Pitches wanted (family business) | $1,000+ per piece

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: NARRATIVELY

Deadline: 4 August 2023

Brendan Spiegel, Editorial Director at Narratively, is looking for pitches:

Narratively Editorial Director Brendan Spiegel here. Early last year we put out a call for stories about unusual and fascinating family businesses, and this turned out to be one of our all-time most successful calls for pitches. I was blown away by some of the incredible and out-there pitches we got in, and loved working with writers on several of these pitches that became fantastic Narratively stories. That includes Abigail Edge’s riveting saga “The First Family of Human Cannonballing” and Hallie Lieberman’s one-of-a-kind tale “The Deep South’s Dames of Dildos”— which Narratively CEO Noah Rosenberg recently shared is the #1 Narratively story he tells strangers about. (Give that one a read and you’ll quickly understand why!)

Stories about tight-knit families running quirky businesses like these, with inherent drama at their core, are my absolute favorite type of Narratively piece. The rest of our team (and our readers) love these stories, too. So we’re reopening this call for pitches!

Know of a grandmother and grandson who run an illegal medical marijuana dispensary in Singapore? A team of siblings reviving the art of lion-taming against their dying mother’s wishes? An Amish family-run group home in Alaska that caters to the recently incarcerated? If you have the inside track on an unexpected family business where tensions and emotions run high, we want to hear about it. The more unique and unheard of the better, with bonus points for finding the comedy and joy in unlikely circumstances. And as always, we’re particularly interested in businesses run by people from underrepresented groups — as well as stories from super unusual industries.

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These can be first-person pieces about your own experience or reported stories. Pay starts at $1,000 with room to go up for more ambitious stories. Pitches for this theme are due by Friday, August 4.

Wondering how to write a pitch that gets our editors’ attention? Don’t miss my story on The 3 Best Pitches I Ever Received, where I share the full text of three very successful Narratively pitches (including Abigail’s pitch for the Human Cannonball Family story mentioned above), along with some insider tips about how to pitch your own story.

Ready? Head over to our Submittable page and pitch away!

CONTACT INFORMATION:

• Submissions: Via Submittable
• Website: https://narratively.com/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Narratively is a media platform and production company that celebrates the diversity of humanity through authentic storytelling. Its network of talented journalists and storytellers come to Narratively with the passion projects they care about most—having combed the world’s big cities and hidden corners for the characters and narratives that mainstream media aren’t finding. More information here.
• Read through a selection of recent stories on its website.
• Review the submission guidelines here.
• 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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