Pitch a Story
We are always looking to collaborate with freelancers on visual stories they are excited to tell. Each quarter, we commission a couple of essays (compensation details below), but we accept story pitches year-round (and review monthly).
What Makes a Good Story?
- The idea is worthy of public discourse. Would people debate the premise of the idea for 20 minutes? What assumptions does it challenge?
- There’s a deeper truth What does the story reveal (even if it’s buried deep in the essay)? Does the reader leave the essay feeling differently?
- You’re showing, not telling. Visuals make your argument more accessible and less complex than a thousand-word essay.
What to Send Us
If you have a story in mind that you're excited about and that meets our criteria, we would encourage you to complete this form to share your idea.
We have a standing meeting the first week of each month to review submissions and we try to provide feedback, regardless of whether or not we pursue the pitch, within a week of the review.
Want to know more? In this behind-the-scenes blog post, a contributor writes about the journey of turning her idea into a pitch and a published article.
Compensation
We pay $7,200 for end-to-end work on an essay. If we collaborate by providing some assistance in a non-editor capacity (e.g., we do the design), we will lower the compensation accordingly.
Time Commitment
This varies greatly from contributor to contributor. Many of the people we collaborate with are working full-time elsewhere and have limited time per week to spend on a story. At that rate, projects often take several months to complete. If a contributor has more time available per week to contribute, we do our best to help move stories along at a faster pace.