no. 6
note: this was delivered to subscribers on 10 November.
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— Cole
calls for pitches,
jobs for writers/editors,
+ paid writing opportunities
Reminder: Vet each opportunity before submitting.
Inclusion does not equal endorsement.
Each opportunity is remote unless otherwise stated.
calls for pitches
News and commentary: The Objective is open to news and commentary pitches that fall under one of their main categories (Media Workers, Community Engagement, International Context, Story Frame, and Language). The pitch should include why this story aligns with The Objective's mission and why you pitched this outlet instead of others. Pay: $.50/word.
Op-Ed: Tina Vasquez, features editor for Prism Reports, is looking for a "thoughtful, nuanced op-ed about ‘the Latino vote,’ particularly from a Latino journalist who has covered politics beyond horse race presidential election coverage." E-mail pitches to tina@prismreports.org.
Personal Essays: Lara Parker, Director of Lifestyle and Trending News at Buzzfeed is looking for pitches for personal essays. “Are you someone with a story to tell? Did you go through a harrowing divorce? A friend break-up that broke your heart? Or maybe you have a parenting story you want to share?” Completed essays will be 500 - 1000 words. E-mail pitches to essay-pitch@buzzfeed.com.
Food and beverage: Chris Hatler is looking for whisk(e)y pitches for Men's Journal. He's looking for hot takes and personal essays with unique opinions and snappy headlines like "Old Grand-Dad Bonded Is My Favorite Cheap Bourbon" and "I’ve Tried Hundreds of Bourbons. Bib & Tucker Double Char Is the Smoothest I've Tasted." No deadline. Rate: $250. E-mail pitches to chris.hatler@mensjournal.com.
Travel: Stacey Leasca is seeking pitches for Food and Wine print. Specifically, she’s looking for pitches for features their “Travel Journal,” focusing on “Where to Go Next” in the U.S. for 2025. E-mail pitches to stacey@staceyleasca.com with “FW Pitch” in the subject.
Arts: Christa Terry, Arts Editor at Observer, is looking for pitches for December. Specifically, she wants "artist features (no Q&As), thoughtful art market analysis/business of art, art philanthropy analysis (def. need more here)." Rate: $250. E-mail pitches to artnews@observer.com.
Holiday stories: Noah Michelson is looking for holiday stories for HuffPost Personal, especially from writers with "diverse backgrounds / with diverse experiences" about "grieving at the holidays/parenting at the holidays/relationships and sex at the holidays/seeing (or refusing to see) family that voted differently than you at the holidays/creating new holiday traditions." Also says he "needs to see a draft" before "knowing if it will be a fit." Submit drafts to pitch@huffpost.com.
Food and beverage, Travel, Moving: Emily Krivograd, Associate Editor of Life and Entertainment at Business Insider, is looking for pitches on several topics, including high-end restaurant reviews (especially with a timely/public figure tie-in) like this example and relocation/travel pitches (visited all 50 states and know hidden gems everyone needs to see? did you move somewhere and hate it and move back?) like this example. DM on Twitter/X to pitch. Pay: $200 for 600 words.
Moving: Jess Orwig is looking for relocation stories for Business Insider. She is specifically "looking for people who have moved from the US to Canada, Mexico, Italy, Japan, the UK, or another country. The reason could be related to society, finances, work, retirement, family, diet, health, and more." E-mail pitches to jorwig@businessinsider.com.
Food and culture: High Country News and Fern News are collaborating on a new project and are looking for pitches for short-form (500 - 1,500 words) essays on "food and power in the West" from a state or local perspective from AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, WY, or Indian Country in the western US. They are especially excited about stories focused on "how power is being reclaimed as in how it is misused. The subject matter can be diverse: water, cattle, crops, restaurants, grocery stores—any or all of the interlocking issues that fit together into a food system." Send pitches to info@thefern.org with the subject line “FERN/HCN project.” Deadline: November 20, 2024.
paid creative opportunities
Canadian Writers: Geist Magazine is open to submissions of nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and comics until December 4. Submissions from "writers of color, writers with disabilities, LGBTQIA2S+ writers, and writers from other intersectional and marginalized groups" are strongly encouraged. Pay range: $100 - $1000 depending on genre.
writing + editing jobs
Daily Kos is looking to add a new editor to its team. You will be responsible for structuring, fact-checking, and polishing stories from Daily Kos staff and freelance writers for publication. You will also be responsible for preparing stories from AP Wire, nonprofit news organizations, and other content partners for republishing. Must also be able to work Pacific Time. Pay range: $82,400-$92,952.87.
Daily Kos also seeks a full-time staff reporter responsible for pitching and writing multiple stories daily. You should have at least 3 years of news writing experience, including conducting interviews, and have a solid base of go-to sources with a portfolio showing examples. Pay range: $77,250.00 - $87,550.00.
Raw Story is looking for night and weekend news writers to "cover breaking news in national politics, criminal justice, midterm elections, social justice, and extremism." You should "have excellent writing skills, familiarity and interest in U.S. politics and experience writing for a news site or reporting." The writer will be expected to work evening and weekend news shifts (3-11 p.m. ET / 12-8 p.m. PT).
DailyDot is looking for a culture editor to add to their team. For this full-time, remote position, you will "spearhead the development and refinement of content that intersects with the latest in entertainment, pop culture, and digital trends. You'll ensure that our content is timely and resonates deeply with our audience, maintaining high engagement through quick-turnaround stories and features."
GOLF Magazine seeks an associate news editor to join their team to "help manage, write for, and energize the site" on Saturday, Sunday, and to-be-determined weekdays.
Zillow seeks a full-time social copywriter to join their team to help shape the brand's public voice across social, experiential, partnerships, OOH, and more.
Lexipol seeks a full-time lead editor to lead content development across the Lexipol Media Group websites – Police1.com, FireRescue1.com, EMS1.com, Corrections1.com, and Gov1.com. You will be for helping to develop and publish "industry news, incident analysis, training, resource guides, product buying guides, human-interest profiles, and research surveys, as well as multi-media content like podcasts, webinars and videos." You will also act as " lead writer for sponsored editorial programs and product overviews and reviews."
opportunities from previous issues
Travel: Katherine LaFrave, features editor for Afar, is looking for pitches on “quiet travel—think unplugging, recharging, and resetting.” Their “features and essays enrich, inform, educate, and spark conversation. As well as diving into unplumbed places and parts of the travel experience, Afar’s features and essays expand the definition of what makes a travel story.” Rates: $0.50/word. E-mail pitches to klagrave@afar.com by November 13.
Relationships: Nonlinear Love co-founder Ariella Steinhorn is looking for nonlinear love stories. This includes “divorces and remarriages; dating horrors or delights; lovers who cropped back up years later; or even an unexpected thing you learned from your partner within a traditional marriage or relationship structure.” The rate is $150 for 800-1,000 words. E-mail pitches to ariella@superposition-stories.com. Stories can be published anonymously.
Writing Life: Remote Writing Jobs creator Melissa Tripp is looking for pitches for "real stories from working writers, particularly personal essays between 500-800 words that are brilliantly written and shed light on the world of writing for a living." Or "anything as it relates to your experience as a working writer." Rate: $200. E-mail pitches to rwjpatreon@gmail.com.
Interviews, Short Stories, Poems, Articles: Nonprofit Quarterly seeks articles, interviews, short stories, and poems for their print magazine's 2025 racial justice issue, “How Women of Color in the South are Reclaiming Space.” Deadline to submit: December 17. Pays: $150 - 300 (short stories, poems), $300 (interviews), and $500 (articles).
Short Story: One Story's submission window opened on 11/1 for literary fiction short stories between 3,000 and 5,000 words. Submissions will close when they reach 2,000. Published writers receive $500 and 25 contributor copies.
Travel Writing: Anthology Creative Awards is accepting submissions for their travel writing contest. This is for previously unpublished “engaging article[s] that will capture the reader’s attention, conveying a strong sense of the destination and the local culture.” Writers may submit multiple articles, but they must be separate entries. Deadline: November 30. The grand prize winner receives £500.
writing
+ marketing tips
The best writing immerses the reader fully into the story's world, whether fiction or a travel essay. This week on Writers in the Storm, Sandy Vaile shares tips on enhancing descriptions and bringing vivid sensory detail into your work.
Writing, like most productive projects, can feel daunting right now. However, writer and editor Sarah Welch offers unique insight on Jane Friedman's blog about how similar writing a book and painting a bathroom are.
Novels, like children, take a village to raise. But you shouldn't trust your manuscript with anyone who offers feedback. On Writers in the Storm, Dr. Diana Stout, with Llewella Forgie, gets into the specifics of critique groups, critique partners, and the best ways to screen potential help.
Naming characters is a more nuanced process than many give authors credit for. For Crime Reads, Naomi Kaye explores the most unusual names in the Agatha Christie library and shows how Christie used names as a storytelling tool.
Calm had an election night ad that quickly went viral across social media. T.L. Stanley discusses what made this marketing campaign so successful for AdWeek.
Allison Lynn Flemming has had multiple stories published in Chicken Soup for the Soul. If you've ever wondered what it takes to get a story into one of these anthologies, you can read Flemming's journey at WOW! Women on Writing.
agent updates, pitch contests,
+ new MSWL alerts
Reminder: Vet each literary agent and/or contest before submitting.
Inclusion does not equal endorsement.
LCS Literary Services will close to queries for author representation on 11/15. However, literary agent Michelle Jackson says she will update her MSWL before the agency reopens.
Junior literary agent Carey Blankenship-Kramer of Belcastro Agency is looking for “raw, angry books. Give me your stories where characters explore freely their powerful & strong emotions without shying away. I'm currently reading IMMORTAL DARK by Tigest Girma & am obsessed. Next is FEMALE OF THE SPECIES by Mindy McGinnis. Then BABEL by R. F. Kuang.”
industry news
+ interesting reads
If you're looking for literary magazines to submit to, the one resource you need to know about is Chill Subs. For Electric Literature, Willem Marx interviews Chill Subs co-founders Karina Kupp and Benjamin Davis about the platform, what it is, how it's changed, and what the future holds.
The ghostwriters and literary agents behind celebrity memoirs and novels chatted anonymously with Vulture, sharing what it's really like to work on these projects.
Literature has always referenced cultural touchpoints of the moment, whether political references in Shakespeare's plays or the designer labels in Bret Easton Ellis's novels. For The Walrus, Greta Rainbow discusses the difference between vague, timeless references and the hyper-specific "reference novels" that count on the reader knowing — or being willing to do research.
Last month, Laurie Gilmore's The Pumpkin Spice Cafe was one of the most-read books on Goodreads. With all the stresses of living in the world right now, these cozy stories are gaining more popularity with U.S. readers. Alexandra Alter explores a publishing trend that started in Japan and Korea and is finally beginning to gain traction with Americans for the New York Times.
Election season in the U.S. is finally over, for better or worse. Unsurprisingly, The Guardian reports sales in dystopian classics like The Handmaid's Tale and On Tyranny have skyrocketed this week.
When we were kids, our biggest challenge was making sure we could read enough each month to earn those free personal pan pizzas. For The New York Times, Sarah Bahr explores the history of Pizza Hut's Book It! reading program for students.
recommendations
Part of my novel writing process is reading potential comparative titles — books with a similar premise that would be next to an “if you liked this book, you’d like this” sign on a bookstore shelf.
So, this week, I devoured The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes and River Woman, River Demon by Jennifer Givhan. Dead women in bodies of water has been a popular image since Shakespeare’s time, the image of Ophelia floating rippling across generations. Both books have strong elements of magical realism and deal with race, class, memory gaps, and addiction but in completely unique ways and have incredibly satisfying endings.
I also started My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon, a Christmas in Vermont horror, which felt like a fitting escape from the news this week while still teaching me fun new tricks for my writer’s toolbox. If you loved the Netflix adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House and can handle triggering topics like cancer and abuse, you’ll probably enjoy this.
p o d c a s t s
As always, here are the podcasts I listen to and (re-listen to).
Limited Series
Culture, News, Politics, History
Books, Movies, Writing
True Crime
Note: I may earn a fee from purchases made at Bookshop.org using affiliate links.
