Chicken Soup wants your Star Wars stories, Stylist wants your biggest mistakes, NYT is hiring paid editing residents — pay rates from $50 to $1,500+

Quick reminder on how this newsletter works, since we run two different pitch calls on two different days:

• Tuesdays → Pitch calls for writers — journalists and publications looking for people to write and submit their own stories, essays, or bylines.

• Thursdays → Pitch calls for business owners — journalists working on stories who need sources, experts, products, or founders to feature.

A note for business owners: we often assume the only way to bring visibility to your business is to wait for a journalist to write about you, BUT a first-person piece can do just as much for your business as a feature interview. Several outlets here are open to pitches from people with good stories to tell, not just pitches coming from journalists. The trick is to pitch credibly: lead with something you know, can teach, or an experience you’ve had. Pitch the lesson you can explain better than anyone else, and mention your business once, briefly, as your credential, not the subject.

If you want to learn how to actually do this, join my Pitching Challenge starting September 1. Use code SUBSTACK for $50 off. Only two spots left at that price, so grab one while it lasts!

Join The Pitching Challenge

Pitching opportunities (deadline items listed first, soonest to latest)

• Inspire the Mind — looking for lived-experience pieces from NEET young adults — $270. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 13, 2026

• Family Style — looking for art, culture, design, food, and fashion essays/features — $300. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 14, 2026

• Food & Wine — looking for Game Changer product nominations. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 14, 2026

• It’s Freezing in LA — looking for climate-fiction short stories and comics — $100–$400. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 15, 2026

• FIRE!!! — looking for work from emerging Black artists for a centennial issue — $400–$600. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 15, 2026

• Chicken Soup for the Soul (”Count Your Blessings”) — looking for heartwarming true stories — $250. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 15, 2026

• Chicken Soup for the Soul (Star Wars) — looking for personal Star Wars stories for a 2027 book. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 15, 2026

• The Treasurer — looking for corporate treasury writers and sustainability-themed pitches — $284–$567. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 16, 2026

• Culture: The Word on Cheese — looking for cheese-world stories and interviews — $1/word. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 17, 2026

• Fuller — looking for pitches on water scarcity and, separately, pleasure/desire. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 18, 2026 (water scarcity edition)

• Ink of Ages Fiction Prize — looking for historical or mythology-inspired short fiction — $500 top prize. Deadline August 22, 2026.

• NACLA — looking for pitches on Peru’s political crisis and Fujimorismo. Deadline August 24, 2026.

• Green European Journal — looking for pitches on China’s global rise — $345+. Deadline August 25, 2026.

• Diana Woods Memorial Award — looking for creative nonfiction — $250 prize. Deadline August 31, 2026.

• Trails Mag — looking for photo-driven features and a cover image for their Photography Issue — $1,500 for the cover. Deadline October 1, 2026.

• Stylist — looking for first-person “biggest mistake” essays — $203–$270

• Metro.co.uk — looking for unique, detail-rich dating stories for “So, How Did It Go?”

• Static Media / Explore — looking for U.S.-based travel news writers

• The Peak (Canada) — looking for original Canadian business reporting — $500–$1,000

• Lookout — looking for Southwest U.S. freelance news stories — $250–$600

• Balls & Strikes — looking for legal journalism on the Supreme Court and judiciary — $500

• Episodes — looking for thinkpiece-y pop culture essays — $200

• New Statesman — looking for long-form UK politics and culture features — $0.20–$0.47/word

• Engadget — looking for consumer tech writers — $25/hr or $0.10/word

• ReadHealthy Communications — looking for a pharma/biotech freelance writer-account director — $100/hr

• AARP — looking for 50+ travel content across pitches, assignments, and cruise reviews — $350–$500+

• Square Trade — looking for a visual novel writer (romance/fantasy) — $0.20/word

• Junior Times — looking for reporters for a kids’ print newspaper — $50/piece

• More to Her Story — looking for solutions-focused journalism centering women and girls — $300

• Business Insider (household help) — looking for first-person stories on hired/hustled domestic help — $240

• Comstock’s — looking for Sacramento-region business writers — $300+

• Business Insider (Singapore) — looking for work, spending, and productivity stories tied to Asian markets

• Wanderful — looking for deeply researched stories for women travelers — $250

• Chemical Spare — looking for an interactive-novel app writer — $0.20/word

• Culture Riot Media — looking for freelance writers for a new independent publishing platform

• Rare Beauty Substack — looking for an LA-based Latina/o beauty writer

• PsychWrite — looking for mental health writers with clinical expertise, building a 2027 roster

Other opportunities (fellowships, grants, press trips & creator gigs)

• Petra Genco — looking for a YouTube scriptwriter for a 900K-subscriber health/fitness channel. ⏰ Deadline this week — August 13, 2026

• The Bulletin — looking for Editorial Fellows in biosecurity and disruptive tech/AI — $750/piece. Deadline August 28, 2026.

• The New York Times — hiring paid, full-time Editing Residents. Deadline September 8, 2026.

• GFX Challenge Grant Program (FUJIFILM) — looking for imaging project proposals — $5,000–$10,000

• Kickstarter Culture Fund — looking for Arts, Fashion, Film, and Music creators with live or draft campaigns — $1M fund

• DCI (travel PR) — looking for U.S.-based outdoor travel creators/journalists for an international trip

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