Looking for a paid outlet for your food writing?
Recently Lucky Peach launched a new website featuring “daily essays, recipes, restaurant recommendations, comics, and other miscellany,” says editor Chris Ying.
That means they need lots of content, which is the best news ever for freelance food writers. Here are some guidelines for submission:
1. Write for a monthly theme, tied to the print magazine. Ying says the coming themes are:
- Plants for June
- Burgers for July
- The beach for August.
2. Write for the “We Love Mom” feature. After May, it will appear every Friday.
3. Write for a category: Cooks & Chefs is written by and about chefs. Other categories are History, Interviews, Profiles, Science and Travel.
4. Submit a pitch or a complete submission to submissions@lky.ph. Read this interview with Ying first.
Good luck! Let me know if you succeed. I did! Here is my piece, called The Meaning of Mangoes.
Thanks!
You are welcome. Hope you can come up with something, Annie.
I’ve tried to buy a paid subscription to Lucky Peach, never mind submit a query, and gotten nowhere! Maybe they’ve been going through some reorganizing. You’ve reminded me to try again, and while I’m at it, send in a story idea. Thanks for your terrific blog. Hope to see you one of these days.
Well, they were a start-up, and rather short-staffed, but now they need to fill the blog, so they need an efficient pipeline. Try again, Julia! And yes, it would be lovely to see you in person.
Hi Dianne:
Thanks for sharing this opportunity. I bought your book, “Will Write for Food,” several years ago. Thanks for being so generous with sharing opportunities and publishing tips.
Angshuman
I wonder if you bought it in Kolkata or when you were here as a graduate student, Asghuman? Probably the latter. Regardless, thank you. I think you should write about discovering Bengali cuisine in a Texas book for Lucky Peach.
I have a “We Love Mom” story coming out soon. I wrote it in the winter and it’s been shot and I assume, edited. I haven’t heard yet about when it’s running. I am so happy they have expanded their voice and platform to the online world. There’s been some great content up on the new site. Thanks for this, Dianne!
Congratulations, Carrie! I hope they run it soon.
My piece must be published in June to coincide with the “plant” theme, so I’m hoping it sees the light.
Thanks for this Dianne! I read this ages ago and it inspired me to pitch a “We Love Moms” piece on spec… any insights on response time after sending in a submission? I made the foolhardy decision to send mine in right before the holiday.
Oh how exciting! I like the edgy feel to the print magazine and am glad to see its theme is evolving. Thanks Dianne.
My pleasure, Maureen. The magazine strikes me as being a little more mainstream these days, yes. Less boy’s club too. That’s true for the blog as well.
Can you shine a light on what Lucky Peach’s pay rates might be? Thanks much!
Hi Carolyn, sorry for the delay. I just found this in my spam filter. I got $250 for a $1000-word personal essay. sorry but I don’t know more than that.
Thanks for the info! I love your blog and food writing book, by the way. Very helpful for beginning food writers like me!
Thanks Tara. I hope you will think of a good story to send them.
This is so cool. I let you know if I have any success. 🙂
Dianne
Are they just taking email submissions now? I thought I remembered in the past Lucky Peach used to use a form. Thanks for the info!
Yes they are. Go for it, Josh!
As a freelance writer and major foodie, plus puppeteer and ventriloquist I have written something to submit to their blog, but I am stumped as to where they are located on the net.
There were links in the post. Here is the main page: http://luckypeach.com/
What is the site that you can find the status of your submission to Lucky Peach mag?
I’m not aware of any site where you can do this, Fay. It’s pretty standard to follow up on your query in two weeks.