Pitches wanted (culture, Canada) | ~10 cents per word

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: THIS MAGAZINE

Deadline: 21 July 2023

We’re now accepting pitches for our annual Culture Issue! This year’s issue has a DIY theme. We mean this broadly, though. We’re accepting stories about anything that incorporates the spirit, ethos and feel of DIY, from movement and space building to more tactile endeavours like zine creation and art. Our news, arts and ideas, and features sections are all open. This includes our back page open letter, memoir and opinion columns, and culture column. We publish Canadian residents only and accept queries (not completed manuscripts). We suggest familiarizing yourself with the magazine and previously published stories before pitching. For more details on the kinds of pieces we run, see below.

We like stories that aren’t likely to be found anywhere else, ideally with a social justice tie-in. In your pitch, it’s always great to say why you want to tell this story now, why you’re the one to tell it, sources you plan to consult, and any takeaways your piece will include for the reader. In other words, what might people learn, or start to learn, from reading your story?

Pitches are due July 21 and can be sent to Sarah Ratchford, sarah at thismagazine dot ca.

Thank you for pitching This Magazine! We can’t wait to read your ideas.

WRITERS’ GUIDELINES

This Magazine welcomes queries only, not already written pieces. A good This Magazine article offers background and context to ongoing national issues, a challenge to the mainstream media perspective, or an important story that hasn’t been told elsewhere. Subject matter includes politics, culture, the arts, social issues, labour, feminism, mental health, race/racism, Indigenous issues, and sexuality, with a focus on quality writing and in-depth reportage. Please note: This Magazine publishes Canadian residents only

Before you submit anything to the magazine, be sure you are familiar with its approach. Pay particular attention to writing style and content. Articles for This Magazine should have a journalistic approach, and be written in language simple enough to be comprehensible to a high school student, with enough research and insight to be interesting to a PhD. Assume that you’re talking to knowledgeable readers (because you are). We encourage writers to grapple with big ideas, but they must be conveyed with wit and style, avoiding artistic, journalistic, legal, or academic jargon.

THINGS TO NOTE:

• We do not accept submissions of previously published work or queries that are currently being considered by other publications.
• We do not accept unsolicited completed manuscripts. We consider it important to be involved in shaping an article early in the editorial process, and so completed articles will be deleted unread. (This measure protects writers against leaving their completed work open to copyright infringement, and protects us against accusations of the same.)
• We receive a high volume of article queries, and regret that we cannot guarantee a response in every case.
• Our bimonthly publishing schedule means issues are planned months in advance. For instance, the January-February issue is in the planning stages throughout September and October, sometimes earlier; issue lineups are often finalized up to two months before the issue date. Please consider this when pitching stories tied to particular events or dates.

For the detailed submission guidelines, click here.

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

• Questions/submissions: editor@this.org
• Website: https://this.org

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: This Magazine is one of Canada’s oldest alternative journals. It acts as a critical voice in today’s media landscape, dedicated to exposing under-the-radar stories and to publishing smart, progressive commentary and reporting on Canadian politics, pop culture, social issues, and the arts. More information here.
• Read through its selection of recent articles/stories, categorized into: Politics, Arts, Health, Environment, Education, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+
• Review the submission guidelines here.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook 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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