The New York Times covers politics, business, technology, science, health, sports, arts, style, movies, travel, books, education, jobs, real estate, and more. They accept opinion essays (400 to 1,200 words). According to payment reports, they pay up to $1.00 per word. Details here.
GEN is a publication by Medium about politics, power, and culture. They are looking for 3 to 4 pieces (on music, art, books, food, etc.) by critics of color each week. They pay $1.00 per word for essays/stories and $2.00 per word for reported pieces. For details, refer to this Twitter thread and this page.
Public Seminar is “a journal of ideas, politics and culture published by the Public Seminar Publishing Initiative at The New School.” They accept full submissions but recommend authors to pitch first if they are writing specifically for Public Seminar. They want essays and reviews of 800 to 2,000 words. They only pay students and people who are contingently employed. Pay: $200 per article. To learn more, refer to this page.
The American Interest is a bi-monthly magazine that focuses on American policy, politics, and culture. They welcome submissions of feature essays and book/film reviews. According to one payment report, they paid $200 for a blog post of 2,000 words. To learn more, refer to this page.
Prism is a nonprofit that is working in tandem with Daily Kos. They elevate “stories, ideas, and solutions from leaders, thinkers, and activists whose voices are critical to a reflective democracy.” They are seeking pitches for articles, essays, and op-eds. They pay 40 cents per word. They are also seeking comics, graphic stories, or other illustrated work, for which they pay $150 to $500. To learn more, refer to this Twitter post and their website.
The Morning News (TMN) is a webzine that covers “what’s interesting on the web, from breaking news to slow-tempo analysis, personal essays and restaurant trivia, investigative reporting, weird headlines, and videos from every era of David Bowie’s career.” According to payment reports, they pay up to $0.07 per word. Queries and articles should be sent to submissions@themorningnews.org. To learn more about them, visit this page.
Point.51 is an independent print magazine that explores essential contemporary issues in Europe. They are looking for pitches and story ideas from freelance journalists and photographers. They pay €300 for commissioned long-form stories and photo essays. They also cover some reporting expenses by prior agreement. Details here.
Areo is an opinion and analysis magazine that is focused on current affairs, particularly humanism, politics, culture, science, human rights, and free expression. They publish “thoughtful essays from a variety of perspectives compatible with broadly liberal and humanist values.” They want pieces of 1,200 to 3,000 words. They pay $50 for a regular piece and $100 for a feature. For details, visit this page.
Salon covers “news, politics, entertainment, culture, and technology through investigative reporting, commentary, criticism, and provocative personal essays.” Payment reports suggest that they pay an average of $0.12 per word. For more details, visit this page.
Overland is a magazine of cultural criticism, essays, and literature. Each week they list topics that they are seeking pitches for. They pay $70 for articles of 500 to 1000 words. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
AARP: The Magazine accepts submission from freelance writers on a variety of topics, including personal essays. They want “thoughtful, timely, new takes on matters of importance to people over 50.” According to our sources, they pay up to $1 a word. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
The Christian Science Monitor is an international news organization. They’re looking for in-depth, journalistic pieces that display “quality of thought.” They also publish personal essays in their “Home Forum” department. Their basic rate for a story is $200 to $225. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Parabola is the magazine published by The Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition, a non-profit organization. Each issue of Parabola focused on “one of the timeless themes of human existence.” The tag line for the magazine is “the Search for Meaning.” They pay $150 to $400 for essays, 1,000 to 3,000 words. They also accept book reviews, retellings of traditional stories, and poetry. To learn more, and to submit, read their submission guidelines.
Al-jazeera English is one of the better known outlets giving ‘a voice to the voiceless’. They receive over 100 pitches a week, and claim that all queries are looked over and carefully considered. They have a detailed submission page explaining what makes features, long-read interactives, photo-essays or videos stand out and tell the story they want.
Longreads is a blog from the company behind WordPress, the software which powers over 25% of the internet. Base pay is $500 per essay. Payment is determined by the amount of work. They also pay for features, at a higher rate, competitive with large publications. To learn more, visit their submission guidelines page.
