Pitching Guide & Form

Here at Trans Writes, we want to platform as many trans voices as we can – and we will pay you for anything we publish.

We are looking for trans voices on every topic, nothing is too niche, quirky or out there for us. We want to know what excites you, what keeps you up at night, we want to hear about cool places you’ve visited, amazing stories you’ve heard or maybe even written. We want to know what you think about current events, news, sports, films, TV, tech and even video games. We want trans voices, so if you feel like you have something interesting to say; you’re in the right place!

We also want people from a range of backgrounds, expertise and writing experience. If you’ve never written before, that means you too! If you’re familiar with how to pitch writing to people you can skip this section and go right to the bottom. But if you’re new to the idea of writing and think pitching is a bit daunting then here’s a quick and probably quite vague guide;

  1. Form the idea – This seems obvious but I mean it most sincerely. A lot of my bad pitching experiences come from me having sort-of kind-of an idea, but not having taken the time to properly form it in my head into something readable. So it’s important to figure out the vague shape all those disjointed concepts in your head are going to take by the end of the piece before you pitch it.
  2. Sell the idea – Remember that’s what you’re here to do. We are paying you money for your time and effort on this, and we want to see what you see in the idea. We want to think its as cool as you do, so make sure you tell us why it is!
  3. Remember what’s important – The most important details to include will vary depending on the piece, for e.g. a news/opinion piece needs a ‘hook’ i.e. something it links back to in current events elsewhere. Whereas a travel blog to remote places is probably better served by emphasising the escape from current events.
  4. If we don’t reply, don’t panic – We already get a large volume of mail and there are only two of us working the site. We can’t reply to everyone and it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try again! From personal experience, sometimes it takes a few goes before you sell the idea just right, sometimes you have to change the idea up to fit a developing situation. If we don’t reply within 1-2 weeks, please feel free to try again.
  5. Don’t send us a whole article straight away – I will definitely feel bad if you send us a whole article instead of a pitch and we don’t take it because you did the work and didn’t get paid. We are looking for pitches first! A good quick outline explaining what your article is about and why that’s something you think is cool.

    p.s. – We pay £100 for “up to 1000 words” – is not a strict rule, more like general guidance. You can write more or less, but given our limited funding during the infancy of the platform, we can only pay £100 per piece. In future we hope to be able to change that!