How to pitch stories to Time Out Chicago

Thanks for your interest in writing for Time Out Chicago! We’re always looking for smart, thoughtful pitches from Chicago-based writers—but before you send in your ideas, please 1.) Take a look at these guidelines and 2.) Read through our archives to get a sense for Time Out’s areas of coverage. Have additional questions? Feel free to reach out to Jeffy Mai at jeffy.mai@timeout.com. 

What we’re looking for

• Trend stories (especially food and drink trends): Noticing a certain cocktail popping up over and over again on local drink lists? How about a food craze that’s all over Instagram? We want to hear about it! 
• New list features: Time Out curates best-of lists (example here and here) and how-to guides (example here and here) on a number of topics. If you have an idea for a list we haven’t covered yet, send it in! 
• City identity listicles: Funny, niche and pride-filled breakdowns of things only Chicagoans would understand—from 16 things Chicagoans do that are absolutely disgusting to 20 Chicago slang words you should know.
• Glimpses into Chicago-specific internet culture: Like Goth Target. 
• Reported features
• Deep dives/cultural histories

What we’re not looking for  

• Repeat stories: Look up your story idea using our search bar to see if we’ve published something similar. 
• Reviews: Sorry, but all of our reviews are conducted by staff writers at the moment. 
• Time-sensitive news posts  
• Interviews

How to pitch 

Send your pitches to Time Out Chicago editor Jeffy Mai (jeffy.mai@timeout.com) with “PITCH:” in the subject line. Please include the following details in the body of your email: 

• A short biography and links to clips
• Potential headline(s) 
• A brief (i.e. no more than two paragraphs) description of your story idea including news peg/why it’s timely
• Sources you’d talk to (when applicable)
• Ideas for imagery

Time Out also works with a number of regular freelancers to help update our existing list features. If you’re interested in joining that pool, get in touch with a bio including relevant experience and 3–5 clips. 

Rates

Rates may vary depending on workload and word count, but here’s a general breakdown: 

• New list features: $250
• Reported features/trend stories (600-1,250 words): $0.25-$0.40 a word