Pitches wanted (word, current order) | ~$1.25 to $1.66 per word

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: MOTHER TONGUE

Jacob Rosenberg, Articles Editor at Mother Jones, is looking for pitches: 

I'm looking for more pitches for a column I edit in Mother Jones called Mother Tongue. The pieces are 600 to 800 words, and the pay is $1000. You can email me at jrosenberg@motherjones.com

The column tries denaturalize a phrase that's been ubiquitous—and then give a strong take through that process. See this example on THE ALGORITHM from Kevin Munger: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/01/the-algorithm-social-media-facebook-technology-the-apparatus/

How is a word you see in articles all the time that goes a bit unquestioned actually saying a lot? And what can we learn by unpacking the process of how some phrase become de riggeur?

Importantly: I get a lot of pitches for this that: 1) are about why a word is bad, or 2) explaining a word that is new but not commonly used. That's not really the idea of the column!

It's more that we want things like this from Lora Kelley on democratize": https://www.motherjones.com/media/2022/10/democratize-tech-mission-conscious-capitalism/

Or, for example, this from Tim Murphy on "dog whistle": https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/08/dog-whistle-racism-gop-trump-election-atwater/

Or—and I really love this one—this one on Middle Class from David Roediger (still can't believe we got him to write for us): https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/10/middle-class-david-roediger-democratic-messaging-clinton-obama-cold-war-liberalism/

The pieces should question something many have assumed as normal and ask what that status quo reveals about our world: https://www.motherjones.com/topics/mother-tongue/

So, again, if you're interested: Pitch me at jrosenberg@motherjones.com

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CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

• Questions/submissions: jrosenberg@motherjones.com

• Website: https://www.motherjones.com/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Mother Jones is an investigative news organization that goes deep on the biggest stories of the moment, from politics and criminal and racial justice to education, climate change, and food/agriculture. Mother Tongue is a back-of-the-book column at Mother Jones, where writers take on a word or phrase and use it to reveal something about our current order. More information here.

• Read through a selection of recent Mother Tongue pieces on its website.

• 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 paragraph 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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