Fees: 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 submission guidelines. It pays freelancers anywhere from $0.75 to $1.50 a word, depending on the experience level of the journalist. Features typically are between 2,500 to 3,500 words in length, and some run as long as 6,000 words.
Submit to: Steven Bedard, co-founder & editor-in-chief, sbedard@calacademy.org.
Website: www.biographic.com
Owner: The California Academy of Sciences, a research institute and natural history museum, is the parent institution. It provides operational funding for bioGraphic, which is an independent publication. “The Academy doesn’t have any editorial control over what we cover,” Bedard said.
Readership demographics: The publication strives to reach a general audience. BioGraphic also syndicates its stories, which have been republished, at no charge, in such publications as The Atlantic, Discover, Popular Science and Scientific America.
Frequency of publication: The editors try to publish a significant feature piece on the bioGraphic website at least every two weeks, along with one or two Spotlight stories. Spotlights, natural history essays with a photograph, are most often written internally.
What editors look for in a pitch: “Every story needs to have a direct connection to biodiversity, meaning natural organisms and ecosystems,” said Bedard. “We are always on the lookout for good biodiversity and human health stories.” For example, they would be interested in stories about people living in a degraded ecosystem and the impact on their health, or stories about zoonotic disease and biodiversity.
“We do want there to be some sort of solutions angle,” Bedard said. Don’t pitch stories about how bad something is unless you include who is working to make things better, whether it is a community or a group of scientists or conservation workers.
The pitch should be included in the body of the email and ideally be about a page long. It should include a potential lead and possible nut graph and demonstrate a narrative arc.
“Some of the best pitches we’ve gotten are ones where I could envision the pitch as the first section of the story,” Bedard said. “The pitch should introduce you to a character, tell you what the story is about and be intriguing enough and feel important enough that you want to read more.”
It doesn’t hurt to include the types of other sources the writer plans on interviewing. In addition, writers should sketch out a brief reporting plan, including any necessary travel. bioGraphic has a budget for travel when warranted.
Freelancers new to the publication should include some biographical information about themselves and a link to some clips. For more details, see their submission guidelines.
Do editors accept pre-pitches?: Yes.
Most common mistakes Bedard sees in pitches: Pitching a topic instead of a story.
Lead time for pitching: Editors try to respond to every pitch within two to three weeks.
Best way to break into the publication: Pitch a feature in the 2,000 to 2,500 word range, not a 5,000 word article.