What We Publish: Stories about Venezuelan public life
Your topic must be clearly Venezuela-centered, and not a purely private/personal story. If it’s about Venezuela or Venezuelans, and about public life, it’s fair game.
What Usually Works, What Usually Doesn’t
We typically prefer stories with a reporting angle: things you saw, did, participated in and can describe in specific detail. We are always looking for telling details. We aim at a well- educated general reader. You cannot assume the reader is an expert on your topic.
Pitfalls to Avoid
The top reasons stories get rejected is that they’re too vague, too abstract, not timely enough, or too academic. Our approach is journalistic, we stay away from pure think pieces.
The Process
- Pitch
Every great story starts with a pitch: a short summary of the argument at the center of your story. Pitches need to be concrete enough to allow us to imagine the story, and should always be grounded in specifics. A great pitch answers three questions: why this story? Why now? And why are you the right person for it? Send your pitch to: [email protected] - Guidance
If we see potential, we’ll give you guidance on how to write the post. If we don’t, try to remember it’s not personal. Just pitch something different. - Get Writing
We want vigorous writing, and vigorous writing is concise. Ideally, we want lean copy: a text should be as short as it can be. Our style is conversational.. Be careful to avoid a formal or academic style. Write it the way you’d write an email to a brilliant friend. Always remember to be specific: examples, details and observations. To submit, put your post in a GoogleDoc and share it with your editor. - The Rewrite
Every post is the outcome of a collaboration between a writer and an editor. We’ll send you back an edit, often with requests for changes. Engage with your editor. Some posts are ready after one round of editing, others need several rounds. We aim to make this process fun and stimulating: we’re here to help your post shine.
We aim to consistently turn good posts into great posts.
Finally, whenever in doubt, remember Strunk & White. Print this. It’s the best advice any writer ever got:
Omit Needless Words
“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short,
The Elements of Style, Strunk & White
or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”
(Memorize that.)