Washington Monthly

The Washington Monthly is a publication covering politics, government, culture and the media. Before you pitch a story to us, we recommend you read through a few of our back issues online or in print to get a feel for the type of investigative, system-analysis journalism we value and promote.

The magazine is published Bimonthly and includes investigative and opinion-based feature articles (2,000 to 5,000 words), occasional short news items and humorous sidebars (500 to 1,000 words), and book reviews of recent political and cultural titles (usually about 800 words). We occasionally print excerpts from forthcoming political books. We never publish fiction, poetry, or celebrity profiles.

Our editors welcome story pitches that suit our editorial mix. We ask freelancers to submit query letters in writing by either emailing us at editors@washingtonmonthly.com or mailing submissions to our mailing address (below).

Due to the volume of mail we receive, we regret that we cannot respond to every story pitch.

All freelance pieces are submitted “on spec”; we don’t pay kill fees. The pay rate for published articles is 10 cents per word.

Complimentary copies of the magazine in which their articles appears are mailed to freelancers. Published articles are also available online.

Herizons

Herizons aims to reflect a feminist philosophy that is diverse and relevant to women’s daily lives. The purpose of Herizons is to empower women; to inspire hope and foster a state of wellness that enriches women’s lives; to build awareness of issues as they affect women; to foster a spirit of co operation; to promote the strength, wisdom and creativity of women; to broaden the boundaries of feminism to include building coalitions and support among other marginalized peoples; to foster peace and ecological awareness and to expand the influence of feminist principles in the world. Herizons is a non-profit organization based in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada.

What Herizons Publishes

Herizons’ audience is a feminist readership. Articles about applying feminist principles in work, in relationships and organizations, and in social justice are welcome. Our readers are interested in health issues, social and political issues, environmental issues, equality issues, justice issues, spiritual issues; parenting issues and all issues informed by diverse racial and cultural experiences. Articles in which the writer is engaged with the material work best; personal experiences, journalism style articles, interviews, articles which bring in current research and a clear feminist perspective are all things we look for.

NEWS
500 – 700 words. News items of interest to feminist readers taking place in communities across Canada.

FEATURES
1,000 – 3,000 In depth articles on feminist debates, current social/ political/legal/environmental/culture emerging issues or personal stories with a broader social relevance. Can be interview style, essay style or journalism style. Non academic writing is preferred.

REVIEWS
350-words Book, music and film reviews; preference is given to Canadian authors, filmmakers, musicians. $55

Payment License Use:
Payment is made in Canadian funds upon publication. Articles in Herizons are licensed for first time North American rights @ .25 cents per word with an additional .5 cents per word for non-exclusive subsidiary rights, including the right to transfer articles to CD rom for educational/academic libraries and/or secure on-line database services. (Total .30 per word) Herizons reserves the right to post select articles on Herizons’ web site in order to promote the magazine.

Hyphen

Hyphen has limited resources, but we pay $500 for in-depth, feature stories that carry the theme for each issue. We’re looking for writers who can depart from the predictable daily-news structure and tell a story well, with keen observations and strict accuracy. We welcome investigative reporting as well as literary journalism, thoughtful pieces as well as tongue-in-cheek ones.

We’ve got a bit of a split personality, so we want both fun and serious writing. As long as it’s well written and solidly reported, we’re very open. Bonus points if the story takes place in the South or Midwest. Asian America doesn’t exist only on the coasts, you know.

We are interested in issues that affect Asian Americans, but, please, no Asian American Studies 101. We are also interested in tangentially Asian American stories, in quirky stories, and in stories about emerging artists rather than established ones. We don’t have many rules, but here are a few. If you break these, your submission will be rejected:

1) Do not send ideas about people and events in Asia. We cover Asian America, not Asia.

2) Absolutely no reprints, though substantially revised or expanded stories will be considered. This means don’t send us something that has already been published elsewhere.

3) Do not pitch us a story about a conference. There is nothing more boring than a story about a conference.

4) Don’t send us anything that uses the phrase “East meets West.” Just don’t.

5280

5280 is the premiere monthly guide to the arts, entertainment, dining, and lifestyle issues in Denver. First published in 1993, the magazine has a circulation of 85,000 and is consistently among the top-selling magazines on metro newsstands. Many of our stories are written by 5280 staffers and a group of established freelance writers, but we welcome ideas from journalists we haven’t worked with in the past.

Literary Traveler

From the Web Site:

Literary Traveler was launched in March of 1998. We currently have around 80,000 visitors per month and over 5,000 subscribers. Our audience is made up of people who love to read and travel and who are interested in literature and the arts.

We are seeking articles that capture the literary imagination. Is there an artist or writer that has inspired you? Have you taken a journey or pilgrimage that was inspired by a work of literature? We focus mainly on literary artists but we welcome articles about other artists: composers, painters, songwriters, storytellers, etc.

Subject matter can be anything artistic or creative. Each one of our articles in some way is about someone who creates. Some of our articles are subjective first person travel pieces. Some take a meditative slant on a visit somewhere, and reflect on a theme. Others are objective articles about places or writers, or artists.

ARTICLE GUIDELINES

– 1500 – 2000 words in length

– First-person narrative that inspires our readers

– Please send accompanying jpegs (sized small)

**We cannot emphasize enough how important it is to read our current articles before writing. New writers to LT often make this mistake and we have to ask them to rewrite. Our articles have a unique style (i.e. no travel guide writing).

RIGHTS
We run material that has not been previously published. We hold exclusive rights, and will keep your article archived on the web.

I think I might try Literary Traveler with my trip to Puerto Rico next month, Perhaps writing in the footsteps of Hunter S. Thompson’s Rum Diary. These will all be on the Submission page soon.

Chris Young of the San Diego Padres demonstrates proper pitching form against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park on April 6, 2008. Photo by Will Parson

Over on A Photo Editor, Rob Haggart links to a great list of successful pitches made by writer Dan Baum and his wife Margaret Knox, the same list Jackie wrote about a couple posts ago on this blog.  An important thing that Haggart points out is that it’s not just a skill for writers – a photographer should be able to write a good pitch as well.

To digress, what’s my favorite magazine that Dan Baum has written for?  Playboy.  I once looked through my dad’s old Playboys and ended up reading a very long, probing interview with Steve Martin written just before The Jerk was released, and before he walked away from his act at the height of his fame.  As a side note, he seemed a lot more pompous in his Playboy interview back then than in his autobiography, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life.  Anyway, Considering the (old?) news that people are getting their porn elsewhere, maybe Playboy should just stick to quality writing.

Dan Baum, a former New Yorker staff writer has a bunch of pdfs of the pitches that worked for Wired, LA Times, Playboy and the likes. The lengths of each pitch vary but all put my quick e-mail to shame. One proposal for a series in Rolling Stones is a whooping 15 pages! That is longer than all but one of the papers I wrote in college.

Most of the proposals read very well with plenty of liberties taken with creativity while still laying out the article in very technical terms. It’s a nice refresher course (although I am not sure I can say I ever had a course to begin with) in making the editor curious about the story while proving it is also feasible. Interestingly, he also shares the pitches that failed, although I do not see anything that immediately sets them apart. Just goes to show you editors are individuals with personal opinions and while a pitch for killing and cooking a whole bull might work for one editor, it won’t work for all.

(via Boston.com)

Hi Larry,
Madonna’s recent injury inspired me to look into horseback riding options in the city. There are actually quite a few of choices and I think a story breaking down the different places and stables to go would be a very timely summer piece. Also, I want to write about acai bowls, a Brazilian dish that are ubiquitous in California but are only now starting to show up in South American restaurants in the city. Here is a stub about it to give you an idea of the dish. It is also a very summery fare and would be relevant for a June issue. In terms of my writing experience, some of my published writing samples can be found here. I am also a working photographer and if there are any photos needed for stories, I would be more than willing to work on something like that as well. Let me know if you have any questions.

Short, sweet, succinct, and a Madonna mention. All necessary ingredients for a successful pitch, right? Yes, actually, apparently it is. Larry wrote back immediately. asking for a writing resume. Writing resume? Yeh, sure. I’ll get right on that. Consulting a fellow journalist and google, I string together a list in a general resume format of places I’ve written (this blog included) and send it on.
Not getting a response as quickly as the last and certain it’s due to my weak references, I despaired and followed up, baring my soul.

Larry,
I realize my writing resume is a bit on the slim side but I would like to campaign for the chance to write these articles. I have been working as a photographer but started my journalism career as a writer and am still very much capable of crafting fine pieces. If you are still unsure, I would be more than willing to send my pieces at an earlier deadline or any other safeguard you would need to abate any misgivings.

Sincerely,
Jackie Snow

That was five days ago, a lifetime in the publishing world. Today, however, I get a response saying he has accepted my horseback riding pitch! Hurray! This just reaffirms my belief in following up relentlessly and using interesting ideas to get you in the door. And, of course, name dropping Madonna.