Offspring Is Looking for a Variety of Freelance Writers
While this is still something of a new and fresh year, I want to ask the freelance writers among our readers (and not only) to send me your presentations!
In particular, given that I’m still a heterosexual, cisgender, middle-class white woman – the same as last year – I’m interested in expanding the diversity of freelance voices on the site. I try to research and write on a wide variety of topics, but the point of view I am writing from will always default to “natural, cisgender, white mother of a middle-class white child,” and I can only assume that this means that I have blind spots. questions or topics that we need to cover.
While presentations related to diversity are certainly always welcome, they don’t have to be about, say, race or LGBTQ + issues. A variety of voices can provide a fresh perspective on any number of topics, and this is valuable to our readers.
What I like on the field
Each editor has a different preference for how they like being presented. Lack of one or two preferences won’t land you on my permanent list of crap, but following a few guidelines can help you hone your ideas, so I can’t help but grasp all your ideas.
First, give me an idea , not a completely written article. This makes it much easier for me to tweak the idea at the angle that works best for our readers, before you put too much work into it.
However, before you get started with the idea, please – and I can’t stress this too much – study what we have already done on this topic. Lifehacker is celebrating its 16th anniversary this year, Sweet, which means we had 16 years to write about things like picky eating and toddler tantrums. Generally speaking, the most common parenting topics have already been covered in 20 different ways. But you may have stumbled upon some unusual new method that works wonders for you that most people never knew existed, and this is an idea that you should be promoting. (For example, ” Buy your little one a dog bed” is just what we need.)
I am using this custom search bar created for me by Lifehacker Senior Technical Editor and you can too. Enter the theme you are looking for and it will use at least most of what we have written for Offspring over the years.
If you have a broader topic like “How to stop sleeping with my baby,” include at least a few of the tips that you suggest in the article. We would like to suggest at least three to five ideas or steps in such a post. I don’t need a complete blueprint, but I need some idea of where you want it to go so that I can make sure it’s not overly obvious, versatile, or the ideas we’ve already covered. (My most common reason for rejecting these broader types of presentations is that the suggested suggestions are too obvious and therefore of little value to the reader.)
In any case, remember that we are constantly striving to solve the problem and offer solutions for all problems that pregnancy and parenting can bring. We’re not the site to post about popular baby names – instead, we’re posting posts on how to choose the perfect baby name , with practical advice. If you’re trying to decide if a presentation makes sense to us, it’s helpful to ask yourself, “What’s the hack here?”
Oh, and no reports of crafty. We avoid guile.
Other things to consider or keep in mind
If we haven’t worked together before, please send me some clips of your work with your original tone, especially clips showing your voice. We absolutely recommend that you have some voice in your parts, they don’t always have to include personal anecdotes (although they can if it makes sense), but we want your personality to come through.
Please give me at least a week, preferably two weeks, to respond to your presentation before you follow. I often put them aside while they drive in and look at them all at once.
As soon as I accept your idea
Expect a typical post to have between 500 and 700 words, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. I also regularly post 300 word posts, as well as posts over 1000 words. When a writer asks me how many words to type, I can usually give a good grade, but my basic philosophy is that a topic should contain all the words to be comprehensive and useful – but no more words than that.
Finally, we will discuss rates as soon as I like your idea; this can vary depending on the type of message and how much work is required.
Please submit all presentations at mwalbert@lifehacker.com, using the subject line clearly indicate that this presentation for a freelancer. And if you’re not a writer, but there are certain topics you’d like to see on Offspring, those ideas are always welcome! Write them here in the comments, or write to me.