New Scientist Freelance Market Guide

Fees: The London-based publication’s fees depend on both the experience of the writer and in what country the writer is based; New Scientist has different rates for different currencies. “We pay pretty competitively in the science journalism market,” said Deputy News Editor Jacob Aron. News stories run either 300, 500 or 700 words and are placed online and sometimes also in the magazine. Feature articles generally run between 1,600 and 2,300 words and always appear in both the magazine and online.

Submit to: For news, Jacob Aron, news editor, jacob.aron@newscientist.com; For features, email the heads of features, either Daniel Cossins, daniel.cossins@newscientist.com, or Helen Thomson, helen.thomson@newscientist.com.  New Scientist’s guide for freelancers lists more editors and their specialties.

Website: www.newscientist.com

Owner: Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), parent company of the Daily Mail newspaper. 

Readership demographics: “We hope that our content appeals to anyone with a high school level type of education and an interest in science and technology and how it is changing the world,” Aron said.

Frequency of publication: The magazine is published weekly. News stories appear daily online, generally weekdays.

What they look for in a pitch: 

News: 

From the guide for freelancers: “We get press releases from the major journals and institutions, attend many conferences and scour the obvious sources of science stories. That means there’s little point in pitching stories from major journals such as Nature and Science, or from press sites such as Newswise or EurekAlert!” Only pitch from these sources if you have an exclusive angle or unusual access.

Aron advises freelancers who are pitching a news story to pitch something that is happening, whether that is new research or an event, and not to pitch him a topic. A good way to think about how to craft a news pitch is to think about how you would describe the idea to a friend at a pub over drinks while trying to make them respond, “Wow!” 

Features:

For features stories, Aron reminds freelancers they are pitching a narrative that must sustain readers’ interest for several pages. “It must take readers on a journey,” he said. From the freelancer guide: “Your feature needs an angle, implications, people, a storyline and a payoff. Its content should be new to the vast majority of our readers, or there should be some timely reason for covering the subject. Above all, it will aspire to be the best, most incisive, insightful and enjoyable piece of writing on the subject anywhere.”

Most common mistake Aron sees with pitches: Pitches that are too long. “Quite often, I’ll get a pitch that has three paragraphs of preamble before the writer gets to the meat of the idea,” he said. The ideal feature or news pitch is a few paragraphs.

Lead time for pitching:  A week or two ahead of the peg for a news story is ideal, said Aron. If a feature story must run by a certain date, freelancers should start reaching out to editors weeks in advance, the earlier the better, he said.

Best place for a freelancer to break into New Scientist: Aron said there is no best place, although it might be a little easier to get the first assignment with a news story. That said, the magazine often uses experienced freelancers for feature stories who are new to the magazine.