These are themed calls for non-fiction pitches or submissions. A few of them also accept other genres, like fiction and poetry. Some of the themes are: literature and its intersections with wider culture; earth and beyond; best things to do in a big city/national park; modern love; food in the (American) south; parenting; and rest/unrest. – S. Kalekar
The London Mag: Literature and its intersections with wider culture
Their pitch call says, “The London Mag is looking for more essays that explore literature and its intersections with wider culture. Don’t be afraid to match high culture w/low, to be funny, iconoclastic, and have an authorial voice. Above all, please do not write in the tone of a PhD thesis lol.” See the call/thread for examples. Details of the pitch call are here, and their general submission guidelines are here. For general, unsolicited submissions, they have certain fee-free periods. They pay, though pay rates are unspecified.
Type Investigations: New Pitch Guide
They have updated their pitch guide for the kind of work they want, and what they do not want, for 2025. Type Investigations “is a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to transforming the field of independent investigative journalism. We produce high-impact reporting in partnership with print, broadcast, and digital media outlets”. They have detailed guidelines, including the topics they are interested in right now: The erosion of rights; Political influence and corporate malfeasance; and Climate change and environmental justice. And, “While we welcome pitches from reporters outside of the United States, your pitch must have a strong and direct U.S. tie-in.” Regarding commissioned article length and payment, “Written features generally run between 3,000 and 5,000 words — though we do publish articles that are shorter and longer. Typical budgets range from $3,000 to $6,000 (including travel and other reporting expenses, as well as the reporting fee) and are based on the submission of a detailed reporting plan. We pay a portion of the fee upfront. When stories are published, we expect partner outlets to pay reporters their normal article fee as well.” See the call here and their updated pitch guide is here.
Live Science: Earth and Beyond
Live Science publishes freelance news, news analysis, features and explainer pieces, and have various sections: Animals, Archaeology, Health, Human Behavior, Physics, Planet Earth, Space, and Technology. One of their editors has issued a pitch call. “I edit the Space and Physics sections of LiveScience.com. I’m always looking for fascinating stories about our planet, our universe, and (just covering my bases) anything that lies beyond. Scientists and science writers, feel free to pitch me anytime”. See the pitch call here and their detailed, general pitch guidelines are here.
Business Insider: Best things to do in a big city / national park
Business Insider is looking for pitches. “Freelancers! Do you live near in/near a big city or national park? I’m looking for pitches about the best things to do in these areas!” Please see the pitch call / thread for past examples. Rates begin at $240.
Rewire News Group: Campus Dispatch pitches for 2025
Their editor has issued a pitch call. “i’m taking pitches for @RewireNewsGroup‘s Campus Dispatch series for next year. if you’re a high schooler, college student, grad student, or recent grad, i want to hear from you! Campus Dispatch explores how our issue set — abortion rights, reproductive health care, LGBTQ+ issues, etc — affects students.” Their rates start at $500 for reported pieces and $350 for op-eds. They want pitches preferably before the end of December. See the Campus Dispatch series here, general pitch guide here, and the pitch call / thread here.
In The Mood Magazine: The Future
This triannual pop culture magazine publishes work on “film, TV, music videos, and celebrity culture through essays, conversations, and unconventional forms of criticism like film diaries, poetry, and comics.” They’re reading submissions (up to 1,000 words) and pitches on The Future. They have detailed guidelines on the theme, including, “Our last issue was out of the past… now we’re heading into the future. From sci-fi (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) to utopian/dystopian (Born in Flames), in places near (Her) or far (Solaris), for our 12th issue we’re looking for experimental criticism on any films, TV, or music videos set in or that engage with the future”. Pay is CAD30, and the deadline is 1 January 2025. Details here.
Midnight & Indigo: Music
They publish works by Black women writers only – essays, as well as speculative and literary fiction. They’re reading unthemed work, and are also reading submissions for a special Music issue: “We’re looking for original, previously unpublished short stories and essays that use music as a prompt. Your piece can be inspired by anything from a lyric from your favorite song to a song title, or even a personal memory.” They pay $150 for essays, and $0.07/word for fiction. The deadline is 30 December 2024. Details here (Music issue guidelines and submission), here (general guidelines and submission links).
Dialogue Earth: Environmental stories in mainland Southeast Asia
Dialogue Earth is a non-profit platform that publishes environmental stories from local voices to audiences around the world. They publish work in English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, and Bengali; they only accept pitches, not pre-written articles. Currently, they are seeking Environmental stories in mainland Southeast Asia. Pay “Varies wildly per project, but let’s say USD300-2100, depending on photos, multimedia, travel, etc. Though, we are looking mainly for local reporters, stringers, and photographers in mainland SEA.” See their pitch call / thread on BlueSky here. Their general pitch guide is here.
The New York Times: Modern Love
Modern Love is a nonfiction column of the New York Times. They want “honest personal essays about contemporary relationships. We seek true stories on finding love, losing love and trying to keep love alive. We welcome essays that explore subjects such as adoption, polyamory, technology, race and friendship — anything that could reasonably fit under the heading “Modern Love.” Ideally, essays should spring from some central dilemma you have faced. It is helpful, but not essential, for the situation to reflect what is happening in the world now.” Also, “Love may be universal, but individual experiences can differ immensely and be informed by factors including race, socio-economic status, gender, disability status, nationality, sexuality, age, religion and culture.” Send essays of 1,500-1,700 words. They especially welcome work from historically underrepresented writers, and from those outside the US. Modern Love has two submission periods, March through June, and September through December. Writers are paid. Details here.
(Also see their Tiny Love Stories column; these are also personal essays similar in theme to Modern Love, but much shorter, of 100 words.)
Tasavvur: South Asian Speculative Fiction
Tasavvur accepts speculative fiction from South Asian and BIPOC writers during their reading periods; for non-fiction, they accept pitches only (not unsolicited submissions). “While we are welcome to any pitches you may have that pertain to South Asian spec fic in any manner, we are particularly interested in publishing the following type of work:
— Critical essays of South Asian speculative fiction, such as through a feminist, queer, and/or post-colonial lens
— Translations of non-English spec fic stories from South Asia (both traditional and contemporary)
— Deep dives into the speculative fiction traditions of different regions of South Asia, particular under-represented regions.” They have reading periods for fiction (currently closed), and non-fiction pitches are open on an ongoing basis. Pay is $100 for non-fiction. Please click on the relevant tabs for guidelines, the kind of work they are looking for, and other details. Details here.
The Food Section: The (American) South
The Food Section is “a daily newsletter covering culinary news and culture across the (American) South—and catering to an appetite for independent, rigorous, and ethical food journalism that puts readers’ interests first.” They have detailed guidelines; “The Food Section is actively seeking freelance contributors to add their voices to the newsletter’s mix, with a particular emphasis on reported stories that reflect the diversity of the South. … In terms of topics, the only real limitation is geographical. Just about every story has a food angle, but for The Food Section’s purposes, that story must unfold in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia (or the northernmost reaches of Florida, which The Food Section claimed because of its sunshine laws—which ought to tip you off that The Food Section is fond of stories with hard news hooks and corroborating data.)” They pay $1,058 for a 1,200 word feature. See their editor’s pitch call / thread here and their pitch guide is here.
Rough Cut Press: Reach
They publish work from the LGBTQIA community, and have monthly themed submission calls. Send short prose of up to 650 words on the ‘Reach’ theme. Pay is $25. The deadline is 27 December 2024. Details here.
Brigids Gate Press: Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved, and Insane – Nostalgic Terrors
They want horror nonfiction/essays (up to 1,000 words), fiction, and poetry for this anthology. “The genre stirs a sense of nostalgia for us all, through vintage television hits like Tales from the Crypt and Elvira’s Movie Macabre, to famed comics such as Adventures into Terror and Weird Tales. Give us your nightmares, your childhood frights, your sleepaway camp mysteries. … Where does your mind go as you conjure unimaginable apparitions just beyond your reach? We want to know… when did Horror take root for you?
Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved, and Insane: Nostalgic Terrors is a collection of original fiction, poems, and essays where new and seasoned horror writers recount their first experiences with the genre. A mix of terror, inspiration, comfort, and reassurance, this
anthology offers a powerful experience for those who seek to create and consume stories that transcend the page.” Pay is $0.08/word for prose, and $50 for drabbles and poems. Their submission period is 14th to 31st December 2024; please note, they may close earlier than the deadline if their submission cap is met. Details here.
Business Insider: Parenting
Business Insider is looking for pitches on: “- How hard it is to be a successful parent.
– How you can do everything “right” and your kid can still get in trouble
– How parenting is a lot about not having control and that kids are their own person.” See the pitch call here.
The Revelator: Three themes
Their website says, “The Revelator, a news and ideas initiative of the Center for Biological Diversity, provides editorially independent reporting, analysis and stories at the intersection of politics, conservation, art, culture, endangered species, climate change, economics and the future of wild species, wild places and the planet.” They have detailed guidelines. About the current call for pitches they say, “our primary focus in the first quarter of 2025 will be stories set in the United States along three major themes:
What we’re losing: Stories about species, ecosystems, environmental justice communities, climate battles, or other aspects of life on Earth at risk.
What we’re saving: How people are working to understand, stabilize, or reverse a major threat.
The Trump administration: What damage was done the first time around that we’re just starting to understand? How did people and communities recover after the first Trump administration? What are organizations doing to defend against the second? (Stories about regressive state or local governments are also welcome.)
Got a story that doesn’t quite fit these three themes? Try us anyway.” They do not accept pitches about their parent organization, the Center for Biological Diversity, or issues in which they have an active involvement. Their features usually run 1,000-1,400 words, pay $300-$500, and are distributed them under a Creative Commons license. They will reopen for pitches on 6th January 2024, for February and March issues. Details here.
Channel Magazine
This Ireland-based magazine publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. “We love work that speaks directly of a writer’s bond with and fear for our planet, and work that takes a local landscape, or a local flower, as its subject; equally, though, we love work that draws on an aspect of nature as setting, image or metaphor. We believe that all writing relies to some extent on historical engagement with nature, in that all human language has been shaped by our embeddedness in our shared environments.” They accept submissions in English and Irish. They pay €35 per printed page, up to €250 per piece and with a minimum fee of €50 for single-page works; €35 per 400 words, up to a maximum of €250 per piece and with a minimum fee of €50 for work published online. The deadline for fiction and poetry is 31 December 2024. Non-fiction (considered for both print and online) is accepted on an ongoing basis. Details here.
The Metropole: The City and Film
The Metropole is the official blog of the Urban History Association. They have listed a few themes for 2025, and have detailed guidelines.For The City and Film, “Born in cities and of them, cinema and the metropolis are intertwined. The Metropole welcomes pitches for its February theme month on the city and film: how specific cities are depicted in film, how cities try to incentivize film-making, films promoting urban development, the reshaping of imaginaries around cities and other means of exploring the metropolis through film.” Pitch deadline 15 December 2024, initial drafts due 10 January 2025.
(They’ve announced other themes too, with later deadlines: The City Aquatic and Los Angles). Word count of the final commissioned pieces is 1,200 and 3,000 words, and they pay $200. Details of their general blog guidelines are here and theme details are here.
Bolts: Pitch Guide
Their editor recently shared the pitch guide. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Bolts is always seeking to work with freelancers to report on critical voting rights and criminal justice stories across the United States. We encourage pitches that fit our mission to grow coverage of the local and state politics, elections, policymaking, and organizing that shape these issues—think of county prosecutors and sheriffs, secretaries of state and local election administrators, state legislators, municipal officials, and the activism brewing around them.” They publish in a range of formats: original reporting, news features, deep-dive research and explainers, investigations, features, and profiles. “Stories we assign and publish typically are focused on a single geographic area and have room to probe it … though we do also occasionally publish stories that pursue a multistate or nationwide trend. … We also seek to grow coverage of issues at the intersection of criminalization and voting access, such as felony disenfranchisement and the increased policing of elections, as well as the criminalization of abortion.” They especially welcome pitches from marginalized / underrepresented writers. They do not publish personal essays or op-ed articles. Rates are typically $800 for stories with original reporting. See the call on BlueSky here and the pitch guide here.
Room Magazine: Rest/Unrest
For Issue 48.3, they want submissions on the Rest/Unrest theme, from people of marginalized genders only (see guidelines). “In Rest/Unrest, we’ll unravel the forces and structures denying us rest and celebrate the act of reclaiming it. Send us your stories, poems, and hybrid pieces on moments of pause, sacred naps, and rebelling against our hyper-productive world. Editors Rachel Thompson, Holly Lam, Hamdah Shabbir, and Katie Stobbart welcome writing on burnout, rest as resistance, hibernation, fallow periods, reclaiming time, and your unique interpretations of rest/unrest. Submit your best work in any genre that lies down within literary tradition and rises against it.
Our editors are interested in sharp, relevant, and provocative works of CNF, fiction that is visceral, concise, and of deep emotional resonance, and poetry that urges questions, dreaming, and feeling inside the reader. Throughout these forms, we are interested in strong narrative and poetic voices that command our attention.” Send creative non-fiction of up to 3,500 words; they also accept fiction and poetry. Please note, they have separate submission portals for Canadian and non-Canadian writers. They pay CAD50/page, up to CAD200. Submissions will close by genre when they fill. Details here, here, and here.
Art UK: Drawing
Art UK is “the online home of every public art collection in the United Kingdom”, according to their website. One of their editors is looking for pitches about drawing. They pay £250. See their pitch call / thread here and their general guidelines are here.
Current Affairs: Factory Farming / Animal Rights
Current Affairs is seeking pitches for factory farming/animal rights. They have an online and a print edition. Print articles are 3,000-4,500 words, and online articles are 1,200 to 2,400 words. Their detailed guidelines are here, and their pitch form is here. They pay $300 for print articles, and $200 for online. See the pitch call here.
Poets & Writers: Writing Communities
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 section for advertisers, for March/April 2025, the issue theme is ‘Writing Communities’ (see ‘Upcoming Issues and Deadlines’ here). 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 (themes) and here (writers’ guidelines).
Public Books: TV Section
Their About page says, “Public Books unites the best of the university with the openness of the internet. … (The) mission was simple: to publish writing that is erudite without being esoteric and brings scholarly depth to discussions of contemporary ideas, culture, and politics. Public Books began with these precepts: that experts who devote their lives to mastering their subjects need to be heard. … Most importantly, that boundaries between disciplines and ways of knowing deserve to be bridged—and that barriers between the academy and the public deserve to be broken.” They have various sections, including Disability, Film, Global Black History, Higher Education, Music, Poetry, Politics, TV, Urbanism, and more. One of their editors has issued a pitch call: “I am the TV section editor at @publicbooks.bsky.social – please pitch me!” Regarding the kind of stories they are looking for: “… anything good about TV? I prefer stuff that really thinks about the medium in its specificity, incorporating audiovisual and/or industry analysis rather than only thinking about narrative or genre (though I love things that incorporate all of the above!)” They pay $150 “to folks not in secure academic positions (aka also to anyone who’s not a professor)”. See other stories in their TV section here and the pitch call / thread is here.
Outside Bozeman: Spring issue
This is a seasonal publication “that explores and celebrates the outdoor world of southwest Montana. Our magazine examines not only the dramatic beauty of the landscape and the innumerable recreational possibilities it affords, but also the issues surrounding its use and the wide range of lifestyles it engenders.” They publish features on outdoor activities and adventure, limited to southwest Montana and surrounding area, department pieces under various subheads, including Local Lore, The New West, Flora & Fauna, Pets, Health & Fitness, and more; and profiles of eminent and/or interesting outdoor personalities. Features are 800-2,000 words and pay $0.15-0.25/word, profiles pay the same as features, and department pieces are shorter, and pay $25-$150. The query spec deadline for the Spring issue is 1 January, and the assignment deadline is 1 February 2025. Details here.
New York Magazine: The Cut
This magazine has a comprehensive guide for pitching The Cut section. “The Cut publishes stories that address our readers’ lives head-on, with generous wit, honesty, and power. We are in a dynamic conversation with women about the issues that matter to them most — politics, feminism, work, money, relationships, mental health, fashion, and issues relating to equality”. They have detailed guidelines of what they’re looking for; they want “Smart, generous, funny writing that engages with the Cut’s readers and finds a natural home on our website under one of our four verticals: POWER, SELF, STYLE, and CULTURE.” They are always open for essay, column, and feature pitches. For essays and columns, they pay $500 minimum for 1,000–1,500 words; for features, they pay $600 minimum for about 1,500–2,000 words. Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.