UnDark Freelance Market Guide
Revised August 27, 2021; checked for accuracy November 22, 2022.
Fees: This non-profit digital magazine pays about $1/word. Articles run 1,000 to 3,000 words. Fees are set at the time of contract.
Submit to: While it is perfectly fine to query an editor directly, Undark is managed by a very small team, and the best way to get your pitch noticed is by using the submissions portal on the website. This distributes the idea to the entire team of editors, who review pitches during a weekly story meeting.
Website: https://undark.org
Owner: Knight Science Journalism Program
Readership demographics: Undark is aimed at a general audience, with a particular emphasis on curious readers who want to know and understand how science intersects – and sometimes collides – with politics, economics and culture.
Frequency of publication: The five-year-old publication is on the web and has a regular need for freelance work: about five to six smaller pieces per week and approximately one long-form article each month.
What they look for in a pitch: “Undark runs a steady mix of reported features, book reviews and excerpts, op-eds, short interviews, and a dozen or so long-form and/or investigative narratives each year,” according to its guide to contributing. “All stories are vigorously edited and fact-checked, and a sophisticated handling of science and technical detail for a general audience is paramount.”
Editor-in-Chief Tom Zeller Jr. says they are not interested in stories that simply cover science for its own sake. Social context is everything, and the magazine is primarily on the lookout for narratives that illuminate instances where science intersects in complicated ways (that is, both beneficially and detrimentally) with people’s everyday lives.
The team is interested in hearing pitches from areas off of the coasts and bigger population hubs that highlight the impacts of science policies being implemented in Washington. No single topic or branch of science is weighed more or less heavily than any other, with the possible exception of environment and climate stories, which are the most frequently pitched topics and therefore have a high bar for acceptance.
Most common pitching mistakes: Zeller says they receive a lot of TNS pitches (topic, not story). “The best way to capture our attention is to have a great opening line that tells a story,” he says. “If you can grab us with a yarn, that’s worth its weight in gold.”
Another tip: If you have never written for Undark before, Zeller says a brief biographical sketch, along with clips to your best work, is highly encouraged. “Making us hunt around to figure out who you are is a surefire way to have your idea set aside,” Zeller says.
Lead time for pitching: Undark is not a breaking news operation, so pitches should focus on stories that are somewhat evergreen. “We try to respond to all pitches within a week to 10 days, but often do so sooner,” Zeller says. “Expect an involved and conscientious edit and fact-check.”
Best place for a freelancer to break into Undark: “There are no special avenues for new freelancers, though we are far more likely to accept an idea for a short feature (2,000 words or less) from a newcomer to us, or a freelancer with a modest publishing record, than an idea for a long-form piece or other more complex project,” Zeller says.