Write Jobs PLUS+

Pitches wanted (Cleveland) | ~12-20 cents per word

Added 2021-02-20 07:36:16 +0000 UTC

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: THE LAND

We’d love to hear from you. If you have a story tip, want to pitch an op-ed, or if you’re a writer pitching a story, view our editorial and submission guidelines below:

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

The Land, a local news startup (www.thelandcle.org), is looking for freelance writers to write news, features and investigative stories.

Our mission is to report on Cleveland’s neighborhoods and inner ring suburbs. We deliver in-depth stories that foster accountability, inform the community, and inspire people to take action.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF PITCHES:

News stories (1-3 sources, usually 500-750 words)
Features (multiple sources, usually 1,000-1,500 words)
Investigative features (longer stories that involved more research including public records requests, can be longer than 1,500 words)
Commentary (op-eds or topical personal essays written by community members)

Typically, as a startup, we pay $50-100 for a news story, depending on length (either 300-500 words or 500-800 words, 1-2 sources), and $200 per feature article (approximately 1,000-1,500 words, multiple sources). We are happy to pay more for investigative pieces. We hope to increase our rates as we grow from startup to nonprofit organization.

Our stories fall into three buckets: solutions, accountability, and neighborhood spotlights (cool underreported things happening in the city, especially areas that receive little/no coverage). We are especially interested in accountability stories that highlight community issues or challenges and what elected officials or civic leaders are doing about them. We’re also looking for folks to cover government meetings. We focus on in-depth stories. Here are some ways we measure that.

Revelatory: Is this new? If not, can it be told in a new way?
Contextual: How did we get here?
Solutions-driven: What can be done about it? What are others doing that works?
Data-driven: What does the data say? Does it support the thesis of the story?

WE ALSO AIM TO:

Inspire people to think and act by telling stories of equity and impact
Foster accountability by reporting on what political and civic leaders are doing to solve our problems
Promote civic engagement by informing the community about the issues and how to get involved
Celebrate individuals who are making change at institutions and grassroots organizations

We have no content paywall. Anyone can republish our stories for free with attribution. We also collaborate with the Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative and other groups.

OUR COVERAGE TOPICS INCLUDE:

Arts & Culture
Development
Education
Entrepreneurs
Economy
Government
Health
Public Safety
Sustainability
Social Equity
Transportation
Local Heroes

Here are some feature story examples:

Here are some news story examples:

To pitch us or if you have questions, please send a description ranging from one paragraph to one page with your story idea, how you’d report it, bio and clips to leechilcote@gmail.com.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Questions / submissions: leechilcote@gmail.com
Website: https://www.thelandcle.org

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

Learn more about the publication: The Land is a local news startup that reports on Cleveland’s neighborhoods and inner ring suburbs. It aims to deliver in-depth stories that foster accountability, inform the community, and inspire people to take action. More information here.
Read through its selection of recent articles/stories, categorized into: Arts and Culture, Education, Government, Health, Economy, Sustainability
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.