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I’m not a full-time journalist, but here’s my end of year thread featuring the stories I’m most proud of. Inspired by @cnqmdi from @studyhallxyz. This is my third year as a writer. I rarely accept work under $.30/word (unless it’s a pub I love). Including rates for transparency.
For BBC Travel, I wrote about what jackfruit, the global superfood, means to Sri Lankans. BBC paid $600 for this story. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200916-jackfruit-the-vegan-sensation-that-saved-sri-lanka
Atlas Obscura paid $700 for this story about a small village in Meghalaya who uses melodies as their names. I recorded short audio clips too. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/where-indian-villagers-have-musical-names
The Juggernaut paid $600 for my story on India’s male belly dancers. I loved talking to all my sources for this piece. https://www.thejuggernaut.com/male-belly-dancers
For World Travel Magazine (print), I wrote about how kitesurfing helped a small coastal village in Sri Lanka. Fee: $500 https://s3.amazonaws.com/external_clips/3346300/Sri_Lanka.pdf?1582714418
I wrote about 1990 Suwa Seriya – Sri Lanka’s free pre-hospital emergency care service for the British Medical Journal. BMJ paid 350 GBP for this story. https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4592
Vice paid 450 GBP for this story on how fashion industry workers are discriminated in Sri Lanka during the pandemic. https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3vnpa/sri-lanka-covid-brandix-coronavirus-outbreak
Food52 paid $350 for this story about Bengali hilsa. https://food52.com/blog/25066-what-is-hilsa-fish?utm_campaign=Social&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=Twitter
The Juggernaut paid $600 for this story on what Sri Lankan food actually means and one chef’s attempt to take it global. https://www.thejuggernaut.com/rishi-naleendra
Apolitical paid 300 GBP for this story on Kerala’s approach to mental healthcare during Covid-19. https://apolitical.co/en/solution_article/how-one-indian-state-is-combatting-covid-19s-mental-health-effects
My second fav story of the year (my first fave article isn’t published yet) is this one for Vittles London. My lowest per word rate, but what a joy it was writing this! On thambili (king coconuts). 150 GBP
https://vittles.substack.com/p/thambili-the-king-of-all-coconuts
PS: Vittles is easily one of my fav publications.
https://vittles.substack.com/p/thambili-the-king-of-all-coconuts
PS: Vittles is easily one of my fav publications.
BBC Travel paid $600 for my debut piece with them, on Sri Lanka’s choon paan trucks playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200610-sri-lankas-musical-choon-paan-bread-trucks
The Guardian paid 240 GBP for this short and quick piece on growing turmeric in Sri Lanka. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/07/spice-of-life-how-turmeric-became-the-new-gold-for-sri-lanka-villagers
This story earned me two solid content writing gigs at the end of the year.
This story earned me two solid content writing gigs at the end of the year.
This is not all. I had 30 stories published this year and four are waiting to go live. I may update this thread when they are live. All my stories at: https://zinara.contently.com
What else do I do if I’m not a full-time journalist? I write content for websites, social media and everything else you could possibly think of. I also manage social media for brands. Will do a separate thread about it.
I wrote a lot last year for Singapore and Silk Air inflight mags. They all stopped with the pandemic. What else got killed? A story on coffee in Kolkata and a hip Colombo neighborhood guide for Etihad Airways.
I also didn't write anything during the first three months of the pandemic. I was hopeless about life in general. But the second half of 2020 became extremely busy for me.
