These are themed calls for non-fiction. A few outlets also accept other genres, like fiction and poetry. Some of the themes are: all things book world; labour; teachers; fitness; underappreciated or overlooked writers; culture-tech stories; and humor. – S. Kalekar
Backstory: All things book world
The editor of Backstory Magazine has issued a pitch call. “Authors! Journos! We’re commissioning for issue 3 of our books mag, Backstory.” They want pitches on “all things book world.” They are accepting pitches for original features and columns. For columns, they say, “We are looking for punchy columns driven by a single strong idea. They could be written by novelists, non-fiction writers, journalists or others in the book industry with an interesting story to tell.” For features, “We are looking for original reported features about emerging trends in books, the business of books (everything from multinational publishers to indie presses through distributors to authors and agents), profiles of the characters in book world and anything and everything about bookshops. These could be written by established or debut novelists, non-fiction authors or journalists. We are especially keen on ideas that are sparky and fun. We are also open to data-led stories or ideas for picture essays. We are NOT looking for pitches for interviews with authors or book reviews.” Columns (450-500 words) pay £150; features (1,000-1,500 words) pay £500. The pitch deadline is 21st June 2024. See the pitch call here and guidelines are here.
Briarpatch Magazine: The Labour Issue
They publish “writing and artwork on a wide range of topics, including current events, grassroots activism, electoral politics, economic justice, ecology, labour, food security, gender equity, Indigenous struggles, international solidarity, and other issues of political importance.
We welcome pitches from unpublished writers, seasoned freelancers, front-line activists, and anyone else with a story to tell and a desire to tell it compellingly.” They accept features and columns, and have detailed guidelines. They are accepting pitches for the Labour issue, and the pitch deadline is 1 July 2024. They pay CAD150-350. Details here.
Astrolabe
They want “work about how we seek out, discover, and grasp onto connection. Into the woods. Across a line. Beneath the ocean. Along a seam. Into the branches of an alternate present or the crevasse of an alternate future. Across the rifts between one another. And then, once we find one other, the myths we make. We’re excited to see as many interpretations of this broad theme as there are stars in the night sky. We’re open to work of all genres, with a particular fondness for anything that moves beyond realism in form or content or spirit.” And, “We’ll happily consider fiction and CNF in all prose forms—prose poetry, micro, flash, and beyond—but we’re not considering lineated poetry at the moment.” Prose can be up to 3,000 words. Payment is $50. They will soon open for a fee-free submission period, from 20th June to 20th July 2024 (all fee-free submission periods for 2024 are given on their website). Details here.
Bright Wall / Dark Room: Heartbreak/Heartbreakers
This magazine publishes essays on cinema. “We’re an online journal devoted to long-form critical discussion of the intersection between movies and the business of being alive. The magazine was founded in 2013 with a goal of pushing the boundaries of typical online film writing—we look for essays not just from critics and film scholars but from poets, playwrights, novelists, comedians, and creative types of all stripes interested in experimenting with what film analysis can be.” Their upcoming theme is Heartbreak/Heartbreakers (submission deadline end-June 2024). Pay is $100. They have other calls listed too. Details here (theme details) and here (pitch guide).
The Bad Day Book: Parenting; Teachers
They have a series of topics they are publishing nonfiction and nonfiction poetry books on. “The Bad Day Book is a humorous de-motivational motivational book. A compilation of stories detailing different people’s funny bad days.” And, “Stories should be about bad things, but that are still funny. We are not looking to include tragic or heart breaking stories. This book is to get others to laugh, gasp, and cringe. Stories MUST be personal and true events that have already happened.” They have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully. They have various themes listed; of these, the Parenting and Teachers themed deadlines are this month. They have other themes listed too, including those with no deadlines. They want works up to 1,200 words (see guidelines). Pay is $40-75. The deadline for both the above themes is 24 June 2024. They have a different submission form for each topic. Details here and here.
Fitandwell.com: Fitness pitches
An editor of fitandwell.com has issued a pitch call. “I’m on the hunt for more fitness stories for fitandwell.com! Freelance writers, please hit me up with your pitches. We mostly cover workout trends, strength training, yoga, running, walking and Pilates. But I’m open to any good fitness -related stories. Particularly keen on first-person pitches, talking about something you’ve tried, and any stories related to walking. Fees vary, but we typically pay about $130/£100 for a short, 400-word first person story. More $$ for in-depth researched pieces.” See the call here.
BBC: Tech Features
Their Tech Correspondent has issued a pitch call for BBC. “I’ll be commissioning occasional Tech feature in my role at the BBC. My favorite pieces make mundane things interesting and unpack the systems we use everyday. The weirder and more fun the better. Generally shy away from business stories but everything’s in scope” And, rates are “About $.55 a word depending on the story”. See the pitch call/thread here.
This Magazine: Culture Issue – Arts Industry in Canada
Canada-based This Magazine “dedicated to exposing under-the-radar stories and to publishing smart, progressive commentary and reporting on Canadian politics, pop culture, social issues, and the arts.” You can read about them here. They have issued a pitch call. “We’re now accepting pitches for our annual Culture Issue! This year’s theme is an update on the arts industry in Canada. We plan to cover what’s going well, what’s in dire need of support/resuscitation, and how we can all fund our work given today’s challenges. Those include everything from AI to living costs to ad models that died and never recovered. But, it’s not all doom. While we’re not looking for many profiles of artists themselves, we do want to profile people who are working to find innovation in the arts in these rough times. We’re also hoping for stories that come from every corner of Canada, from the east to the west to the North. Keeping scenes alive in small hamlets and DIY methods are crucial!” Features pay CAD150-300, and columns pay CAD60-100. The pitch deadline is 4 July 2024. See the pitch call/thread on the current theme here and the general guidelines here (scroll down).
BusinessInsider: Essays from parents who ditched gentle parenting
An editor from BusinessInsider has issued a pitch call: “Looking for essays from parents who ditched gentle parenting. Why did you do it? What parenting style are you using instead? What was it about gentle parenting that didn’t work.” See the pitch call here.
BusinessInsider: Summer camp/vacation with kids
BusinessInsider is also “Looking for American parents living abroad to share their experience of summer camp/summer vacation with kids outside of the US.” Pitches are due end-June. See the editor’s pitch call/thread here.
Ploughshares: Look2 essays
Apart from work for the literary magazine, Ploughshares is also accepting submissions for the Look2 essay series. “This series seeks to publish essays about underappreciated or overlooked writers. The Look2 essay should take stock of a writer’s entire oeuvre with the goal of bringing critical attention to the neglected writer and his or her relevance to a contemporary audience. … The writer can be living or dead and from anywhere in the world (if there are good English translations available). Essays should make note of biographical details that are pertinent to the writer’s work.” They accept only pitches/queries of 1-2 pages, not completed work, for this series. There is no submission fees for Look2 essays. Pay is $45/page, up to $450. The pitch deadline is 15 January 2025. Details here.
Eighty Degrees: Tea
Eighty Degrees is a print publication, with some digital content, about the culture of tea; you can see the TOC for the latest print issue here. They are looking for pitches – their features and essays run to about 1,500 words. See the pitch call/thread here. It is a paid opportunity, though pay is unspecified.
Viator: Latinx Heritage Month
An editor for Viator has issued a pitch call for LatinX writers: “Looking to commission two personal essays for Latinx Heritage Month for Viator. Rate $290” – the pitch deadline is end-June at the latest, and the essay submission deadline is 15 July 2024. See the pitch call/thread here.
TechRadar: Smart home features
An editor for TechRadar has issued a pitch call for journalists who write on smart homes. “Smart home journos! Pitch me your features, whether you’re sick to death of smart plugs, in love with thermostats or wanting to get nitty-gritty and talk interoperability, I’m open for ideas!” And, “Fees vary depending on length/difficulty, but for a 500-word first-person feature or how-to article, around the £100/$125 mark!” See their Masthead here. See the pitch call/thread here.
just femme & dandy: Drag
This is a biannual literary & arts magazine for and by the LGBTQIA+ community on fashion; they want work on the ‘Drag’ theme. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Our definition of drag is expansive, and we invite you to consider how drag as the performance of gender shows up in your lives. We want to hear about how/when/where gender is performed, the day to day lives behind the makeup, the politics of gender and normativity, different forms of drag, how this all coincides with fashion and dress. While we would love to hear from up and coming drag artists and independent fashion designers, this theme is for everyone, not just drag artists and enthusiasts. If you have something to say about gendered performance, we want to hear it! You are welcome to send us submissions outside of the theme, but submissions that relate to the theme are highly encouraged. We accept anything that can be displayed on a website: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, tutorial, illustration, comix, photography, painting, video, drag, costume/fashion designs, hot takes, interviews, and so on!” They pay $50 per text-based submission and up to $150 per multimedia submission (video, photography, image + text, fashion spread + interview, etc.). The submission deadline is 5 August 2024. Details here.
Digital Frontier: Culture-Tech Stories
An editor has issued a pitch call for Digital Frontier; you can read more about them here. “Would love to hear some culture-tech stories! Looking for freelance pitches on subjects where tech (not just AI) is changing the way we engage with arts, politics, sport and society.” Payment is unspecified. See the pitch call/thread here.
(An editor has also issued a general pitch call for Digital Frontier’s next issue, and shared rates: $0.30/word. See that call/thread here.)
Rough Cut Press: Mirror
They publish work from the LGBTQIA community, and have monthly themed submission calls. Send short prose of up to 650 words on the ‘Mirror’ theme. Pay is $25. The deadline is 27 June 2024. Details here.
TheGamer: LGBTQ+ pitches on gaming
TheGamer is a digital publication that publishes game guides, breaking gaming news, and opinion pieces. Their editor has issued a pitch call for June, they want “LGBTQ+ pitches throughout Pride Month at @thegamerwebsite if you’ve a compelling idea you’d love to explore. …rates range from $80 – $120.” See the pitch call/thread here.
Diem Essays: Relationships, health, money
They publish “essays from a diverse set of writers twice a month, starting in February 2023. We’re interested in personal essays, opinion pieces, and conversation starters on topics related to relationships, health, and money. Most of the work we publish is through a feminist lens”. And, “Think of Diem as a reimagined Reddit or Quora, inspired by the way women already communicate. Over generations, social, political, intellectual, cultural, and economic information resources have defaulted to serve the “default male” population. As a result, women talk, having learned that the fastest way to obtain reliable, valuable information is through each other instead. Diem is building a social search engine to scale those candid conversations by embracing them instead. Our aim is to turn these conversations that happen “behind closed doors”—whether they’re about friendships, birth control, toxic masculinity, harassment,
chronic pain, big career moves, enthralling books, easy recipes, and everything in between— into public and credible resources.” Rates start at $200 for 700-word stories. See their newsletter here. See their pitch guide here.
The Globe and Mail: Business opinion pitches
An editor from The Globe and Mail has issued a pitch call. “This is my regular callout for pitches for the Globe and Mail’s business opinion section.” Please see the call for previous examples of the articles they have run. See the pitch call here.
Poets & Writers: Independent Publishing
They publish articles of interest to emerging and established literary writers. They publish News & Trends, The Literary Life Essays (on the more contemplative aspects of writing, ranging from creative process to the art of reading), The Practical Writer (advice and how-to articles that offer nuts and bolts information about the business of creative writing), and features – articles, essays, profiles, and interviews regarding American literature. According to their Media Kit for advertisers, for November/December 2024, the issue theme is Independent Publishing. They do not publish fiction or poetry, or reviews. They take both, story proposals, and articles on spec, and take 4-6 weeks to respond to queries or manuscripts. Details here (Media Kit/themes) and here (writers’ guidelines).
Room Magazine: Humor
This Canadian magazine accepts submissions of fiction, creative non-fiction, reviews (see guidelines), poetry, and art from people of all marginalized genders, including cis and trans women, trans men, nonbinary and Two-Spirit people (see guidelines). They’re reading submissions on the ‘Humor’ theme. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Genocides, heat waves, floods, fascism, an ongoing mass disabling event:the world is burning and it’s no laughing matter. But humour can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, a sacred instinct that keeps us alive and living amid the most devastating conditions. … Send us works that uplift to role of laughter in resistance, break comedic genres, explore the uses and limits of irony, upend white supremacist and ableist origins of standup—tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, alive-pan, cringe, unbelievable, absurd.” See their Submittable for details on the theme. Send creative non-fiction or fiction of up to 2,500 words, or up to 5 poems. Pay is CAD50 per page, up to CAD200; reviewers and web contributors are paid CAD75. Submissions on the Humor theme are open until filled. They have separate submission categories for Canadian and other writers, please be sure to submit in the correct one. Details here and here.
Tribal College Journal: Food, Energy, Water
They want themed feature articles and shorter pieces. All articles must engage tribal colleges and universities in some way. Possible feature article topics are specified on the website, but alternative topics on each theme are welcome. They want both long features (2,500-3,000 words) and shorter features (1,500-2,000 words), and various department pieces (some of which are unpaid – read guidelines). The theme for Spring 2025 is Food, Energy, Water. “As the global environmental crisis deepens, those who have contributed the least are being affected the most, including, foremost, Indigenous peoples. Uniquely positioned, tribal colleges are the vanguard in confronting this daunting future with its myriad challenges. At the root of it all is finding innovative, Indigenous-informed ways to evaluate and sustain food, energy, and water systems. What are some of the strategies currently being employed at tribal colleges and in Native nations more broadly? What role does AIHEC play as the “backbone” in this concerted effort? How does Native knowledge and the STEM fields together, working in concert, inform the search for solutions?
Deadline for feature story suggestions: September 13, 2024
Features deadline: October 18, 2024
On Campus featurettes deadline: October 25, 2024.” Payment varies. And there is no payment for Voices or Research articles. Details here (theme details) and here (guidelines).
Spheres of Influence Uncovered: Foreign investment or other forms of impactful economic cooperation, and more
There is a pitch call posted on n-ost (Network for Border Crossing Journalism). Spheres of Influence Uncovered is a Eurasian “cross-border media project that is seeking to stimulate and broaden public discussion on economic and geopolitical issues in our project countries of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.” (You can read more about Spheres of Influence Uncovered here.) “To do this, we are financially and editorially supporting the work of journalists who are interested in writing on related topics. If you have a story about foreign investment or other forms of impactful economic cooperation – for example, about Russian investment and impacts on the labour market, or EU-China competition to secure critical minerals – let us know! … We are especially interested in data-driven, multi-media, and cross-border stories. … For cross-border stories – you can send a pitch in collaboration with a colleague from another country, pitch alone and note that you would like to be connected with a journalist in our network, OR you could get in touch with your idea before the deadline and we can try and connect you beforehand. The stories must have relevance for the project countries cited above – for example, a cross-border story looking at an issue in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan would fit our criteria, but not a story about Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.” They pay up to up to €1,000 per author. The pitch deadline has been extended to 15 June 2024. See the pitch call here.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Two themes
They’re reading nonfiction prose and non-fiction poetry (no fiction) for various themed anthologies, and two of the deadlines are in June: for their ‘Funny Stories’ anthology, as well as the ‘Grandmothers’ themed anthology. They have detailed guidelines about the kind of stories they want, including:
— Funny Stories: “We are looking for stories about something that happened to you in your life – in your relationship with a partner or spouse, a parent or child, a family member or friend, at work or at home that made you and the people around you laugh out loud. Did you mean for it to be funny? Did the other person mean to make you laugh? Did a situation just get out of control? Did a misunderstanding turn into a comedy of errors? We can’t wait to hear your true stories.”
— Grandmothers: “the moment a grandchild is born, a grandmother is born too. And what an amazing experience it is. Everyone has a great story about the unconditional love between grandmothers and their grandchildren. We are looking for heartwarming, insightful, and humorous stories celebrating grandmothers.
Stories can be written by:
– Grandmothers about being a grandmother
– Grandchildren about their grandmothers
– Adult children about their mothers or stepmothers or mothers-in-law as grandmothers”.
See their ‘Possible Book Topics’ tab for further details on the themes, including suggested topics you can write on. They have other themes listed too, with later deadlines. Also see their FAQ. Please note, their submission deadlines change sometimes, so please double-check before submitting. They want works of up to 1,200 words, and they pay $250. The deadline is 30 June 2024 for the above themes. Details here and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
