Contribute
Two ways to appear on this site: pitch a story to the editors, or buy a labelled placement. They run on separate tracks and the difference is always visible to the reader.
For writers
We commission from writers who have done the thing they are writing about — the contractor who has renovated forty kitchens, the nurse who works nights, the person who actually took the sleeper train. Credentials help. First-hand experience helps more. We do not run general-interest explainers assembled from other people's articles.
What we are looking for
Health & Fitness, Business & Tech, Lifestyle, Travel, Home Improvement, Entertainment. Check the section first — if we ran something similar in the last six months, say how yours differs.
1,200–2,000 words for a reported feature. 700–1,000 for a first-person piece. We would rather have 900 words that earn their place than 2,000 that do not.
We pay on publication, per commissioned piece. Rates are agreed before you start writing — we do not ask for work on spec and we do not pay in exposure.
First publication, then a non-exclusive licence to keep it online. You keep the copyright and can republish elsewhere after thirty days with a credit back.
How to pitch
- Put the section in your subject line, e.g. Pitch — Home Improvement.
- Two paragraphs: what the story is, and why you are the person to write it.
- One line on what you know that is not already on the internet.
- Links to two published pieces, or two writing samples if you are unpublished.
Send it to [email protected]. We read everything and reply to pitches we want within ten working days. No reply after that means no, and you are free to take it elsewhere.
Do not send a finished draft unless we asked for one, and do not send the same pitch to three sections at once.
For brands & businesses
We sell two paid placements. Both are available to anyone whose business passes the checks below, and both carry the same two conditions without exception: the page is labelled as sponsored, and every commercial link on it is tagged rel="sponsored". That is what Google requires of a paid link, and it is not negotiable — a do-follow paid link puts both of us at risk of a manual action.
A full article on your subject, written by you or by us. Runs in the relevant section with a Sponsored label above the headline and a disclosure line below it. Up to two sponsored links, both tagged. Stays online permanently.
1,000 words minimum. We edit for accuracy and readability, and we will decline claims we cannot check. Rate on enquiry.
One link added inside an existing published article, where it genuinely fits the sentence around it. Tagged rel="sponsored", and the article gains a disclosure note at the foot.
One paid link per article, maximum. We choose the article and the anchor text — if your link does not fit any existing piece, we will say so rather than force it. Rate on enquiry.
Display advertising is separate and priced publicly on the advertise page.
Enquiries: [email protected]. Include your company, the URL you want to promote, and which of the two placements you are after. We reply within two working days.
What gets rejected
Read this before writing to us. Almost everything we decline falls into one of these, and sending it anyway just costs us both a few days.
Use it to research or tidy your own sentences if you like. Do not send us its output as your work. We can tell, and it ends the conversation.
Including on your own blog, on Medium, or spun from a piece that ran somewhere else. Every article here is written for here.
If the point of the article is the link, that is advertising, and it goes through the paid track above. We do not trade coverage for links, exposure, or reciprocal placements.
Gambling, adult content, payday lending, cryptocurrency offers, essay-writing services, and pharmacy without a licence. Paid or unpaid, the answer is no.
Health outcomes, income promises, and "clinically proven" without the study. If we cannot check it, it does not run — this applies to paid placements too.
Templates addressed to "Dear Admin", lists of twenty title ideas, mail-merge with the wrong site name in it. These are deleted unread.
Before you write to us
One specific pitch beats ten generic ones. Name the section, name the story, and tell us what you know first-hand. If you are a brand, say so in the first line — it saves a round trip and gets you a faster answer.
How commissioned work is edited and corrected is set out in our editorial policy; how paid placements are labelled is in our advertising disclosure.