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November 14, 2017, how to get the attention of a senior editor at smithsonian magazine, jennie rothenberg gritz says of story pitches she accepts: "there has to be something surprising and narratively interesting there.".

Katia Savchuk

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The finished spread in Smithsonian Magazine. Courtesy Smithsonian Magazine

As a senior editor commissioning science features for Smithsonian Magazine, Jennie Rothenberg Gritz gets tons of freelance queries. Yet few cold pitches result in an article. Why not?

In an occasional series, Storyboard examines the elusive art of the story pitch. We talk to writers and editors about their tips, tricks and pet peeves, and annotate some real pitches.

(( Read more from The Pitch here ))

“They’re often stories that should be told, but they’re not being framed as good stories, with good characters, narrative and a little twist that makes you surprised,” she says.

That doesn’t mean Gritz isn’t looking for new writers with great ideas. The science stories she runs generally overlap with the themes of the Smithsonian Institution’s collections, including animals, the environment, space and human health. Contrary to what some writers assume, however, only the front-of-book section and certain themed issues require stories with a historical element.

I talked to Gritz, who previously edited web features for The Atlantic, about her pitching preferences and pet peeves. We also annotated a cold pitch she got from journalist Ben Crair that ended up running in the April 2017 issue; online it was called “The Biggest Tree Canopy on the Planet Stretches Across Nearly Five Acres .” Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s the best way for a writer to break into the Smithsonian in print ?

All sections are open to freelancers, but shorter pieces are the best way to start for a new writer. Our front-of-book section, called Prologue, recently changed to be all about creative, interesting takes on history. If someone does a 500- to 700-word piece and we really like it, then we’re more likely to accept a feature. It’s not super common to accept a pitch that involves sending a new writer to an exotic location.

What should freelancers keep in mind about your editorial calendar when they’re pitching?

With any magazine that has themed issues, you know they’re going to be thinking at some point in the year about how to fill them. If you look at our past issues online, you can figure out the themes. Every year, we have a package called “Evotourism” about places you can visit that have to do with evolution. We also have a “Future” issue every spring. There’s the “Secrets of American History” issue in the fall. In mid-September, we already have lots of stories slated for the following April.

“You don’t always need to have a character driving the pitch. It could just be an interesting juxtaposition of ideas or a really cool technology.”

How much pre-reporting do you like to see in pitches?

We want to know that the writer knows the subject. We also ask whether there have been other stories about the topic before. If the writer knows who the scientists or figures they’re going to talk to are, that’s really good. If he or she has a specific trip or place in mind, that’s also helpful. We want a story, not a topic: “Here’s a specific thing that’s happening, and I can tell you about it.” We have a few columns on science and history that are more personality-driven and essay-like, and some people have sent me fully finished pieces to look at for those.

Generally, around four paragraphs or one page sounds about right for a pitch. Some people really like pitches to be super-short, but I need to see enough to know there’s substance there, especially for a feature.

What sets apart the pitches you say yes to?

There has to be something surprising and narratively interesting there. If the story is about the natural world, either the person you’re writing about has to be super charismatic and interesting, or something done about the issue has to be amazing. Often I get pitches along the lines of: A species of lichen is disappearing, and a scientist is doing research to see why. But lichen isn’t itself interesting, and they’re not doing some wild, crazy thing to deal with the problem. An example of great story my predecessor commissioned and I ended up editing was about a scientist helping to stop the elephant poaching trade by creating a map of Africa based on elephant poop. Poop is super weird and interesting!

You don’t always need to have a character driving the pitch. It could just be an interesting juxtaposition of ideas or a really cool technology. In fact, in some cases it’s a low-hanging fruit to go for stories where a wacky, zany scientist drives a crazy car and wears crazy clothes. Unfortunately, women in science can’t afford to be wacky and zany as much as men and end up being missed. A good writer can just make things interesting.

What are some of your other pet peeves?

I get a lot of pitches that are about something that I’ve seen before. Sometimes I Google the subject and immediately see that someone else has already written the story. I also get put off when a pitch is too earnest: It’s a worthwhile topic, but it’s not interesting or too dry. We get a lot of scientifically minded people who don’t know how to tell a story and make things vivid. Often, I kick a story to my web colleagues, because for them it can be more of a brushstroke of an idea. For print, you need a much more fleshed-out story. If you want to be the kind of writer I would reach out to with an assignment, it doesn’t really work to send an email like, “I write about healthcare in China. Please keep me in mind.” Sending an idea that is novel and colorful is more likely to catch an editor’s attention.

What’s your preference when it comes to writers following up on pitches?

It’s always nice to get the email that says, “I haven’t heard back from you, so is it all right if I send it to other magazines?” It’s true in anything in life: If people are nice, you want to work with them more.

Many writers feel like they’re not always extended the same courtesy from editors. What should writers think when editors don’t respond, even when they follow up?

I think editors are just inundated. When I was in journalism school 15 years ago, we didn’t expect to get responses. It was a really big deal to get any response. Now that there’s email, suddenly we’re expected to write back to every pitch. A lot of pitches don’t get responses, unfortunately. But if there’s a sparkle of something that could work for us, I’ll often push the writer more. Some pitches have worked out through that kind of back and forth.

Pitching longform stories is almost as mystical as the ability to pitch in the big leagues. John Rooney/Associated Press

And here’s the annotation of the story pitch. My questions are in red, her responses in blue. To read the pitch without annotations first, click the ‘Hide all annotations’ button.

“Thimmamma Marrimanu is quite possibly the largest living thing on the planet,” says YD Bar-Ness, a treetop biologist who studied India’s giant banyan trees from 2008 to 2010. What effect did including this quote have? It showed that he’d gone far enough to talk to one of the experts on this topic and that there was a character. In the end, he didn’t end up being featured prominently, but when you’re talking about a tree, it’s nice to see that there are humans there as well. And it gave the pitch authority: A scientist was backing up his assertion that it was the largest tree on the planet. Using simple technologies like Google Maps, Bar-Ness measured eight giant banyans across the subcontinent. Thimmamma Marrimanu was the largest, but all eight trees were bigger, by area covered, than any known tree in another country. And yet India’s giant banyan trees enjoy little of the fame of other superlative trees, like California’s sequoias.

A banyan need not be giant in order to be holy. Smaller specimens grow all over India—they are “pioneer” plants that thrive in inhospitable places—and they too are often worshiped. In some areas of India, it is taboo to knock them down. As a result, banyans sometimes stand in fields as the only surviving plants from ancient forests, and their figs continue to attract monkeys, birds, and rodents. Human values and the natural world intersect beneath the banyans. They are symbols of what makes India so appealing to the imagination.

Further Reading

Jason fagone on landing “the willy wonka of pot” in grantland, by katia savchuk, a veteran freelancer on pitching the new york times magazine and more, how to break into the california sunday magazine.

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COACHING + PUBLISHING

FORMATTING + DESIGN

FREELANCE COMMUNITY

• Write for Magazines: 21 Publications That Pay $500+ Per Assignment

Evan Jensen

1. AARP, The Magazine

2. alaska beyond, 3. the atlantic, 4. chatelaine magazine, 5. delta sky, 6. discover magazine, 7. early american life, 8. earth island journal, 9. eating well, 10. enroute, 11. family circle, 13. green entrepreneur, 14. hakai magazine, 15. hemispheres, 16. kitplanes, 17. liisbeth, 18. popular science, 20. smithsonian, 21. the sun, get paid to write for magazines.

It’s a great way to make a living writing if you pitch the right publications. How about $500 or more per assignment?

If you’ve been cranking out magazine stories for $50 to $150 a pop, you may be wondering if that’s really even possible. That’s often the going rate for local, regional, or small-circulation magazines.

If you want to write for magazines, and have limited experience, these are great places to get some clips, and earn some money, but it shouldn’t be your last stop.

Many consumer and trade magazines pay $500 or more per assignment. And the pitching process is pretty much the same as smaller pubs:

• Identify a magazine you want to write for
• Study the submission guidelines
• Develop a solid story idea
• Do a little research and interview a source
• Write a killer query letter, and pitch your story idea to an editor

If you can do that, you’ve got the chops to get paid well to write for any magazine on the market . But you need to know where to look for those $500-plus assignments. Check out these 21 magazines to find freelance writing jobs .

Here’s an interesting fact about the magazine published for readers over age 50. AARP has the highest circulation of any magazine in the United States, with more than 35 million subscribers.

That also means it pays well, on average $1/word or $1,500 per assignment. Publishes news, features, how-tos, and essays about money, health and fitness, food, travel, relationships, and more for over-50 readers.

AARP  may be a tough magazine to crack for newbies, but it’s not impossible. Smart networking efforts and a solid story idea helped Freelance Writers Den member Willi Morris land an assignment with AARP , one of her dream clients.

Contact: Senior Editor George Mannes or Features Editor George Blooston

Not all in-flight magazines openly publish writer’s guidelines, but  Alaska Beyond is one that does. About 75 percent of this magazine is written by freelancers. Best way to break in: Pitch a short piece for “The Feed” department. Then you’re a lot more likely to land higher paying assignments (up to $700) for travel, news, and feature stories.

Contact: Editor Paul Frichtl

If you want to write for The Atlantic , a magazine that covers news and analysis on politics, business, culture, technology, national, international and political life, read this by former Atlantic staffer Garance Franke-Ruta: “ How (not) to pitch: A guide for freelance writers .”

FYI –  The Atlantic is also open to working with new freelancers. It’s where Freelance Writers Den member Douglas Fitzpatrick landed his first magazine assignment as a newbie for a piece about the career trajectory of Donald Trump.

Want to write for  The Atlantic?  Study the magazine and  pitch an idea with a query first . Pays $150 to $1,600 depending on assignment.

Contact: See department staff info here

Chatelaine is a popular monthly women’s magazine in Canada that covers health and fitness, finance, social issues, fashion, beauty, food, and home decor. It’s target audience is active women ages 25 to 54.

“The Health section covers the latest news and studies, gives fitness and workout tips and explores hot-button issues,” says Managing Editor Laura Brown. Query with a story idea first. Pays an average of $1/word or $1,500 per assignment.

Contact:  Managing Editor Laura Brown

If you’re interested in writing for custom pubs for airlines, pitch the in-flight magazine Delta Sky . Carol Tice happens to be a regular contributor, including a  story in the November 2018 issue.

Pitch story ideas about food, sports, lifestyle, business, and travel (including international destinations). The current issue includes stories about destinations around the world like Seoul, Korea, Beijing, China, Grenada, and must-see places across the U.S.

Contact: Editor Sarah Elbert

If you customized your search in  Writer’s Market to find magazines that pay the highest rate, this is one that would rise to the top of the list. How about $2/word or $3,000 for a 1,500-word feature story.

This science-based magazines features stories about medical research, scientific breakthroughs, technology, physics, space travel, and even paleontology. Keep in mind it’s written for a lay audience, so academic language won’t get you an assignment.

Want to write for Discover? Here’s some advice from freelancer  Susan Etchey : “The only way a new writer has a chance to get the attention of its editors is to have an explosive, compelling untold science story to tell.”

Contact: Senior Editor  Gemma Tarlach  or another member of the  editorial team .

From colonization to life in the mid-1800s, this magazine features stories about history, architecture, antiques, crafts, and travel destinations for people interested in early American life.

In the most recent issue, you’ll learn about rolling pins from the Colonial era, the evolution of the bald eagle as America’s mascot, brewing in the 1700s, and more.

Know how to dig up the bones to pitch a story about early American life? It’s worth the effort. This pub pays an average of $500 to $2,000 per assignment.

Contact: Executive Editor Jenmarie Andrews

If you want to write for  Earth Island Journal , follow the first rule of writing for any magazine. Read it. Study back issues.

In the current issue, you’ll learn about Donald Trumps rhetoric about the environment, the trouble with hydroponic growing and our food supply, bee conservation, a curious new way to clean up trash, and more.

Pays an average of $1,000 per assignment for stories about science, technology, the environment, and people making a difference.

Contact: Editor Maureen Nandini Mitra

Get in line at the grocery story, and you might see this magazine on the news stand. But it’s not just a magazine filled with recipes, photos of tasty food, and tips for healthy eating.

There’s a lot more “meat” in the pages of Eating Well that explains the science behind the taste, textures, and flavors that make food delicious. If you can combine smart storytelling with science and food, write a query letter and pitch an idea.  Eating Well pays an average of $1/word.

Contact :  Associate Nutrition Editor Julia Westbrook  or another member of the editorial team.

Glamping, conservation efforts, fishing for a record-setting marlin, and a Canadian’s guide to the Louvre. Those are just a few of the the types of stories featured in Air Canad’s in-flight magazine enRoute.

“We engage our audience through intelligent writing, insight, humour and spot-on service journalism,” says Editor-in-chief Jean-François Légaré. Study the guidelines, back issues, and  media kit  before pitching a story idea.

Contact: Editor Caitlin Walsh Miller

How do you run a house, pursue a career, take care of kids, eat healthy, look good, and feel good? It’s the kind of answers you’ll find in the articles published in Family Circle magazine. It’s a national women’s magazine with a circulation of around 4.2 million readers, and a healthy budget to pay freelancers $1/word.

Need some story ideas? In the current issue, you’ll find stories about raising teenagers, the struggle to lose weight and keep it off, popular vacation spots for kids, and more

Contact:  Associate Editor Caroline Mullen or another member of the editorial staff .

Carol Tice spend over a decade writing about business, commerce, entrepreneurship, finance, and big businesses like Amazon and Microsoft. And it was the perfect proving ground for her to land a long-term gig writing for Forbes.

This business magazine is among the most recognized for publishing stories about the people, businesses, and trends in entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, and more. And it’s good for freelancers. Forbes pays an average of $1/word and up.

In the most current issue, you’ll learn about tennis phenom Serena Williams smart investing strategies. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the deal to build Trump Tower. You’ll be exposed to a new perspective on climate change truths that may impact everyone’s bottom line, and more.

Contact: Senior Editor Susan Adams or another member of the editorial staff.

Last year, Entrepreneur  magazine launched  GreenEntrepreneur.com , to give readers that latest news about entrepreneurship, business, technology and lifestyle aspects of the cannabis industry.

“Rarely does a new industry explode with the exponential success that the legal marijuana trade has experienced,” Entrepreneur Media President Bill Shaw, said in a press release.

If you want to write for  Green Entrepreneur , study the guidelines and pitch a story idea about the cannabis industry. Pays up to $1.50/word.

Looking for story ideas? The latest buzz in Green Entrepreneur includes stories about a new weed vaporizor that may popularize smoking marijuana, a $400 million shopping spree spent on cannabis, the latest news about legalization, and more.

Contact:  Executive Editor Jonathan Small

If you want to write about archaeology, ecology, biology, geology, and oceanography of marine coastal environments, take a closer look at Hakai magazine.

You’ve got the chops to write for this magazine that pays up to $1/word if you have solid journalism experience, research skills, and the ability to interview sources.

“We are interested in great stories and strong voices,” says Editor Jude Isabella. “We tilt toward science and environmental stories, but we’re also interested in people and communities and how they interact with coastal ecosystems.”

Pitch short news stories about coastal environmental topics (500 to 800 words), or an in-depth feature (1,000 to 5,000 words).

If you can provide video (five minutes or less) or content for an infographic, to go with your story, your chances of acceptance go up.

Contact:   Editor Jude Isabella

The United Airlines in-flight magazine,  Hemispheres , happens to be one of two in-flight magazines listed in  Writer’s Market  listed with a $$$ pay rate.

Translation: This magazine pays freelancers an average of $750 to $1,500 per assignment. Publishes stories about global culture, adventure, business, entertainment, and sports .

Inside the current issue, you’ll find stories about must-see-and-do activities in Chicago, insights on life, career and relationships from actress Kristen Bell, moon-landing anniversary celebration tips, and more.

Contact: Editor Ellen Carpenter

This is what the Wright Brothers inspired more than 100 years ago:  build a plane from a kit, and fly it.

You might not think a highly-niche magazine with a small circulation (about 72,000 readers). But Kitplanes pays well enough to be included in this list, up to $1,000 per assignment.

Pitch story ideas about building and design, flight testing, construction techniques, personal experience, and features on the people and businesses who are involved in building personal aircraft.

Contact: Editor Paul Dye

Before you pitch a story idea to this feminist-focused magazine that covers entrepreneurship, innovation, social issues, and the politics and policies of business, be sure to read the LiisBeth Manifesto .

If you can pitch a story idea that jives with that about people and businesses making a difference, you’re on your way landing an assignment that pays up to $1,500 U.S. You best bet for a well-paid assignment…pitch a story idea for a profile, how-to, or investigative feature.

Contact:  Editor Margaret Webb — This email no longer works. Per the publication guidelines, you can send queries to [email protected] – or do some sleuthing and find another editor contact!

If science and technology writing for an educated lay audience is your niche, don’t waste another minute waiting to pitch Popular Science. It’s one of the oldest magazines still in existence with roots dating back to the late 1800s.

It’s got a circulation of about 1.5 million readers, and a healthy budget to pay freelancers. How about $2/word or $1,000-plus per assignment?

Need story ideas? In the current issue, you’ll read about new threats posed by the Zika virus, rapidly-evolving drone technology, a cookie-test kitchen in outer space, and more.

Contact: Senior Editor Rachel Feltman

When Sierra magazine editor Jason Mark stepped into his new role a few years ago, he had just walked through Nevada’s Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, surrounded by massive wildfires. That solo experience shaped his mission to lead this magazine dedicated to causes to protect the planet, natural spaces, and outdoor recreation.

“I keep thinking about that trip to the Sierra, which seems emblematic of the challenges facing the environmental movement today,” says Mark. “We want to celebrate and enjoy the big, open spaces we love. At the same time, we have to be always on guard to protect those places. ”

This is the magazine for Sierra Club members. Pitch story ideas about outdoor adventure, environmental issues, and people on a mission to “explore, enjoy, and protect the planet.” Pays $1/word and up per assignment.

Contact: Editor Jason Mark

Did you know the Smithsonian Institute includes 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park, and 2.7 million square feet of indoor space? There’s a lot to know and a lot to learn about the past, present and future of science, technology, the environment, and even the universe.

And you can write about it for the  Smithsonian  magazine and get paid well. The  Smithsonian  pays freelancers $1-$3/per word, which means a $500 assignment is more than realistic. So how do you break into this magazine?

“There has to be something surprising and narratively interesting there,” says  Senior Editor Jenny Rothenberg Gritz . “If the story is about the natural world, either the person you’re writing about has to be super charismatic and interesting, or something done about the issue has to be amazing.”

Contact: Associate Editor Thomas Stackpole or another member of the editorial staff.

Here’s an interesting way to differentiate yourself as a news and literary magazine…no advertising. That’s the Sun’s approach to focus on great writing.

This magazine has been around for 40-plus years, and is looking for essays, interviews, and story ideas about political and cultural issues. The Sun  pays up to $2,000 per assignment.

“We’ve been described in many ways,” says Editor and Publisher Sy Safransky. “Celebratory, fierce, unflinching, thoughtful, truthful, dark, darkly funny, tender.”

And it shows in recent articles on food inequalities in the U.S., an outsider’s view from inside the commercial fishing industry, the uncanny sense for home that dog’s have, and more.

Contact: Senior Editor Andrew Snee or another member of the editorial staff .

If you’re looking for magazines that pay $500 or more per assignment, this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. Lots of magazines pay pro rates.

• Check Writer’s Market (print or online) for more. Skip over the magazines that pay low rates, and focus those that pay $1/word or more.
• Get in touch with the editors at custom pubs and trade magazines . These mags frequently work with freelance writers and pay pro rates, but aren’t as easy to find as consumer pubs in Writer’s Market .
• Keep on pitching. Then work through the process to study the magazine, develop a story idea, and write a killer query letter. If you can do this for magazines that pay lower-rates, you can do it for bigger magazines that pay top dollar.

What well-paying magazines do you write for? Tell us in the comments below.

Evan Jensen is a contributing writer for Make a Living Writing. When he’s not on a writing deadline or catching up on emails, he’s training to run another 100-mile ultra-marathon.

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17 magazines that pay for writing about history.

It is no secret that breaking into history writing can take some time and patience, especially since there are a limited amount of online and offline places that publish history pieces. Using the following list of history publishers, you can find the right outlets for your writing style and favorite historical interests.

The magazines and websites require writers to provide reputable sources for their information. Photos and illustrations are also sometimes required. Make sure that you read through all of the writers’ guidelines before submitting an article or pitch to increase your changes of getting published.

American Spirit Magazine is a print magazine published by the Daughters of the American Revolution. They want articles that focus on American history, from the Colonial period to the 1820s. They are particularly interested in history that focuses on women and they accept queries that offer unique perspectives into the past. Length: No length requirements given. Pay: Pay is on acceptance for the amount agreed upon. Writers’ Guidelines: https://www.dar.org/national-society/american-spirit-magazine/writers-and-contributors

Archaeology is a print magazine that publishes articles about new historical discoveries and reevaluations of old theories relating to ancient and recent history. Most of their contributions come from freelance writers and they prefer to receive story pitches. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. Length: Discuss with editor. Pay: Pay is on acceptance for the amount agreed upon. Writers’ Guidelines: https://www.archaeology.org/writer-s-guidelines

An online resource that publishes original, well-researched articles about the history of different places and events. An editorial calendar is on their guidelines page that provides a basic list of what they are looking for. They prefer article pitches. Length: To be discussed with editor. Pay: Competitive rates. Writers’ Guidelines: https://docs.google.com/document/d/148yIs0J9bsmN3guV9arbundXjvZAL_OLUk4BywX9tm4/edit

Cracked publishes listicles online that cover a vast amount of subjects, including history. They prefer to publish articles that are humorous, shocking, and even gross. Fortunately, history provides us with plenty of examples in all three categories. Length: Work with editor for final word count. Pay: $150 per article. After you have published 4 articles, your pay increased to $250 per article. Writers’ Guidelines: http://www.cracked.com/write-for-cracked/

Early American Life is a print magazine that want history articles about life in early America, from America’s discovery to the mid-1800s. They seek articles about unusual events and want articles about the grit of early American life. They are not interested in dry retellings of history and want articles that are entertaining as well as factual. Length: 2,500 Pay: About $500 for writer’s first feature. Writers’ Guidelines: https://www.ealonline.com/editorial/guidelines.php

History Magazine is a print magazine. They do not want dry, academic writing. Instead, they want interesting articles written about historical events, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the 1950s. They accept queries only. Length: 2,000 Pay: $0.08/word Writers’ Guidelines: http://www.history-magazine.com/anotes.html

Listverse publishes Top 10 listicles that cover the bizarre, entertainment, lifestyle, science, society, and more. Many of their published history articles are about infamous people, strange happenings, and the gross parts of history that make readers shudder. They avoid dry material and actively seek the unusual. Length: 1,800+ Pay: $100 Writers’ Guidelines: http://listverse.com/write-get-paid/

Naval History is a print magazine published by the U.S. Naval Institute. They are a tough market to break into and prefer to receive queries from freelance writers. Length: Max. Length is 3,000 words. Pay: $60 to $150 per published page. Writers’ Guidelines: https://www.usni.org/membership/naval-history-author-guidelines#payment

A monthly print magazine that is geared towards tourists coming to New Mexico. They do publish history articles about New Mexico as long as there is information on how to visit the historical site in the present day. They prefer to receive proposals. Length: To be discussed with editor. Pay: $0.35 to $0.40/word Writers’ Guidelines: https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/contributor-guidelines/

Our State is a print magazine that publishes articles on the “people, places, culture, and history of North Carolina.” They prefer to receive a 1-2 paragraph query about the article you would like to write. View their Editorial Calendar to create a proposal that will fit into their schedule. Length: 1,500 Pay: Pay is on acceptance for the amount agreed upon. Writers’ Guidelines: https://www.ourstate.com/contributor-guidelines/

A print magazine covering the history and heritage of Pennsylvania. Articles can be about local archaeology, architecture, historic sites, military history, natural history, and even oral history. They prefer to receive completed manuscripts. Length: 2,000 to 3,500 Pay: $250 to $500 Writers’ Guidelines: https://paheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Pennsylvania-Heritage-Submission-Guidelines.pdf

Renaissance Magazine is a print magazine that publishes history articles covering the Renaissance and Middle Ages. They accept queries and full submissions. A feature article need at least 6 images to be published with the article. Length: 1,200 – 2,000 Pay: $150 Writers’ Guidelines: https://renaissancemagazine.com/submit-content/

The Smithsonian accepts proposals from “established freelance writers.” When sending in your pitch for a history article, you must supply links to previously published works. Length: Generally around 800 to 1,800 words. Pay: While no pay is listed on their website, other sources say they pay $0.17/word or more. Print Magazine Pitches: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/contact/article-submit-print-magazine/ Website Pitches: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/contact/article-submit-website/

Today I Found Out publishes interesting history facts. They do not want dry material and the article must appeal to a wide range of readers. Length: No length is listed on their website, but a word count check on recently published articles shows that they typically published articles that are 1,500 to 1,800 words. Pay: If interested in your article, they will buy it from you. Writers’ Guidelines: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/write-for-us/

A print magazine that publishes history articles about the American West, from 1800 to 1912. They want articles that are exciting and dramatically real. Article proposals are accepted via Dropbox. Length: 1,500 Pay: $0.25/word Writers’ Guidelines: https://www.truewestmagazine.com/submission-guidelines/ Wartime

A print magazine that specifically focuses on Australian history during times of war. They accept articles from both amateurs and professionals, and demand an engaging writing style. No dry content. Requests proposals. Length: 1,000 to 2,000 Pay: $300 per 1,000 words Writers’ Guidelines: https://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/submissions/ Wonderful West Virginia

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How to Pitch a Story to Mental Floss

By editorial staff | jul 27, 2022, 5:29 pm edt.

So, you’d like to write for Mental Floss? That’s wonderful to hear. We’re always looking for new voices to write about the diverse verticals we cover, whether that's history, science, entertainment, language, pop culture, art, or beyond. In order to craft the best pitch possible, please take a few minutes to review the information and pointers below.

Pitching Tips

• Be sure to spend some time reading MentalFloss.com before pitching to familiarize yourself with our content, tone, and scope—and to make sure that we haven’t already covered the story you’re planning to pitch.
• Pitch only one editor. If your pitch is not within the scope of subject areas that particular editor covers, it will be forwarded on to the correct person.
• Keep your pitch short—one or two paragraphs max—and if you have a particular expertise on this subject, tell us that. What makes you the best person to write this story?
• Be sure to include a link to your portfolio or a couple samples of your work (please do not send attachments; they will not be opened).
• Take the time to brainstorm a possible headline for your story, and include that as part of the subject line, i.e. Freelance Pitch: 50 Amazing Facts About Animals. Having a headline can help us better understand the angle you plan to use with your story.
• If your piece requires interviews with any experts, let us know if you have specific people in mind.
• Unless a story has officially been assigned to you by an editor, you cannot use Mental Floss’s name in order to obtain access to events, interview subjects, etc.
• Do not pitch or send completed articles.
• Expect a response to your pitch within two weeks. If you do not receive a response after two weeks, you can assume it’s a pass. Due to the number of pitches we receive each day, we are unfortunately not able to respond to every pitch we receive.
• If your story is timely, include the word “timely” in your subject line (though note that news stories are generally written by our staff writers).

Pitches We Can Use

Lists are an overview of a topic in digestible-nugget form. Each list will cover the who, what, when, and where of the subject, plus its significance, and pay particular attention to quirky or little-known facts about the subject. Pitches may focus on the below topics:

• Subjects that have a major anniversary coming up
• Historical figures and events
• Movies and TV series
• Literature and art
• Food and drink
• Helpful tips and life hacks
• Scientific discoveries, phenomena, and figures
• Pop culture fads, events, and personalities

Features are reported stories that delve into a topic from a particular angle and with strong characters and storytelling. Features can be short (500 words) or longer (800-1500 words). Areas ripe for features include:

• Historical events that put current events into perspective
• Exploring and/or answering a big question
• Science stories that explain a new field of research or highlight a scientist’s ongoing work
• A deep dive into a pop culture event or phenomenon in history
• True crime and unsolved mysteries
• Features about odd, unique, or little-known historical events and people

Pitches We Can’t Use

• Short, timely news stories: these pieces are covered by our staff writers
• Science articles based on a single study: these are also covered by staff writers
• First-person articles or personal essays
• Fiction, memoir, or poetry
• Current politics or political opinion
• Stories based solely on PR pitches

What to Include in Your Pitch

• A possible headline
• A short description of your subject and why you want to write about it
• Four to five examples of the items you will include (simply listing the items is sufficient, unless some background info is needed)
• A brief bio and two or three links to relevant clips

For Features:

• One to two paragraphs explaining the topic, angle, and story arc, and addressing three questions: Why should Mental Floss publish the story? Why are you the best writer for it? Why should the story be told now?
• Potential sources you will consult or interview

Editorial Contacts

Books, Literature, Words, Language: Erin McCarthy

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All Other Pitches: General

If you're a publicist looking to share a press release or pitching a client, please email [email protected] .

• Lists begin at $150 and increase depending on length.
• Short features (500 words) begin at $125 while longer features start at $200; rates increase based on length of story, amount of reporting and research, etc.
• Fees will be discussed and agreed upon before work on any story commences.
• When a story is assigned, writers who have not previously worked with Mental Floss are asked to sign our standard writer’s agreement.
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Virginia Assistant Commissioner, Records Relating to Court Cases, Narrative Reports of Criminal Cases, Jan. 1868–Jan. 1869, Part 3

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The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was established on March 3, 1865. The duties of the Freedmen’s Bureau included supervision of all affairs relating to refugees, freedmen, and the custody of abandoned lands and property. These documents come from the Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Virginia, Series 10: Records Relating to Court Cases Involving Freedmen.

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Gary Cooper’s daughter to host free screening of classic Western ‘High Noon’ at Smithsonian in DC

Jason Fraley | [email protected]

May 23, 2024, 4:58 PM

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The clock is ticking! You have exactly one week until a must-see event for movie buffs in D.C.

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History is hosting a special free screening of the classic western “High Noon” (1952) on Thursday, May 30 at 7:30 p.m. — a film that won Gary Cooper his second Oscar for Best Actor.

Before the screening, Cooper’s daughter, Maria Cooper Janis, will sign copies of her book “Gary Cooper Off Camera: A Daughter Remembers.” After the screening, she’ll join a Q&A with Dr. Amanda Foreman, daughter of screenwriter Carl Foreman, and Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Frankel, author of “High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and The Making of an American Classic,” moderated by Ryan Lintelman of the Smithsonian.

“We’re kind of calling ourselves The Legacy Family,” Cooper Janis told WTOP. “My very close friend at the time was Pia Lindström, the daughter of Ingrid Bergman. … We were having a sleepover and I remember sitting in my room on my bed watching the television of the Oscars. … When my father’s name was announced, I got so excited that I yelled, ‘Whoopie!’ and flung my arms out and hit Pia in the face! I was afraid I knocked her teeth out. … The moment my father was getting the award I was completely distraught that I had injured my best friend.”

“The writing was wonderful, the writing was minimal,” Cooper Janis said. “The story ideas were critical in what Foreman chose to tell. His daughter Amanda, who is a wonderful major writer herself, was telling us that one of the ideas was taken from a short story of Mark Twain. There’s a town in the short story … and this town looks on the surface like a perfect little, quiet, upright, upstanding community but underneath it what crawls out from under the rock is cowardice, greed, violence, etc.”

The unflinching role of Marshal Will Kane was voted by the American Film Institute as the No. 5 greatest movie hero of all time, behind only Atticus Finch, Indiana Jones, James Bond and Rick Blaine, while the film itself was voted by the AFI as the second greatest western of all time behind only John Ford’s “The Searchers” (1956).

“He asked Duke Wayne to accept the award because my father was on location in Mexico doing a film,” Cooper Janis said. “He called Wayne and asked him to accept it for him, which was kind of ironic because … Wayne was very, very, very angry and opposed to my father doing the film because the wonderful writer Carl Foreman was having to cope with the Hollywood Blacklist. … You’ve probably seen the newsreel footage of Wayne very graciously accepting the award, then saying, ‘Well, blank, blank, blank, why didn’t my agent offer me this part?'”

The story is an allegory for taking a stand against McCarthyism, written by Foreman who was blacklisted for his progressive political views after testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). While his “High Noon” script earned an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, Foreman fled to the UK to secretly write the Oscar-winning script for “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957), but he had to keep his contributions private.

“It is so relevant in the message that a major producer has bought the rights and they’re working on bringing ‘High Noon’ to Broadway because they feel that the time is right to tell the story of one man who has moral principles and integrity and stands up for what is right — even to the point of facing his own death,” Cooper Janis said.

Visually, “High Noon” was groundbreaking for its use of real-time storytelling as director Fred Zinnemann constantly cuts to the clock to build the tension with the Oscar-winning editing of Elmo Williams and Harry Gerstad. While Zinnemann went on to win the Oscar for Best Director the following year for “From Here to Eternity” (1953), film scholars widely agree that his greatest directorial work remains “High Noon.”

“I don’t know if you could amputate any one element, what made it work,” Cooper Janis said.

The film also won two Oscars for its unforgettable music, including best original score for composer Dimitri Tiomkin and best original song for Tiomkin (music) and Ned Washington (lyrics) for the iconic tune “High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’),” performed by singing cowboy Tex Ritter, father of actor John Ritter.

“When I married my husband, Byron Janis, the great concert pianist, the best man of our wedding was … a wonderful Russian painter named Boris Chaliapin, the son of great Russian singer [Feodor] Chaliapin,” Cooper Janis said. “Byron was explaining to Boris about ‘High Noon,’ this great music that Dimitri Tiomkin had written. … Boris said, ‘No, no, this is old Russian folk song.’ … Tiomkin was Ukrainian! It may have been totally subconscious.”

Find ticket information here.

Listen to the full 40-minute conversation on the podcast below (recorded in March 2023):

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Hailed by The Washington Post for “his savantlike ability to name every Best Picture winner in history," Jason Fraley began at WTOP as Morning Drive Writer in 2008, film critic in 2011 and Entertainment Editor in 2014, providing daily arts coverage on-air and online.

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Mary Cassatt’s Women Didn’t Sit Pretty

The American painter depicted women caring for children, not posing for the male gaze. New exhibitions and books reappraise her legacy 100 years later.

By Deborah Solomon

The writer, an art critic, is the author of biographies of Joseph Cornell and Norman Rockwell and of a forthcoming life of Jasper Johns.

In the epic story of modern art, Mary Cassatt has been cast as the premier painter of mothers and babies. Yet she created a world in which no one ever changed a diaper or ran out of milk. Her paintings are set amid the privileged spaces of 19th-century parlors and gardens, where women sew or read or nurse an infant, uninterrupted by men. They typically wear bonnets and ankle-length dresses, bows and ruffles, and do not glance at us. Rather, they avert their eyes, consumed by their own thoughts.

Cassatt, who was born into enormous wealth in Pittsburgh and spent most of her life expatriated to France, fell out of fashion after her death, in 1926, at age 82. For decades she was dismissed as a paintbrush-wielding patrician unconnected to the make-it-new spirit of modern art. Yet at least since 1998, when the British feminist Griselda Pollock published the book “Mary Cassatt: Painter of Modern Women,” Cassatt has been rehabilitated as a proto-feminist who supported women’s suffrage and experimented daringly in her work.

The approaching centennial of Cassatt’s death is inspiring a new round of exhibitions and books, and a reappraisal is welcome. “Mary Cassatt at Work,” the first major exhibition of her art in a generation, opens on May 18 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (and will travel in the fall to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco). The show will attempt to rebrand her as, of all things, a friend of labor.

Its theme — work with a capital W — is two-pronged, seeking to establish Cassatt as an exemplary professional and to “challenge the idea that her oeuvre focuses solely on moments of leisure,” as the curators Jennifer A. Thompson and Laurel Garber write in the accompanying catalog. They contend that the women in Cassatt’s paintings could only be accused of idleness by people who are ignorant about the wearying demands of child care and housekeeping.

Who was Mary Cassatt? She stood five foot six, with cool gray eyes and a confident, sometimes caustic manner. Born in 1844, she left home soon after the Civil War and settled in Paris. Rejecting the ways of women of her class (her brother Alexander became the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad), she never married or had children. Instead, she worked tirelessly at her art and found her way to the center of the French avant-garde. As the story goes, one day she admired a few radiant pastels of ballet dancers in a store window in Paris. Their creator, Edgar Degas, soon became a close friend and a foundational influence. He encouraged her to take up printmaking and, more generally, to jettison the stable, centered views of the past in favor of sharply angled perspectives — the radical cut or crop.

He also invited her to exhibit alongside his fellow French Impressionists; she was the only American to do so. For years, scholars hinted at a possible romance between Degas and his American disciple, who was a decade younger. But more recent research has focused on Cassatt’s relationships with women, including the American collector Louisine Havemeyer and Mathilde Valet, her longtime maid and companion. Cassatt’s will of 1911 bequeathed Valet a chunk of cash and a painting of her choosing. In a revised will that unsettled her relatives, Cassatt bequeathed Valet all of the artwork in her possession — some 300 paintings, drawings, pastels and prints.

Cassatt had a second career as an art adviser. She worked closely with Havemeyer , who lived in a mansion on Fifth Avenue chock-a-block with masterworks, many of which wound up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In her forthcoming book on Cassatt (“Mary Cassatt between Paris and New York”), the art historian Ruth E. Iskin stresses that Cassatt’s collecting activities were “a patriotic act” driven by her desire to enrich American museums and end this country’s reputation as an art wasteland.

As to the nature of Cassatt’s intimate relations, nothing is known. Letters, diaries, account books and calling cards were destroyed before or upon her death. For decades she lived and worked in the remote French countryside, at Beaufresne, a stone château with long rows of shuttered windows. The Philadelphia exhibition will open with a teasing comment of hers, from 1909, writ large on a wall: “What one would like to leave behind one is superior art, & a hidden personality.”

Judged in terms of inventiveness, Cassatt cannot be said to inhabit the same exalted plane as Degas or Manet. She belongs to the second tier of Impressionists. Nonetheless, she is one of America’s greats.

For starters, she produced her share of masterworks, especially in the field of experimental printmaking. In 1890, inspired by a Paris exhibition of a Japanese woodblock prints, she undertook a series of ten etchings that remain among the most striking images in 19th-century art. In “Woman Bathing,” in which the sinuous curve of a woman’s back gleams against a washy blue wall, she suffused the contours of Western self-care with the taut linearity and pancake flatness of Japanese art. “The Letter,” in which a dark-haired woman with thick lashes sits at a desk, sealing an envelope, similarly sets off an ingenious opposition between rich pattern and visual economy.

Although her paintings of mothers cooing at their babies might seem as unrehearsed as a snapshot, Cassatt stage-directed most of her scenes, hiring models and often pairing them with neighborhood babies of no relation. She was, in other words, creating fictions of contented domesticity, and tended to favor, among her models, stocky women and chubby babies.

Consider the smallish but potent “Maternal Caress” (1896). A mother in a mint green dress, her hair in a bun, is seen from the back gazing at her spirited little girl, an inquisitive child with gray eyes and lustrous waves of red hair, her face flushed from outside. Note the eloquent articulation of the girl’s plump fingers as they press into the flesh of her mother’s malleable-as-clay face. Is the girl trying to silence her mother, as some writers have contended, or is she instead reveling in their physical connection? In other words, is Cassatt here creating an electric emotional linkage or trying to visualize “the unwaged labor of mothers,” to borrow a phrase from the catalog?

Yes, of course, motherhood is work, lots of it. On the other hand, it’s hard to accept the premise that Cassatt’s paintings take as their subject the aches and infelicities of unpaid labor. Cassatt remained securely seated in the upper-class milieu from which she sprang. The idea of her as a champion of work seems especially strained when one recalls such genuine Impressionist odes to labor as Degas’s bone-weary laundresses ironing sheets, or Gustave Caillebotte’s “Floor Scrapers,” with its three hunched workers renovating an upscale apartment.

In trying to make sense of Cassatt’s work, it helps to know that her childhood was shadowed by illness and death. In 1851, when she was 7, her family sailed to Europe seeking medical help for an older brother, Robbie, who was suffering from a wasting disease believed to be bone cancer. After four years abroad and countless failed treatments, Robbie died in Germany, and the grieving Cassatt family promptly returned to the States.

His death came two days after Mary’s 11th birthday and represented an incalculable heartbreak for her. Of her five siblings, “Robbie was the closest to her in age and was her steady companion during the many moves of her childhood,” the art historian Nancy Mowll Mathews wrote in her pioneering 1994 biography of her artist. (Mathews is now writing an essay on Cassatt’s friendship with Berthe Morisot, the subject of an exhibition to be held next year at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.)

One might speculate that Cassatt, who witnessed so much sickness as a child, was spurred by feelings of loss to create a world in which mothers and children are forever infused with the glow of good health. While other Impressionists painted stylish people holding parasols and strolling through green landscapes, Cassatt preferred close-ups, and her main subject was the luminosity of flesh, rendered with a realist’s fanatic attention to skin tones and textures.

She painted men far less frequently, and far less vividly. Unlike her women, with their intertwined faces and hands, their figural entanglements, her men exude a sense of separateness. Her largest painting, the National Gallery of Art’s “The Boating Party” (1893-4) — it once graced a U.S. postage stamp — began as a homage to Manet’s “Boating,” which was owned by the Havemeyers. But, in place of Manet’s dashing oarsman, Cassatt creates a specter. Black-hatted and black-clothed, he is shown from the back in silhouette. Is he the partner of the female passenger and her baby, or is he a boatman-for-hire trapping them behind the sweeping diagonal of his wooden oar?

Some of her most memorable paintings are devoid of babies. “The Tea,” (1880), which is owned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, is a tour de force of suppressed emotionalism. Two 40-ish matrons sit side by side on a small sofa, exchanging confidences in a parlor decorated in red-and-silver opulence. The women stare in different directions as they sip tea poured from a silver teapot. What are they discussing? They’ll never tell. They could have stepped out from the moneyed and ultra-discrete ranks of Edith Wharton’s fiction.

Most of the women in Cassatt’s work might seem to share a similar propriety. They do not smoke, drink alcohol or bat their lashes at the viewer. In contrast to the near-naked odalisques forever reclining on couches and beds in 19th-century art, Cassatt’s women are not only clothed but tend to have plain, sometimes homely faces and bodies that lean toward physical heft. By her own admission, she was uncomfortable painting the female nude, which she claimed existed solely as a sex object for male delectation.

Instead, she gave us something new in art. Women who are there for themselves and for each other, unwilling to squeeze their flesh into a constrictive corset. Or, to use the parlance of the moment, Cassatt embraced body positivity and the added radiance that can come from a few extra pounds.

Deborah Solomon is an art critic and biographer who is currently writing a biography of Jasper Johns. More about Deborah Solomon

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Why a New Portrait of Catherine, Princess of Wales, Is So Controversial

For the second time this month, a painting of a British royal is garnering backlash

Julia Binswanger

Daily Correspondent

A new portrait of Catherine, Princess of Wales , is drawing mixed reviews.

The painting, by British Zambian artist Hannah Uzor , appears on the cover of Tatler ’s July issue. It portrays the princess in the white gown and tiara that she wore at Charles III ’s first state banquet as king.

Catherine didn’t sit for the likeness, which is the third in a series of royal portraits commissioned by Tatler . In March, the princess announced that she was undergoing treatment for an unspecified type of cancer. She has been absent from official royal events since last Christmas.

“When you can’t meet the sitter in person, you have to look at everything you can find and piece together the subtle human moments revealed in different photographs,” Uzor tells Tatler ’s Helen Rosslyn. “Do they have a particular way of standing or holding their head or hands? Do they have a recurrent gesture?”

The artist adds, “All my portraits are made up of layers of a personality, constructed from everything I can find about them.”

But some critics say the portrait falls flat, arguing that it bears little resemblance to the future queen of the United Kingdom.

“Sorry, who is she meant to be? The Princess of Wales? You could have fooled me,” writes art critic Alastair Sooke for the Telegraph . “Beneath a Lego-like helmet of unmodulated, monotonously brown ‘hair,’ this Princess of Wales has as much charisma as a naff figurine atop a wedding cake.”

Kate Mansey , an assistant editor at the London Times , was also perplexed by the image. Writing on X , the social media platform previously known as Twitter, she said, “I’m not quite sure what to say about this one, except, hmm…”

The debate arrives just a week after Catherine’s father-in-law, Charles, revealed his own controversial portrait . (It’s worth noting that Charles’ likeness is an official portrait commissioned by the royal family, while Catherine’s is not.) Both depictions have garnered criticism, and both debuted at a time when their sitters are facing serious health issues. Charles was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and stepped away from official duties in February.

While critics generally agree that Jonathan Yeo ’s portrait of Charles resembles the king, some were taken aback by the artwork’s intense red background. Charles’ painting “shows him—depending on your whim as a viewer—either afloat in a lake of blood or undergoing incineration in a fiery furnace,” writes the Guardian ’s Peter Conrad.

Some observers have defended Uzor’s painting of Catherine, saying that its critics are too focused on the portrait’s resemblance to the princess.

Come and see the actual #kingportrait ⁦ @philipmould ⁩ gallery London. Till 14 June. Admission free pic.twitter.com/fbOrf4pbb3 — Jonathan Yeo (@RealJonathanYeo) May 21, 2024

“Painting in whatever medium you chose isn’t meant to be a photo. It’s an interpretation,” writes social media user Marie Therese on X . “She has captured the princess’ expression really well.”

In the past, Uzor has used portraiture to highlight stories of individuals representing the African diaspora and their relationship with Western culture. In 2020, she painted a portrait of Queen Victoria’s Black goddaughter, Sarah Forbes Bonetta , for English Heritage’s series of portraits of overlooked Black figures in British history.

Cherine Fahd , an artist and lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney , tells the Washington Post ’ s Kelsey Ables that viewers of Catherine’s portrait would be better served by reflecting on “how a woman of color, as the artist, directs her gaze upon a monarch.”

Fahd adds, “Historically, people of color have been objects of anthropological examination by the colonial and imperial subjects, but here, the roles are reversed. … This artist seems to consciously reject that trope [of royal portraiture].”

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Julia Binswanger is a freelance arts and culture reporter based in Chicago. Her work has been featured in WBEZ,  Chicago magazine,  Rebellious magazine and  PC magazine.