The Midst submission guidelines

Help us reinvent this thing called midlife

Nov 02, 2023

Are you a talented, experienced writer or subject-matter expert with fresh ideas? We’d love to hear from you.

A few things to keep in mind before pitching us

Our target audience is primarily women in their 40s and into their 50s (learn about our readers here).
Please research the-midst.com to make sure we haven’t already published a similar story.
We offer shared rights to writers. Meaning, we’ll own the original version of the content and publish on our properties and you retain the right to syndicate your work on other websites (such as Medium and LinkedIn) so long as you include a note in the syndicated version that links to the original version on The Midst.

Payment for original content

We tend to pay $50–$200 per original piece of content (sorry, we can’t pay for a piece if it has appeared somewhere online.) For special, in-depth topics, we may be able to pay more. We’re seeking original, high-quality content about these topics:

• Women’s health and wellness
• Perimenopause and menopause
• Beauty
• Tangible, actionable career advice
• Modern parenting and relationships
• Personal finance
• Listicles and roundups on relevant topics that our audience is likely to search for on Google

Sample Pitch Template

Subject line:

Summarize your pitch and make it catchy (this line may ultimately be used to create the article title so you want to grab the editor’s attention.)

For example, if you were pitching an op-ed about Madonna, your subject line shouldn’t be “Pitch: Madonna.” It’d be a quirky headline/angle: something like, “Pitch: How Madonna Killed My Marriage.” This may not be the headline in your final piece, but it grabs our attention more than just a keyword or a topic.)

Intro/first paragraph:

Tell us who you are in a nutshell and remind them of any pieces you’ve written for The Midst already

Second paragraph (SHORT pitch):

We receive many pitches and appreciate brevity. Try to stick to two to four sentences that concisely explain the story you’re pitching. This paragraph should:

What: Include the topic and the perspective / stance you’re taking.
Why: Show that you know our audience (why is your idea a good one for our audience of women in midlife/how will you craft it to be relevant?) Why should anyone read your story (i.e., is it tied to any current events or trends)? What about the product/event/person you want to write about engages a human element that’s relevant to us? Does your story teach something or otherwise offer an audience benefit (ie a how-to piece or “expert” advice piece?)
Format: Include your proposed format/structure. First-person reported essay? Interview? Include: key source, or data you’ve uncovered to back up the info in your pitch, other than repeating info found in articles or news sources, etc. For health and wellness pieces, we recommend sourcing from journals and medical, educational or governmental sites.
Images: We encourage bespoke images from our writers. Please let us know if you’ll be supplying these as well. We can help to provide guidance for specs, etc.
Lastly, show that you’ve done your homework on The Midst (i.e., search the-midst.com to ensure we haven’t covered the topic).

Third paragraph (“Why you”):

Provide your bio and any other publications you’ve written for. Link to any writing samples if possible (or attach), so that we can get a feel for your style and qualifications. Try to state why you’re the right person to cover this story.

EXAMPLE OF A GREAT PITCH:

Pitch: Becoming more outdoorsy in midlife

I’m a former [TK publication] writer and am pitching a first-person reported essay about becoming more sporty in middle age. I checked the site and this topic hasn’t yet been covered by The Midst, though it does seem to be a growing trend.

Structure-wise, I’d start out with an intro about my personal experience (with bicycling being my gateway activity, then getting into swimming, kayaking, etc.) and then segue into the trend portion, backing this up with the data and statistics I’ve found. Obviously, there are a lot of health benefits for women who stay active in middle age — I would include a few of these. But I could also look for stats on the greater number of women who are staying single or getting divorced in middle age, so they have more time to do this type of thing and/or want to try new things they didn’t have time for before.

There are also groups like Women Who Explore on Facebook — I could find out what percentage of members are over 40-50. I could also reach out to some trainers/outfitters/tour guides to see if they’ve noticed an uptick in older women among their clients and customers. I’d conclude the piece with some “how to” tips/insights about women interested in making this transition.

I’m thinking maybe 1,000-1,200 words, and could complete this by March 1.

I've attached relevant arts and lifestyle articles. Let me know if you’re interested, thanks!

Educational articles and thought pieces

We’re big into what we call “empathetic service journalism” for women’s health and wellness — stories in which writers share their personal experience or knowledge about a topic in addition to facts and expert sources to back it up.

Examples:
What is perimenopause? An empowering guide to everything you need to know by Tequia Burt

Everything you need to know about pelvic health by Hannah Shadrick

The case for living apart from the one you love by Maria Leonard Olsen

Pitch Lauria Locsmondy (lauria@the-midst.com)

Interviews

We're interested in interviews with inspiring, innovative, well-known women in their 40s or 50s who have overcome adversity or accomplished something awesome despite the odds against them.

Interview examples:

Stacy London: The Maven of Midlife is revolutionizing menopause with style by Gretchen Kalwinski
Emily McDowell on menopause awareness, releasing the drama, and leaning into the messy middle by Kimberly Sheridan
Ophira Eisenberg on winning drinking contests, punching guys, and why Parenting is No Joke by Dixie Laite

Pitch Lauria Locsmondy (lauria@the-midst.com) and cc Amy Cuevas Schroeder (amy@the-midst.com)

Beauty & Wellness

We’re interested in beauty and wellness from a holistic perspective. This includes products, reviews, and tutorials — as well as personal experiences and cultural commentary. Categories within this pillar include: makeup, trends, fashion, style, skincare, hair, nails, body, fitness, emotional/mental wellness, and nutrition.

For health-related advice or suggestions (this includes skincare), we prefer that you cite facts with reputable sources (research journals, and government, medical, or educational sites).

We accept submissions in the forms of writing, photos, and videos for this category.

Beauty & Wellness examples:

Saying “yes” to Botox: Why most Gen-X women don’t raise a brow by Lauria Locsmondy
Black women-owned beauty brands to buy now by Lauria Locsmondy
Think you stink? 6 solutions to help with sweaty, irritable, or dry skin by Anne Holub

Pitch Lauria Locsmondy (lauria@the-midst.com)

Book excerpts

We work with book authors to publish excerpts of their books with the goal of creating a win-win for the author and The Midst. If accepted, we’ll publish an excerpt as-is and also include:

An SEO-optimized editorial title and meta description (helps to get your content found in search engines)
An editorial header image
Prominent image of the book cover with links to e-commerce options
The author photo and biography, including links to their website and social media
Additional photos when available to help break up dense copy

Examples of book excerpts: