Pitches wanted (Central / Eastern Kentucky) | 30+ cents per word

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: THE GOLDENROD

Named after Kentucky's humble state flower, The Goldenrod is a forthcoming news and culture publication covering the vibrant—but currently under-served—small towns, hamlets and communities of Central and Eastern Kentucky. We’ll be providing cultural stories, long-form reported pieces, analysis and community-driven resources on the high-points, hurdles and everything in-between currently facing our region.

WHAT STORIES ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

Right now, I’m mostly in search of quick-hit, hyper-local dispatches from writers across Central and Eastern Kentucky. (See below for a map of the counties The Goldenrod covers.) These would ideally take the form of 400-600 word write-ups on a cultural happening in your town, newsy transmissions, interviews with a local character, encouraging (or discouraging) trends you’re seeing in infrastructure/public health/the school system—if it matters to you and those around you, let me know about it. We’ll pay $200/piece for these, and they’ll be a part of an old-meets-new weekly Friday edition that should be pretty fun. (More TK on that.)

I’m also on the lookout for columnists to own localized beats of their choosing (within reason, but I’m ready to get weird with it) ~twice a month in the same word range for the Friday edition. Shoot your shot!

WHAT ABOUT LONGFORM STORIES?

I have the first couple of months booked up with stories, but if you have a longer-form piece —cultural, investigative, you name it—feel free to pitch as long as the story isn’t super-wedded to the last days of summer for publishing or, you know, scoopy for around that time. We’d be looking at publishing any longform pitches received by the end of August 2021 between late October to December 2021, so keep that in mind. Once we get our legs under us, The Goldenrod will be able to accept time-sensitive lengthy endeavors, but I’m asking for your patience: this publication is a whole new critter, so I’m taking things one step at a time in order to see what’s really resonating with folks and what isn’t. Right now, I obviously have no clue!

Rates are negotiable depending on a wide variety of things, but start at .30/word and go up from there.

SO, WHAT ABOUT ARTISTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS AND...AND...?

Making The Goldenrod interactive, engaging and entirely (ahem) not stuffy is important to me: the aim is to be a local, reliable publication that presents challenging stories in a way that deepens the reader’s connection beyond breaking news, and lighter stories with sensitivity and thoughtfulness beyond, “Oh, that’s fun!” I like to think of it as a five-senses-approach: I want you to be able to see, hear, feel, smell and, uh, taste the story as best as possible—and then keep thinking about it.

If you’re a graphic designer/comic-maker/sound artist/pop-up chef/experimental dance person in Central or Eastern Kentucky, please send over your portfolio or examples of your work. I’m building out a roster of creative people for some projects both inside and outside of email inboxes, and would love to work with you!

I DON’T HAVE A PITCH, BUT I HAVE A TIP! CAN I SEND THOSE ALONG?

Of course, of course.

I HEARD YOU’RE NOT LOOKING FOR LEXINGTON STORIES. IS THAT RIGHT?

Pretty much, yes. Lexington is well covered, so unless it’s tangentially-related (which it might be!) it’ll likely be a pass from us. The counties The Goldenrod covers include Cumberland, Clinton, Russell, Adair, Taylor, Green, Wayne, McCreary, Pulaski, Casey, Laurel, Clay, Knox, Whitley, Bell, Leslie, Harlan, Perry, Knott, Letcher, Pike, Floyd, Martin, Johnson, Magoffin, Lawrence, Jackson, Lee, Owsley, Breathitt, Wolfe, Morgan, Bath, Menifee, Rowan, Elliott, Carter, Boyd, Greenup, Fleming, Lewis, Mason, Robertson, Bracken, Harrison, Franklin, Scott, Woodford, Anderson, Fayette*, Bourbon, Nicholas, Montgomery, Clark, Madison, Powell, Estill, Mercer, Boyle, Lincoln, Jessamine, Garrard.

Among other goals, by the end of the first year (July 2022) the goal is to have written a really thoughtful piece (or several!) from each of these counties. There are so many stories going untold, and it’s time to fix that.

WHERE, AND HOW, DO I PITCH?

For short dispatch pitches, e-mail thegoldenrodnews@gmail.com with the subject: DISPATCH PITCH: [your pitch topic here]

For longform pieces, e-mail thegoldenrodnews@gmail.com with the subject: LONGFORM PITCH: [your pitch topic here]

For tips, e-mail thegoldenrodnews@gmail.com with the subject: TIP: [your tip here]

For anything else, the e-mail address is the same, and I trust you can make up your own subject. I’ll be constantly looking for feedback in the form of community surveys and maybe even some in-person town halls (!) but in addition, always feel free to reach out with your good/bad/ugly thoughts. We’re building a community here, afterall.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Questions / submissions: thegoldenrodnews@gmail.com

Website: https://thegoldenrod.substack.com/