Modern Nexus standards of research, evidence, and argumentation, and is relatively well-written, we'd love to see if it's a good fit for the site.

Are Volunteer Contributors paid?

At this time, only Staff Writers and the Content Editor are paid for their work on Modern Nexus. Given the size of the website and our very modest budget, there is simply no money to pay for Volunteer Contributors right now. I gave this disclaimer to some of the people who reached out to me about this possible opportunity, and many of them were fine with it. For them, it was still a way for them to contribute to a worthwhile cause (I'm honored you think this site is worthwhile!) and put their labor into a lasting project that will live beyond the lifespan of a Reddit thread.

Why submit content if it isn't compensated?

As a writer, I totally empathize with this question. Writers deserve compensation. That's why every member of our staff is currently paid for their work on the site, and why writers should always ask for money when submitting pieces. So, why submit to the Volunteer Contributors program if it's unpaid? For those interested in writing Magic content, it's a great way to get your foot in our door when we do add new Staff Writers in the future. As we work in 2016 to improve our monetization methods, this will naturally open up more revenue for additional staff. Regular Volunteer Contributors will be first in line to apply for paid Staff Writer positions for Modern Nexus. Additionally, as we add more features to the site and the Modern Nexus community, existing Volunteer Contributors will be first in line to get some exclusive rewards, even if those aren't directly monetary.

For those just interested in Magic and Modern, many of you have asked how to donate to the Nexus to help grow our site. We'll be thinking of some more formal donation structures later, but for now, your content donation is itself something that helps us expand. More content will help us get more viewers and reach a broader segment of the Magic world, so even if you have no interest in money yourself, you can think of your submitted piece as a contribution to Modern Nexus's continued evolution.

Finally, I know many of our readers and the Modern community at large are already writing publication-appropriate pieces on Reddit, on forums, on blogs, and through other venues. For those who are already doing this, the Volunteer Contributors program is a way to do so in a more formal and lasting setting, reaching a larger audience and being a part of an exciting community-driven website I've loved being a part of since last March. I know this sounds a lot like the canned, "write for exposure" response, but it's not intended that way and truly does come from a good place. I wrote primers on forums and articles on sites like the Overextended project without a dime of pay, and I would have loved a more regular opportunity to write for a site with the possibility of transitioning to paid status.

For more information about the program, article guidelines, submission information, and more, check out our "Contribute Articles" page for details. You can also ask any questions in the comments, or email the Editor in Chief if you want to chat in a more one-on-one setting. I'm excited to hear from our community about this new program, and even more excited to read some of the pieces from contributors. See you all in the comments and get excited for more Shadows Over Innistrad previews coming as the week progresses! Also, stay tuned for another article publishing right after this announcement goes live.

-Sheridan
Editor in Chief