The following is a list of 9 magazines that accept pitches directly from freelance writers. All of these publications pay their writers. Some of them specify pay rates on their website.
Keep in mind that you’ll need to send a quality pitch, get the pitch accepted, negotiate payment, and follow the article through to publication — all before getting paid, at least for most of these magazines. If you want to succeed with freelance writing, I highly recommend enrolling in The No B.S. Course on Freelance Writing. Learn more here.
— Jacob Jans, with research by Fatima Saif
American Forests Magazine is a quarterly publication about America’s forests and trees. The magazine “features information for everyone from the environmentally conscious to the outdoor enthusiast.” Their feature articles are about 2,000 words long, while their mini feature articles are about 1,300 words long. Their Earthkeepers articles (that examine people who have worked to protect or manage a forest) are 800 to 900 words long. Our sources suggest that they pay around $0.65 per word. To find out more, read their writer’s guidelines.
South Dakota Magazine explores the experience of living in the state of South Dakota. It is published six times a year. They want articles that focus on South Dakota’s “culture, environment, lifestyles, history, heritage, natural resources or people.” They are more likely to approve articles that are accompanied by photos. They pay between $25 and $200 for feature articles of 500 to 2500 words. To learn more, refer to this page.
The Boston Globe Magazine is published weekly inside the Sunday paper of The Boston Globe (a newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts). For new writers, the best places to start with the magazine are the Perspective column (which includes opinionated essays of 800 words on timely local news topics) and Connections (which includes first-person essays of 650 words on relationships of any kind). According to payment reports, they pay up to $1.33 per word. To learn more, visit this page.
Metropolis is a magazine focused on architecture and design. Their “editorial scope spans design at all scales—from the smallest products to city planning.” According to reports, they pay up to $1.14 per word. To learn more, refer to this page.
Barefoot Writer Magazine helps writers learn how to earn money, work from home and get freelance jobs to achieve the lifestyle of their dreams. Their readers include men and women of all ages who want to make money from writing. They pay $100 to $300 per article. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Western New York Family is a parenting resource for Buffalo, New York metro area. They want articles that address parenting issues with a Western New York connection whenever possible. Since, it’s a regional publication, they give preference to local writers who bring local content for them. They pay $40 to $150 per article. To learn more, read their writer’s guidelines.
Utah Life Magazine is the only statewide general-interest magazine of Utah. It is a bimonthly print magazine which explores the Beehive state’s life and culture. Their text length range for departments is 100 to 400 words, while for features it is 400 to 3,000 words. They pay $25 for less than 100 words, $50 for 100 to 200 words, $87.50 for 201 to 400 words and $0.25/word for more than 400 words. Further details can be found here.
Electronic Design is an information source for electronics engineers. They cover the technologies that help engineers in making the “right design decisions at the right time – quickly & efficiently.” For the articles in their Ideas for Design section (which offers readers brief descriptions of circuits that solve a specific problem), they pay an honorarium of $150. To find out more, read their editorial guidelines.
Plane & Pilot is a magazine for “active piston-engine pilots and aviation enthusiasts.” They do not require their contributors to be published writers, they just want pilots who have a good story to tell. They pay between $101 and $260 to their writers. To learn more, refer to their submission guidelines.
