Before meeting the New York Post’s wellness editor at a media dinner in June 2025, it hadn’t crossed my mind to pitch to the publication with a right-leaning audience and a tabloid-y reputation. But the editor encouraged me to so I sent along a few light-hearted ideas, like how Jazzercise is in fact beloved by Gen Z. She accepted, and I’ve since published seven (largely delightful) stories with the section, several of which became my favorites of the year.
Likewise, I never considered pitching Freethink — an outlet that focuses on innovations in technology, business and society — as a freelancer since, frankly, I’d never heard of it. But when an editor reached out to assign me a story about longevity hacks, I gave it a go and found the experience straightforward and satisfying.
This is all to say: Successful pitching isn’t just about the idea or the packaging; it’s about knowing where to go. And the right place might not even be on your radar. Enter AHCJ’s Freelance Market Guide, which not only introduces writers to publications that take health pitches from freelancers, but also includes targeted advice from editors about what they’re looking for and what mistakes to avoid.
Over the past few months, I’ve added three new guides to the resource: the New York Post, Big Think (the parent company of Freethink) and Good Housekeeping. Here are summaries of each:
New York Post
The Post’s wellness section generally publishes a few features by freelancers each week, and thrives on conversation-stirring stories. Its rates are undisclosed, though I’ve generally received about $400 per post.
“I love getting pitches for new and interesting trends in the health and wellness space where the writer can do a deep dive,” the Post’s wellness editor Carly Stern told me. Some recent examples include stories on an all-fours fitness trend, longevity biohackers trying to cleanse their blood and the dangers of the supplement kratom.
Pitches about people doing fun and unusual things are a good bet too: Think people running a Taco Bell ultramarathon, participating in an 60-and-older dance troupe or learning street fighting in a fitness class.
Big Think
The site, which says it attracts inquisitive, highly educated and financially successful readers, pays freelancers $500 to $2,000 per piece depending on length and scope.
Per its pitch form, Big Think editors are “always looking for original feature pitches about transformative trends, scientific breakthroughs and emerging ideas that challenge conventional wisdom, including interviews with high-profile scientists, entrepreneurs, authors and thinkers.”
Managing editor Kristin Houser added that they’re not looking for angles that are already well-covered online. “We want to bring something new” to the conversation, she said.
Good Housekeeping
Health pitches for the print magazine, which pays up to $2 a word, tend to be most successful if they’re not so much about medicine or illness but more about staying healthy on a day-to-day basis. Pitches should also match Good Housekeeping’s tone, which deputy editor Marisa Cohen described as “like talking to your good friends who you trust for health advice.”
Freelancers can also try to break in on the digital site, which tends to pay a few hundred dollars per piece. There, timely health trends or issues that need debunking can work as SEO-driven explainers for the site. “If someone has a great idea,” Cohen said, “I’m happy to give them a chance.”
