Editorial article brief

Give us the thinking. We write the piece.

This is the brief our writers work from for contributed articles and features in premium outlets. Editors reject pitches that read like marketing, so nearly every question here is aimed at the one thing they do accept: a specific point of view, backed by something real. Fifteen minutes, and it saves two rounds of edits.

0 of 0 complete
01

About the client

Exactly as it should appear in the byline.
For example: Founder and CEO, Acme Robotics.
Editors check this. It is often what decides whether a pitch is taken seriously.
Two or three sentences about the client, written in third person. Most outlets print this verbatim at the end of the piece.
02

The article

Rough is fine. What is the piece called?
The single argument the article makes, in one sentence. Not a topic, an argument. “Remote work is complicated” is a topic. “Most remote-work policies fail because they optimise for managers, not makers” is a thesis.
Be specific. “Founders raising a first round” beats “business leaders.”
Editors reject pieces with no timeliness. A shift in the market, new data, a policy change, a season, a mistake everyone is currently making.
03

The substance

The spine of the article. One per line. These usually become the section headings.
A specific scene from your own experience. A conversation, a decision, a failure, a number that surprised you. This is what makes a reader stay past the first paragraph, and it is the part only you can supply.
Statistics, research, results, customer outcomes. Include where each number comes from. Premium outlets fact-check and will cut anything unsourced.
Counterintuitive beats impressive. Editors publish people willing to say what did not work.
What does your industry get wrong that you can argue against with evidence?
04

Voice and boundaries

For example: plainspoken and practical. Or academic. Or contrarian.
Anything legal, personal, or strategic that must stay out of the piece.
Names we should never put in print next to yours.
Anything a lawyer would want softened, or that we should not state as fact.
05

Placement

Names from the rate card, or a budget and we will shortlist.
Put flexible if there is not one.
Name and email of whoever signs off before it runs.
06

Links

The page you would most want linked. Optional, because the strictest editorial outlets do not allow promotional links at all. We will tell you which of your targets do.
The words the link would sit on. Leave blank and the writer chooses naturally.
Research, a report, a product page. One per line.
07

Headshot

High resolution, at least 1000px wide. Most outlets print it beside your byline. JPG or PNG, up to 8 MB.
We resize it for you. Send the biggest version you have.

We reply within one business day. Your answers are used to write and place your piece, and nothing else.