Write For Weekly Reporters
We want people who pay attention. People who ask the right questions. People who can just explain things instead of talking like they are a walking thesaurus.
You don’t need credentials or a fancy background. What you need is something to say and the ability to say it clearly. Whether you have been writing for decades or have no prior published work whatsoever, it doesn’t matter. Good ideas and honest writing matter.
What We Actually Want
Stories that warrant readers’ time. A new perspective on something everyone’s talking about. An observation that gives people a different way of thinking. Something they didn’t know before but maybe should.
You can write about business, finance, day-to-day news, sports or travel. We’re also taking ideas for what to cover, if you have any that are timely and relevant. If it’s an issue that real people care about, chances are we’re interested in it as well.
The categories are just guidelines. If there’s a travel angle to your business story, all the better. And if your sports item ties into finance, all the better. Write what you know and write about something you care about.
How to Actually Write
- Write as if you were explaining something to a friend who’s smart but doesn’t know this particular thing. No jargon. No corporate speak. There should be no sentences that cause people’s eyes to glaze over.
- Shorter is better than longer in most cases. But if more space is necessary for you to make a point, take it. We’re not counting lines.
- The vast majority of pieces fall between 600 and 1,000 words. Some need more. Some need less. If you’re not sure, ask. Our editors are not here to judge or make you feel stupid. They’re there in place to help your story work.
- Use contractions. Use “don’t” rather than “do not”. Use “it’s” instead of “it is”. You talk this way naturally. Your writing should too.
What We Won’t Publish
- Anything that’s copied, palmed off from someone else, or cobbled together from others. Original work only. That is to say, your mind, your words, the way you understand things.
- No AI writing. Not for drafts, not for outlines, not for “just a little help with the intro”. We verify everything, and we’re pretty good at detecting artificial text. If it looks like a machine wrote it, we reject it immediately.
- Our readers come here for human voices. They can find generic content literally anywhere. They come to us because they cannot.
- Get your facts straight. Check names, dates, numbers, and quotes. If you’re not sure about something, fact-check it or trim it. Honest mistakes happen to everyone. No one should be making lazy mistakes.
Tone Stuff
Strong opinions are fine. Personal attacks aren’t. You can argue hard against ideas without going after the people behind them. Think sharp and direct, not mean and petty.
If you’re writing about something controversial, make your case clearly. Don’t assume everyone already agrees with you. And don’t talk down to people who don’t.
The Editing Part
Our editors might adjust sentences for clarity or smooth out awkward phrasing. Nothing major changes without your approval. Your voice stays your voice.
If something’s confusing or needs more context, they’ll ask. If a fact seems off, they’ll check. The goal is making your piece stronger, not rewriting it into something you didn’t write.
How to Pitch
Have an idea? Send us a few sentences about what you hope to write and why it matters. That’s it. No official proposals, no templates, no corporate nonsense.
Explain the subject, the angle and why readers should care. We’ll get back to you quickly with a yes or no, or some questions.
After It’s Published
Share your piece where you like. Discuss it on social media. Engage with readers who comment. Many contributors hang on because they like the community here. We hope you will too.
Some writers pitch once and vanish. Others become regular contributors. Both are fine. Write for when you have something to say.
What We’re Not Looking For
- Press releases disguised as articles. Marketing copy pretending to be journalism. Puff pieces about your company or your friend’s startup. Anything that reads like an ad.
- We’re also not interested in clickbait headlines, recycled trending topics with nothing new to add, or hot takes that are just contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.
- If your main goal is getting a backlink for SEO, this isn’t the place. If your main goal is saying something worth reading, keep going.
A Few More Things
Deadlines matter. If you pitch something timely and we accept it, get it to us while it’s still timely. News gets old fast.
Respond to editor questions reasonably quickly. They’re not chasing you down for fun. They’re trying to publish your work.
And yeah, you can pitch multiple ideas. Some will land, some won’t. That’s how this works.
The Real Point Here
Weekly Reporters exists because too much online content sounds like it came from the same boring factory. We are trying to create something else here. A zone where real people write real things that real people actually want to read. If that is something you would like to be a part of, please send us your pitch. We’ll take it from there.