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Howdy! I'm a 22-year-old college grad who got into freelancing at my last Oberlin semester. Excited to do my first end of year thread of my pieces at the rates I was paid for them. Overall I sent 271 pitches this year. Let's get started. 1/? #mediatransparency
Starting off in February, my photographs of Oberlin's anti-union-busting campaigning and protests were used in various magazines: @oberlinreview , but also http://Cleveland.com , Jacobin, and UAW's magazine Solidarity. I wasn't paid for these photos.
My "big break" came with my coverage of Minecraft's college campus servers for The Verge. It paid $500 and convinced me I could actually be a young journalist: https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/31/21200972/college-students-graduation-minecraft-coronavirus-school-closures
I covered my college graduation in Minecraft for my debut in Rolling Stone, a really lovely editorial process and fun piece to write. It paid $250. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/global-graduation-quaranteen-minecraft-1007713/
For The Guardian, I covered the first coronavirus erotica contest and the general sub-genre of pandemic erotica. I was paid $390. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/06/from-neighbourly-romances-to-zoom-sex-the-boom-in-lockdown-erotica
For Garage, I profiled Instagram's most popular old nude man. I chased this story for some months in a wild variety of publications and I'm glad I kept at it! I was paid $350. https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/akz478/horace-instagram-filter
I covered the connections between tabletop gaming and doom/death/sludge metal for The Guardian's Music section. My editor sent all freelancers a holiday message last week, which I loved! I was paid $263. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/11/mork-borg-swedish-metal-role-playing-game
I wrote about how calming cover songs can be and my personal history with them for Alma. I was paid $100 and got to plug my playlists in the article. https://www.heyalma.com/how-i-keep-calm-finding-the-perfect-cover-song/
I interviewed the two authors of the academic reform guidebook "Post-Pandemic Liberal Arts College" for Teen Vogue. I was paid $300. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/post-pandemic-liberal-arts-college-interview
For The Campaigner, I discussed how we can learn about post-pandemic community-building through a card game about . . . post-pandemic community-building. I was paid with a contributor's copy.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.muckrack.com/portfolio/items/10382708/The_Campaigner_Pearse_Clipping.pdf
https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.muckrack.com/portfolio/items/10382708/The_Campaigner_Pearse_Clipping.pdf
I got to analyze Vince Vaughn's bolo ties for MEL and more generally discuss bolo tie culture and style tips. I was paid $200. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/vince-vaughn-bolo-tie-arkansas
I wrote about best practices for inspecting produce during a pandemic when you can't touch/smell/sample it for The Counter. I was paid $400. https://thecounter.org/covid-19-produce-farmers-market-during-pandemic/
I covered the lockdown renaissance of "Redbone But You're in a Bathroom at a Party"-style ambient YouTube edits for Sound of Life. I was paid $190. https://www.soundoflife.com/blogs/experiences/the-lockdown-renaissance-of-from-another-room-song-edits-by-pearse-anderson
For my longest piece of the year (both in lead time and length), I interviewed 3 of the best pie bakers around about their recent pie cookbooks, holiday baking, and pie equipment I might get for Christmas (UwU). I was paid $600, my top rate for the year! https://www.epicurious.com/shopping/these-3-pie-pros-will-help-you-make-better-thanksgiving-pies-article
For Tabletop Gaming, I interviewed Thorny Games, a small design studio that does fascinating language-based games. This is the only piece I pursued this year because of a PR email (maybe bc PR ppl only started recently emailing me.) I was paid $126.
https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/store/latest-issue/tabletop-gaming/
https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/store/latest-issue/tabletop-gaming/
For the Los Angeles Review of Books, I reviewed the Cold War epic The Quiet Americans, discussing the various war crimes the US committed to uphold capitalism. I was paid $100. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-quiet-americans-reveals-the-un-american-history-of-american-espionage/
For my first column in EN World, I interviewed the editors of the new Old School Renaissance magazine KNOCK!. I'll probably be paid $24 per column. https://www.enworld.org/threads/opportunity-knock-s-with-a-new-kickstarter.677136/
I have 3 more pieces I've filed this month that I might still add to this thread, about sex and art and America! But until those come out, this is all I have to report from my first 10 months of being a lil reporter. Happy to answer whatever questions y'all have.
As a general reflection, the best resource has been the @studyhallxyz community and the Class of 2020. I hope to never send 271 pitches in 1 year, but this year I was still exploring what kinds of stories I wanted to write, and who for. Now I know some GREAT editors!
I've also made all sorts of mistakes. I'm not professionally trained (my 1 private reading about cheese journalism was cut into when we had to leave college), so I'm kinda learning as I go. Thank y'all for being patient.
I love teaching fellow Gen Z about my path so they don't make similar mistakes and can also report on the topics they know the best (climate/digital culture/education, for example). Feel free to refer ppl my way or DM me, let's talk or do a Zoom thing!
OK wait I have 3 more pieces to add to this thread! For MEL last week I covered the Instagram ToS update and how Instagram's Community Standards are already unfairly applied. I was paid $350. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/instagram-terms-of-service-changes-sex-workers
For Food & Wine today I covered the history of the many sexy Colonel Sanders. I was paid $500. https://www.foodandwine.com/news/how-kfc-made-colonel-sanders-sexy
And I totally forgot about my @oberlinreview article I wrote all about Oberlin Marg Night. It reads like a real time capsule - it was published the days before we left alongside pieces about how campus would change. I wasn't paid for this article. https://oberlinreview.org/20722/arts/margarita-nights-an-old-student-tradition-meets-a-new-location/
