Pitches wanted (layoffs, economic injustice, etc.) | $1 to $1.50 per word

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: ECONOMIC HARDSHIP REPORTING PROJECT

Are you a freelance writer who covers economic injustice and social inequality? Have you been impacted by this latest wave of media layoffs? We want to support your work! Find our pitching tip sheet below:

TIPS FOR PITCHING THE ECONOMIC HARDSHIP REPORTING PROJECT

Does EHRP have official submission guidelines?

Yes! Before pitching, please read EHRP’s official submission guidelines.

Reading our guidelines and the tips below in their entirety will go a long way in helping you shape your pitch/submission and land a grant with us.

Why do you have a separate document with submission tips?

I wanted to create a living document with regular updates to

(1) let freelancers know about the latest stories we’re hoping to assign and

(2) provide concrete advice for those who want more guidance on pitching.

How does the process work?

• Send a pitch (a few paragraphs for features, investigations, opinion pieces, or reported personal essays) or completed reported personal essays (600-1500 words) to deborah@economichardship.org. (We also commission film and audio projects. Fees for these depend on length.)
• Ideally, your submission includes a letter of commitment from a large media outlet that agrees to provide a credit line to EHRP and allows us to co-publish the piece on our site. (If that proves difficult, we may be able to help you place with one of our media partners, though securing placement on your own significantly increases your chances of receiving a grant from us.)
• Typically, we assign grants after a commitment from a media partner is secured.
• Given the challenges inflation has placed on us all, EHRP has raised its pay rate for written work from roughly $1/word to roughly $1.25/word for longer pieces and roughly $1.50/word for shorter pieces, depending on the amount of reporting required.
• Word count is typically in the 600-1500 word range. We usually pay upon publication but will give advances to financially struggling reporters.
• You’ll also be paid by the media partner, according to their rates.
• In addition to funding your work, we may offer editing and fact checking, as needed.
• We tend to top out at 2500 words, or $3,125. On occasion we go longer, especially if an assignment from a co-publisher has already been secured.

What stories are you looking to assign now?

I’m regularly in conversation with editors at our partner publications. I’ll update this section with the latest info I’ve gathered on what they’re looking to cover.

We are currently looking for first-person essays, reported features and op-eds tackling stories about economic inequality and how it relates to:

• Housing and eviction, like this piece
• Gig and frontline work, especially first hand accounts
• Religion where it intersects with income inequality
• Union activism and labor organizing
• Tech work
• Being laid off
• Reproductive rights
• Caregiving
• Parenting
• Queer/trans working class and economically unstable experiences

What stories are you always looking to assign?

Other areas we are always interested in: where income inequality intersects with religion, immigration, education, parenting/families, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, health, maternal health, disability, culture, housing, agriculture, aging, work, etc…

What should my pitch include?

Below are the key elements I’m looking for in a pitch. Including these elements will significantly increase your chances of landing a grant.

• A character-driven story that sheds light on a broader economic issue, especially for features and personal essays.
• Writing that transports the reader to a particular world. A strong use of voice is a must.
• Supporting data
• A clear class/economic inequality angle
• A brief reporting plan
• Clips
• Link to your portfolio
• A brief bio w/your location
• A letter of commitment from a large media outlet. If that proves difficult, we can, in some rare cases, help find a co-publisher.
• A proposed deadline

What’s the secret to a great EHRP pitch?

A clear understanding of EHRP’s mission and style. It helps to read our work. I’m including some of our favorite stories below. Notice how many of our pieces are deeply character-driven, scene-based, immersive narrative stories balanced with a robust analysis of class and economic inequality.

Do you have examples of EHRP stories that exemplify what you’re looking for?

Absolutely. We commission a range of genres.

They can be narrative feature stories, such as this piece about coal ash cleanup workers co-published with The Guardian and Southerly, this piece on nursing homes co-published with The Guardian, this piece about working class voters co-published with The New Yorker or this piece about the HIV epidemic among women co-published with National Geographic.

They can be reported personal essays that transport readers to your world and expand their emotional understanding of your experience with economic inequality, such as this piece about homeless veterans co-published with Newsweek, this piece about struggling to find a psychiatrist who takes Medicaid co-published with the Chicago Reader, this piece about working at a grocery store during the pandemic co-published with The New Republic or this piece about falling out of the middle class later in life co-published with The Washington Post.

They can be investigative features, such as this series about housing and evictions done in partnership with The Utah Investigative Journalism Project and co-published with The Salt Lake Tribune.

They can be op-eds. These op-eds can advocate for structural change in the media, such as this piece that was co-published with CJR. They can use pop culture as a jumping off point to discuss inequality, such as this piece about the cancellation of the TV show “Cops,” co-published with The Intercept and this piece about “Squid Game,” co-published with Teen Vogue. Op-eds grappling with class and economic inequality can draw from an array of research, such as this piece unpacking a study about air rage and class, co-published with The Guardian.

Who should pitch?

Experienced independent journalists and writers.

This includes professional freelance journalists, recently laid off journalists, photojournalists, documentary filmmakers, radio journalists, feature writers, documentary poets etc with a history of great published work.

I'm especially interested in stories based in the Midwest and South and want to encourage BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, financially struggling journalists, rural writers and others underrepresented in media to pitch me stories.

Can folks based outside the U.S. pitch?

While we do accept submissions from abroad, stories must focus on economic inequality in the U.S.

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

• Questions/submissions: deborah@economichardship.org
• Website: https://economichardship.org/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: The aim of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project is to change the national conversation around poverty and economic insecurity. The journalism EHRP commissions—from narrative features and photo essays to documentary films—endeavors to put a human face on financial instability. More information here.
• Read through its selection of recent articles/stories, categorized into: Education, Families, Health, Inequality, Living
• 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 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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