Pitching Crosscut

Because we’re a tiny staff, we highly value freelancers. Our base rate for stories is $200, and this can be more depending on the length of your piece and the depth of your writing experience.

If you are new to Crosscut and pitching for the first time, please be sure you’re familiar with our site and the topics we cover. We value stories that haven’t been covered elsewhere, and we are especially interested in features that illuminate a bigger story in the news.

When pitching us, we’ll want to know: Why this story now? What does it tell us about this place? What issue does it raise and why does it matter? Do you have a central character? How is this story connected to the culture, politics, environment, or industry that anchor our region?

Usually our news pieces and features are written in the third person. Sometimes a story warrants the first person pronoun, but we seldom use it on our site. Strive for originality. Cite your sources. Write vivid scenes, but stay focused on the facts that move the story along. If this is your first time submitting a piece, do not fear. We know that writing is hard, and we will kindly let you know if we can work with it or not.

You can send us your brief and detailed pitches to pitches@crosscut.com. Note: Please do not send press releases to this email. Only use this email if you’re a freelance writer with a pitch. Press releases can be sent to editor@crosscut.com.

We also accept Commentary pieces—opinions or arguments responding to news or other editorials in the media. You can read more about our Commentary guidelines here.

We look forward to hearing from you!