ScienceNews Freelance Market Guide
Created January 13, 2022; revised December 14, 2022
Fees: Science News covers advances in science, medicine and technology for the general public through its print magazine and website. It pays about $3,500 for features, which average 2,200 to 2,400 words in length. Freelancers can earn $300 to $500 for newsier 150-to-300-word articles. These stories run first online; if the print magazine publishes them, freelancers get paid an additional $150.
Submit to: For features, write to editors@sciencenews.org. For news articles, contact Cassie Martin, associate editor, cmartin@sciencenews.org.
Website: www.sciencenews.org
Owner: Science News is published by the Society for Science, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding scientific literacy, education and research.
Readership demographics: This is a general audience of knowledgeable people who want to go a little deeper than the average reader.
Frequency of publication: The print magazine is published biweekly, and the website is updated daily. Two features appear in every print issue and then on the website. News articles appear online first.
What they look for in a pitch:
Features: Editors are interested in trends. For example, a story could be about how new discoveries are leading scientists to shift gears and refocus their research in a different direction. A big chunk of those new developments should have been published within the past year.
The pitch itself should have a nut graph explaining why Science News should be publishing this story now. In addition, the pitch should include the journal articles that form the backbone of the story or the researchers who are the focus.
Editors would also like a sense of the narrative. Will the story include a patient, a doctor or a researcher who is a great storyteller and who will hold the readers’ attention?
News stories: “We want to know that you can summarize the news quickly,” associate editor Martin said. “The pitch should explain what is new and why I should care.” Martin welcomes pitches that are not Covid-related and also pitches about single studies. “Single studies are our bread and butter,” she said. Freelancers may also want to pitch “fun, weird and interesting stories” for the Notebook section, Martin said. These short articles “are a little more playful with language.”
Most common mistakes editors see with pitches: Common mistakes are pitching features that are more for a general magazine and pitching a topic rather than a story. Martin said a common mistake she sees is front-loading background information about the news and not leading with the heart of the news at the top of the pitch.
Lead time for pitching: Freelancers typically will have a month and a half from assignment to feature story submission. It will take a few months more to get the article ready for the magazine and for it to appear in print.
Best place for a freelancer to break into publication: A good entry point is to pitch the shorter news pieces.