Fees: CQ Researcher examines a single topic in-depth each week. Most reports consist of an 8,000-word mainbar, two 800-word sidebars, a bibliography and a chronology. This digital publication also produces some short reports, consisting of a 3,000-word mainbar, one 800-word sidebar, a bibliography and a chronology. The freelancer rates are competitive and are discussed at the time of assignment.
Submit to: Email managing editor Meredith Schwartz at meredith.schwartz@sagepub.com. She handles most pitches and assignments, but established contributors sometimes also communicate directly with the editors with whom they frequently work.
Website: cqpress.sagepub.com/cqresearcher
Owner: Sage Publications, Inc., a publisher of social science journals and other reference materials, owns CQ Press, the parent company of CQ Researcher.
Readership demographics: College, high school and public libraries are subscribers. The core user base is undergraduate college students.
Frequency of publication: Weekly, 44 times a year.
What editors look for in a pitch: CQ Researcher covers policy issues that are being debated by government officials, academics and/or experts within topic areas such as the environment, health care, medicine, education, social justice, international relations, the economy, government programs and more.
“The number one thing we are looking for in a pitch is an explanation of what are the two or more sides of the debate — it’s totally fine if there are four sides to the debate,” said Schwartz. “And we want to know if the sides are credible. We do not want to publish an article where half of it is the Flat Earthers.”
“Check our website to see if we have covered an issue because we usually don’t revisit issues in the last four to five years unless it is a dramatically different angle,” advised Schwartz.
Also include links to clips, especially to longer features that show you can write in-depth articles, and to your professional website, resume or LinkedIn page.
Schwartz said freelancers can contact her without a pitch to introduce themselves. They should include clips that show experience with long form journalism and also their preferred beats. “That can be a mix of what they’ve already written on and what they’d like to have written on but haven’t yet had a chance to,” said Schwartz. “I don’t want to offer somebody a finance story if finance makes their eyes glaze over.”
Do editors accept pre-pitches?: Yes.
Most common mistakes editors see with pitches: “Not including your clips … and not telling me what your background is,” said Schwartz.
Lead time for pitching: Schwartz responds promptly to pitches that are a firm “yes” or “no.” Pitches that are a “maybe” may take longer. Freelancers should feel free to send her a polite reminder after a few weeks. Once assigned, writers are responsible for submitting a detailed outline on a deadline established between Schwartz and the writer. “From the outline to the draft is six weeks, and from the draft to publication is now five weeks,” said Schwartz.
Best place to break in: “The best place to break in is probably a short report,” said Schwartz. “I also have started trying to break people in by having them write evergreen reports so that if they need more time, we haven’t screwed up our schedule.”