Pitches wanted (North/Francophone West Africa) | $600 to $800 per article
Added 2025-09-24 14:14:53 +0000 UTCCOMPANY/PUBLICATION: NEW LINES MAGAZINE
Deadline: 3 October 2025
Erin Clare Brown, North Africa Editor at New Lines Magazine, is looking for pitches:
PITCH CALL. I’m looking for pitches for two verticals at New Lines Magazine to run in November, December and January. Deadline for pitches is October 3. Read on for details.
As ever, I'm looking for hard-hitting & enlightening reportage that touches on topics & places traditional outlets ignore. My primary beat is NORTH & FRANCOPHONE WEST AFRICA. This round I’m especially interested in stories from Algeria, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Mali & Mauritania.
We are currently flush with stories about conflict, migration and climate change, so I’m looking for stories that touch on different, fresh topics and do it in a New Lines way. Here are a few recent ones I really loved.
This absolute yarn about a Dutch drug kingpin who set up shop in Sierra Leone has it all: intrigue, false identities, mountains of coke, Afrobeats stars and top-notch reporting to pull it all together and put it in context. https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/when-a-dutch-drug-kingpin-needed-a-new-base-sierra-leone-welcomed-him-with-open-arms/
A totally New Lines' take on a wild premise: Are there dinosaurs in the Congo? It takes you from the history of the 19th c. archeology boom, to the evangelicals looking to disprove Darwin, to the Congo basin itself to uncover the truth. https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-congos-dinosaur-of-discord/
A more straightforward but profound piece of reportage from the ground in Chad, where one community is working to push back the incursion of Boko Haram with grassroots activism after the army failed. https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-grassroots-resistance-to-boko-haram/
The kind of history essay I love: One where the pitch makes me go, "Wait, WHAT?" I had zero idea there were Moroccan communities in Vietnam (and vice versa) and their history is fascinating. https://newlinesmag.com/essays/vietnams-village-of-moroccan-defectors/
I’m also looking for pitches for Spotlight, a newsletter about underreported news & cultural trends from around the world. These short (~1500-1800 word) pieces tackle the upswell of ideas/events before they go mainstream, or they untangle a hot topic in a new and fascinating way.
Here's a super fun one about the uphill battle to become a Twitch star in Nigeria: https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/nigerias-twitch-streamers-battle-the-buffer-wheel/
And a fabulous piece that the author pitched and delivered in a few days when the news that Georges Abdallah would be released broke. It gives so much context to a story that needed it. https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/four-decades-after-his-imprisonment-france-cant-stop-fighting-over-georges-abdallah/
TO SUBMIT A PITCH, email me with "PITCH" + a suggested headline in the subject of the email. Put the pitch IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL, DO NOT INCLUDE ATTACHMENTS and please send a few clips of your past work, particularly pieces over 1500 words.
Rates: $600 for a spotlight $800 for regular essays, with some flexibility for extraordinary access, multimedia or other factors.
Finally: Folks, don't send me a pitch that you used AI to write. These are glaringly obvious and really sad. I get a lot of AI pitches or scammers writing in ('sup, Margaux Blanchard!) and it is exhausting. Don't do it.
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CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):
Questions/submissions: ebrown@newlinesmag.com
Website: https://newlinesmag.com
TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:
Learn more about the publication: New Lines Magazine is a digital publication that focuses on global affairs, culture, and history. It offers essays, reportage, and analysis on a variety of topics, including politics, social movements, and historical narratives. The magazine aims to provide fresh perspectives and thoughtful insights into issues that shape societies around the world. More information here.
Read through its selection of recent articles/stories, categorized into: Spotlight, Africa
Review the submission guidelines here. Note that these are the publication's general guidelines to help you refine your pitch. You must still follow the editor's specific instructions above.
Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.
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