Here are the latest calls for pitches and articles directly from editors. This list covers a huge range of topics, including dating during lockdown, living with technology, Pride month, music, mental health, social change, and more.
Please don’t pitch these editors unless you are confident in your ability to send a good pitch. If you’re not, read this first.
– Jacob Jans
Thanks to Fatima Saif for her research on this article
Refinery29 is a media and entertainment company that focuses on young women. Their lifestyle director is looking for pitches for their Love Lockdown column (a weekly column about sex, dating, and love in the time of coronavirus). Send pitches to jess.commons@refinery29.uk. According to payment reports, they pay an average of $0.26 per word. For details, refer to this Tweet. To learn more about them, visit this page.
Real Life is “a magazine about living with technology.” The magazine is funded by Snap Inc. They are always seeking “pitches about living with technology (which currently means essays about how technology factors into living with the pandemic).” Pay is $800 for 2,000+ words. Details here and here.
HelloGiggles is “a positive online community for women.” They are “looking for personal essays for Pride month about how sexual/gender identity intersects with racial/ethnic identity.” According to payment reports, they pay an average of $0.05 per word. Send pitches to kristin.magaldi@meredith.com. Read their features editor’s Tweet here. Learn more here.
The Trouble is a magazine that focuses on the development of political strategies to confront climate change. They do not see climate change as a human error or a psychological defect, but see it as a fundamentally political phenomenon. They are accepting pitches. They “publish pieces that provide concrete suggestions or novel arguments for how the climate left can advance its goals.” The articles that they publish “advance conversation between peers, rather than educate the general public about the basics of environmental problems.” They pay $150 to $250 per piece. Read their contributing editor’s Tweet here. Learn more here.
Mundane Magazine is a Nashville-centric digital publication about music, fashion, art, culture, and sex. They are looking for Pride month pitches and new contract music writers. They pay $75 to $300 per piece. To learn more, refer to their executive editor’s Tweet. To contact them, refer to this page.
Mynah Magazine is an annual longform print magazine about Singapore’s untold stories. They are looking for stories for their Issue 4. They welcome “pitches for features, profiles, critical essays, photo essays, and comics.” They are “less interested in think pieces, op-eds and interviews.” It is not necessary for the contributors to be based in Singapore or be Singaporean. They pay 250-400 SGD per story. To learn more, refer to this Twitter thread. To contact them, refer to this page.
Deadline: June 22nd, 2020
Uppercut is a website that looks at games and other media through diverse and critical lenses. They are accepting pitches for June. They “prioritize critical work that provides an insight or angle on games that isn’t being talked about anywhere else.” They are also open to witty listicles or other creative ideas. They pay $50 per piece. For details, refer to this Tweet and this page.
Deadline: May 29th, 2020
Psyche is “a new digital magazine from Aeon that illuminates the human condition through three prisms: mental health; the perennial question of ‘how to live’; and the artistic and transcendent facets of life.” Their editor is accepting pitches on Twitter. They pay $500 for shortform essays of about 1,500 words. Learn more here and here. Contact them here.
NACLA Report is published by the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA). They are accepting pitches for their Winter 2020 issue. They are “interested in exploring Central America’s uncertain future—broadly conceived—through the lenses of a failed neoliberal consensus, multiple forms of violence, climate chaos, institutional failures, daily life in untenable conditions, and more.” For their print magazine, they offer honorariums of $100 to $250 per article. Learn more here.
Deadline: June 8th, 2020
Digital Trends is a website that covers all things tech. They are “looking for writers who can cover technology, digital culture and our changing human experience.” For short news posts, their rates vary. For longer news stories and features, their rates start at $250. Send pitches to psquire@digitaltrends.com. For details, refer to this Tweet. To learn more about them, refer to this page.
Civil Eats is a source for daily news about the American food system. They “publish stories that shift the conversation around sustainable agriculture in an effort to build economically and socially just communities.” They are accepting pitches. According to payment reports, they pay an average of $0.31 per word. For details, refer to their founder/editor-in-chief’s Twitter thread and this page.
Chicago Reader is Chicago’s largest weekly newspaper. Their associate editor has a limited number of opportunities for experienced music writers. Pay will be $50 per album review (around 250 words). Send pitches to jludwig@chicagoreader.com. To learn more, refer to this Twitter thread and their pitch guidelines.
StreetsblogMASS is “a daily news source dedicated to promoting sustainable transportation and safer streets throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” They are interested in story pitches about “public transit/walking/biking/mobility/safer streets.” They pay $0.50 per word for reported pieces. To learn more, refer to this Tweet. To contact them, refer to this page.
Mobilisation Lab is “a global learning and collaboration network powering the future of social change campaigns.” They are “looking for pitches specifically about what’s working in campaigning and organising strategies and tactics.” They prefer contributors from the Global South or marginalised backgrounds. They will pay $250 to $500 per piece. For details, read their Tweet and contributor guidelines.
Rewire.News is a daily online publication that publishes evidence-based news, commentary, analysis, and investigative reporting on sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. For Pride Month, their assignment editor is looking for “LGBTQ pitches that intersect with issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights.” Please note that they are interested in these topics year round. They pay $250 to $300 per piece. Send pitches to tso.tiffany@rewire.news. For details, refer to this Tweet and their pitching guidelines.
Cosmopolitan is a women’s magazine for dating tips, sex advice, beauty tutorials, fashion trends, and celebrity news. According to their op-ed editor, they are always accepting pitches. Payment reports indicate that they pay an average of $1.05 per word. Send pitches to their op-ed editor at jessica.goodman@hearst.com. To learn more, refer to this Tweet and their op-ed section.
UX Writers Collective offers online courses in user experience writing. They are accepting pitches. They pay $100 for blog articles. Send pitches to blog@uxwriterscollective.com. Read their co-founder’s Tweet here and their blog here.
Anime Herald is a website that offers news, reviews, interviews, and commentary on anime and anime fandom. They are always looking for outstanding article ideas. They encourage writers to aim for 1,000 to 2,000 words per article. They pay $50/article. For details, refer to their Tweet and contributor guidelines.
North American Guild of Beer Writers (NAGBW) is “the leading member organization of beer writers, authors, reporters, and podcasters who cover the beer industry.” They are seeking pitches for short, well-reported stories for their new project, The Reporter’s Notebook. They are launching this new project “to showcase the people and businesses that are finding new ways to survive, and to support journalists at a time when opportunities (and outlets) are shrinking.” It is important to note that this project is not exclusively meant for stories of-and-around COVID-19. They will pay $50 to $100 per post. Read their Tweet here and find pitching information here.
Reason is a monthly magazine and website that covers news, politics, culture, science, and economics from a libertarian perspective. According to their editor-in-chief, they accept “pitches from all sorts of freedom lovers.” Their magazine runs short columns and longform articles of 600 to 5,000 words. Their website’s articles tend to be shorter. Payment reports indicate that they pay up to $0.50 per word. To learn more, refer to this Tweet and this page.
Explore Minnesota is Minnesota’s official tourism website. They are seeking “heartfelt stories about your favorite fall Minnesota vacations for an upcoming print publication.” They will pay $400 for 800 words and $800 for 1,600 words. Email pitches to brian.fanelli@state.mn.us. Details here and here. Visit their website here.
Deadline: June 1st, 2020
Enemy Magazine is a print magazine that focuses on “abuses of power in news deserts and underrepresented communities across America.” According to their founder, they pay $1 per word. Send pitches to jake@enemymagazine.com. For details, refer to their founder’s Twitter thread. Visit their website here.
In The Building LA is “the most comprehensive source of news and information on the people, projects, and policies reshaping South Los Angeles.” They are seeking “freelance writers for a series of articles on Black historical figures critical to L.A. real estate.” They will pay $75 per article (about 300 words). To learn more, refer to this Tweet.
Cherie covers beauty, skincare, and wellness. They are seeking LGBTQ+ writers to write pieces related to Pride. They will pay $150 per piece. Send pitches to ann@cherie.com. For details, refer to this Tweet. Visit their website here.
Epic publishes extraordinary true stories. Their “writers travel the world searching for encounters with the unknown.” “Wartime romance, unlikely savants, deranged detectives, gentlemen thieves, and love struck killers: stories that tap into the thrill of being alive.” They don’t publish many stories a year, but they want incredible, cinematic, longform reported stories that you have been dying to tell. They generally pay $1 to $2 per word. Most of their stories are at least 5,000 to 6,000 words long. Send pitches to gina@epicmagazine.com. For details, refer to their deputy editor’s Twitter thread. Submit stories here.
Healthline is a health information website. Their editor is looking for pitches related to Pride. She wants unique angles, lists, tips, etc. Pay is $200 for 1,000 words. Send pitches to choshaw@healthline.com. Read her Tweet here. Contact them here.
OneZero is a new Medium publication about technology and science. Their senior editor is always looking to assign tech and science stories. She prefers reported articles rather than essays. Contact her at skessler@medium.com. Payment reports indicate that they pay up to $1.25 per word. For details, refer to this Twitter thread. To learn more about them, refer to this page.
Reverb is an online marketplace for buying and selling musical instruments. They have “freelance opportunities for music writers that can write about music gear, production and its history, and plenty more.” At the moment, they are “especially interested in pitches related to hip-hop and electronic music production, as well as other lesser-covered pockets of rock history, jazz, and beyond.” Their rates start at $100. Send pitches to dano@reverb.com. To learn more, refer to this Twitter thread and this page.
