Wired Freelance Market Guide

Fees:

Features: Fees for feature stories for the ideas section start at $2,500 and rise from there, depending on story length, time involved and intensity of reporting and writing. Features range from 2,000 words up to, very occasionally, 10,000 words, but the sweet spot is 5,000 words. They run on the website; some are then selected for the print edition.

Science section: Fees for Wired’s digital science section are negotiated. “My budget is subject to change each quarter,” science editor Kara Platoni says. “I discuss fees one-on-one with writers once they have pitched a piece that is under consideration.” Stories range in length from 800 to 1,200 words.

Submit to:

Features: Write to any of the below feature editors at ideas@wired.com. You can check out links to stories they have worked on in Wired’s pitching guidelines.

• Camille Bromley, features editor
• Jon Eilenberg, articles editor
• John Gravois, senior editor
• Caitlin Kelly, features editor
• Michelle Legro, deputy features editor
• Anthony Lydgate, senior editor
• Matthew McKnight, features editor
• Sandra Upson, senior editor

Science section stories: Write to Kara Platoni at kara_platoni@wired.com.

Website: www.wired.com

Owner: Condé Nast, a media company with brands such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Self.

Readership demographics: The target audience is readers who are interested in how technology is changing every aspect of their lives — from culture to business, science to design. The U.S. print edition has 5 million monthly readers. The website has 17 million unique users.

Frequency of publication: The magazine is published 10 times a year. The website is updated with fresh content daily.

What editors look for in a pitch: “WIRED is a publication about change — about the ways science and technology are reshaping the world and what it means to be human. While the subjects of WIRED stories run the gamut from deep dives into the biggest tech companies to Hindu extremism to digital blackface to space food to true crime, every story has technology, science, or innovation as one of its key variables,” according to its pitching guidelines. Feature pitches should be about 500 to 700 words. Science section pitches should be shorter. Include a sentence or two about your experience and links to stories you have written.

Features: “The vast majority of the features we publish are narratives. Which is to say, for best results, pitch us a tale you’re going to tell, not a topic you want to explore. What central chronology are you going to reconstruct? Who are your main characters? What scenes are we going to be able to see?” according to the guidelines.

Science section stories: The science section’s areas of coverage include health and medicine, biotech, environment and climate, space, energy and robotics. “Because we’re the web arm, not the print magazine, we’re focused on time-sensitive news,” Platoni says. “We like a current news peg — a new study, data set release, the launch of an innovative project.” She is looking for stories with well-rounded sourcing. “For example, for a study about Disease X, we want to hear from not only the researchers, but also neutral experts, competitors, doctors who treat Disease X, people who have it, and others who can speak frankly and critically,” Platoni says.

Most common mistakes Platoni sees with science section pitches? Sometimes people pitch stories that WIRED has already run or are more appropriate for another section. For example, freelancers should pitch stories about the hospital or health insurance industry to the business desk. Long narrative stories, investigative work or profiles should be pitched to features editors. Another common mistake is pitching a story based on studies or events that happened too long ago.

Lead time for pitching: “We mostly buy stories that can be turned around in a week or two,” Platoni says about the science section. Most breaking news is handled by staff. The lead time for pitching feature stories is longer and depends on the subject.