Pitch us
What freelance contributors need to know before sending pitches to Project Optimist.
Thank you for your interest in writing for Project Optimist! Here are a few things to keep in mind when pitching stories to us.
Stories should fall under the topics we cover: the environment, business, social issues, or art in greater Minnesota.
We are open to pitches for feature, explanatory, and solutions reporting. Visit this page for more information on solutions journalism.
We expect pitches to be exclusive to Project Optimist. Please let us know in your pitch email if you’re in a time crunch and need an answer quickly so you can pitch elsewhere if we pass.
Please check our style guide for information specific to how we write at Project Optimist.
About our audience
Market research has shown that Project Optimist has two main audiences.
We call the younger group “Daring Danas.”
- These readers are Gen Z and younger millennials.
- They are interested in our focus on solutions journalism.
- They value transparency about news coverage.
- They tend to be from more diverse communities and often feel their communities are underrepresented in the media or inaccurately portrayed. They want to see more positive news about their communities.
- They consume news quickly and prefer to have it packaged for convenient consumption.
- Social media is where they get most of their news.
- Visuals matter to them.
- Traditional opinion content does not resonate with them.
The older group is the “Inspired Infovores.”
- This group ranges from older millennials to baby boomers age-wise.
- They crave more positive news, and get their news from a variety of sources.
- They value solutions journalism.
- Local news matters to them.
- They are more likely to miss print news compared to our younger audience.
Our rates
We generally strive to pay freelance contributors $30 per hour, or about $500-$1,000 per piece. Rates are negotiable based on experience, story idea, and story length.
What the editing process looks like
After you’ve submitted a story draft, the managing editor will edit the piece in Suggesting Mode on Google Docs. Contributors are asked to address any questions or concerns. We can talk through proposed changes via email, video, or phone call.
Once the piece has been edited, contributors will work with the managing editor during our fact-checking process. This usually happens via video call. The managing editor will go through the story line by line to verify the information. Reporters are asked to provide links to relevant information and to copy/paste information from their notes into the video chat window. The information is then placed into the story as a comment. To make the fact-checking process smoother, please include links in the story ahead of time where applicable.
Each story has a checklist. The managing editor will go through the checklist with the contributor during the fact-checking meeting.
Fact-checking sessions typically take two to three hours, depending on the story.
How to contact us
Email Managing Editor Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten with a few paragraphs pitching the story. Be sure to include the following information:
- What’s the story?
- What do you know already?
- What do you still need to find out?
- What sources have you contacted or plan to contact?
- Why does this story matter?
- What format do you envision for the story?
- Include any prior coverage of this story (please check our archives to see if we’ve covered it before), and
- A few examples of your previous work.
When will you hear from us
We review pitches once a month. If your pitch is time sensitive, or you would like an answer right away so you can pitch the story elsewhere, please note that in your email.
Thanks for your interest in writing for Project Optimist!