Freelance Market Guide
Our Market Guide is meant to be a growing site for AHCJ’s freelancers to find out what assigning editors at specific outlets are looking for from writers. These editors have been kind enough to share the mission of their outlets and set some parameters for pitching ideas. Please follow their guidance closely.
AARP
This website publishes stories that help people 50 years old and up make informed decisions about their health. It pays freelancers $1 per word.
The Atavist Magazine
The Atavist Magazine “publishes one incredible true story every month,” according to its website. This pioneer of digital storytelling pays a baseline fee of $6,000 for stories that start at 8,000 words
Big Think
Managing editor Kristin Houser says rates range from $500 to $2,000 per piece, depending on length and number of interviews.
bioGraphic
This online, multimedia magazine features stories from around the world “about the wonder of the natural world, the most pressing threats to biodiversity and the most promising sustainability solutions,” according to its website.
theBMJ
This publication is owned by the British Medical Association but is is editorially independent. It is read by physicians and scientists, mostly in the U.K. and U.S., with a growing audience in India and China.
Business Insider
Business Insider’s Lifestyle division generally commissions two types of stories: quick-turnaround trend pieces up to 1,000 words and longer features that are between 2,000 to 2,500. The division aims to publish one feature and two trend pieces from freelancers per month.
Cancer Today
Cancer Today is both a quarterly magazine and an online publication updated at least twice a week. Its articles are targeted to cancer patients, survivors, and their family members and friends.
Capital & Main
Capital & Main is a California-based digital publication that reports on economic, environmental and social issues, including health. It is updated daily, and freelance fees are set on a case-by-case basis.
Chemical & Engineering News
Chemical & Engineering News is a print and digital publication aimed at members of the American Chemical Society. The website is also accessible to the public. The print magazine is published weekly and the website is updated daily.
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan lifestyle editor Christen Johnson is looking for pieces highlighting “women’s health issues that don’t necessarily get the limelight they deserve.”
CQ Researcher
This weekly publication examines a single topic in-depth each week, with most reports consisting of an 8,000-word mainbar, two 800-word sidebars, a bibliography and a chronology. It also produces shorter reports.
Discover
Discover magazine educates readers on the newest issues in science, medicine and technology. Its readership is likely individuals in their early 40s looking for cutting-edge information.
Everyday Health
News stories for this digital publication tend to be about single medical studies. Features are typically explainers, for instance about something trending on social media, like anxiety.
Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News
Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News is free to every gastroenterologist in the United States. Features typically run from 900 to 1,200 words. The editors are looking for stories about GI practice.
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping pays up to $2 a word for features ranging between 1,000 and 2,000 words. The digital site typically pays a few hundred dollars per piece.
HuffPost Personal
This HuffPost vertical publishes “real stories from real people about real experiences,” says founder and director Noah Michelson. He rarely accepts pitches; almost all essays are accepted on spec.
IEEE Spectrum
This digital and print publication is looking for freelancers who want to write science and technology stories of interest to engineers.
Inverse
This online publication covers the latest trends and innovations in science, technology, entertainment and culture.
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange / Youth Today: These nonprofit sister publications are looking for pitches about stories around children, youth and young adults. Most stories get $1 per word.
Knowable Magazine
This digital publication pays flat fees and is looking for pitches for stories ranging in length from 800 to 2,500 words.
Leaps
This digital publication, owned by Upworthy Science, pays freelancers $1 a word and slightly more to some of its veteran, award-winning writers.
MIT Technology Review
This digital platform and print magazine pays between $1 and $2 per word for articles ranging in length from 300 word front-of-the book articles to 4,000 word features.
MedPage Today
MedPage Today covers clinical news, health policy and announcements that directly affect the lives and practices of U.S. health care professionals.
Medscape
Online publisher Medscape is looking for feature and news pitches tailored to its audience of physicians and health care providers worldwide. The publication is interested in all forms of features.
Men’s Health
This print and digital magazine is actively looking for freelance pitches and pays between $1 and $2 per word.
Modern Healthcare
This print magazine and website assigns freelancers to write stories linked to its awards and recognition programs.
Monitor on Psychology
Monitor on Psychology, from the American Psychological Association, is published eight times a year and pays freelancers $1 per word.
NBC News
NBC News is a general news website. Rates range from $400 for a 500 to 800 word article about a new study to $700 for an enterprise feature from 800 to 1,500 words in length.
NPR
NPR’s “Shots” blog on domestic health and its Goats & Soda blog on global health and development take work from freelancers.
National Geographic
The standard fee for digital stories is $1 per word, and editors are looking for two to three strong science stories every week.
Nature
This publication pays competitive rates for features between 2,500 and 3,000 words and news stories of 1,200 words or less.
Nature Medicine
Nature Medicine publishes original research on a wide range of topics relevant to medicine and has a magazine section for features and news. The journal pays $1.25 a word to freelancers.
New York Post
The Post’s rates vary based on factors including subject, length, number of sources and how long the writer has worked with the publication.
NYT Well
The Well section of The New York Times publishes service journalism with a focus on health and wellness. The editors are looking for pitches that are timely or have a clear news hook.
NYT Wirecutter
The New York Times’ Wirecutter section reviews products and sometimes services, such as online therapy. They are particularly interested in pitches for covering new-to-Wirecutter product categories and stories with an emphasis on accessibility.
New Scientist
New Scientist accepts pitches for news stories and features. The editors are looking for news stories that will surprise and features with a narrative flow that will sustain reader interest for several pages.
Next Avenue
Next Avenue is an online news platform that caters to older readers, from Gen Xers through Baby Boomers. It has five channels: health; money & policy; work & purpose; living; and caregiving.
Philadelphia
This monthly print magazine pays $1/word for features stories that range from 2,000 to 5,000 words in length.
Prevention
The digital platform is looking for three types of stories from freelancers: evergreen stories; longer features; and personal essays or as-told-to profiles.
Proto.life
Features at this online magazine, formerly NEO.LIFE, are typically between 1,000 and 3,500 words in length and cover how digital tools are being used to understand and engineer human biology.
The Pulse
This weekly radio program is looking for off-the-beaten path stories about health and science.
Science
Science, from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publishes scientific research and news and pays freelancers between $0.75 to $1.25 per word.
ScienceNews
Science News covers advances in science, medicine and technology for the general public through its print magazine and website. Fees range from $300 to $500 for news stories and $3,500 for features.
Scientific American
SciAm is a daily, online news operation that focuses on timely developments and analyses, and a monthly print publication that takes deeper looks and runs longer features.
STAT
STAT has a general audience plus lab scientists, health professionals, business leaders and policymakers. Pay starts at $1 per word for features that range in length from 800 to 1,500 words, depending on the topic.
The Transmitter
Neuroscientists are the primary audience of this digital publication, calling for a very high level of writing.
UnDark
This digital publication’s audience is readers who want to know how science intersects – and sometimes collides – with politics, economics and culture. It regularly works with freelancers.
WebMD
This digital publisher of consumer health and medical content offers a range of assignments that pay anywhere from $500 to $2,000 per story.
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