Fancy pitching an article to mental health magazine One in Four? Editor Mark Brown tells you what he’s looking for.
At One in Four we love to publish writing from new voices.
Consequently, we love to get article pitches and do commission articles from pitches we receive.
As I’m the editor, you’ll be pitching to me.
So I thought it would be a good idea to give you an idea of what I’m looking for in a pitch:
1. Remember is One in Four is journalism FOR people with mental health difficulties
In your pitch I’m looking for a sense that you get the idea that One in Four is a magazine for people with mental health difficulties written by people with mental health difficulties. Tell me why your idea is of interest to other people with mental health difficulties.
Generally, One in Four is about getting on with life while having a mental health difficulty. We also have a dollop of opinion, a dash of discussion and a bit of stuff about services but all of them have to answer the question ‘what does this mean for people with mental health difficulties?’
One in Four is pretty much always through the eyes of people with mental health difficulties (apart from day in the life where we talk to various professionals).
In the case of interviews, we think it’s really interesting to have people with mental health difficulties interviewing people who either do or don’t have mental health difficulties about things relevant to readers.
2. Tell me what will be in your article
I need to know what kind of article you are proposing. Is it an opinion piece? Is it a piece of reporting? Will it include interview material? Where is your information going to come from? Does it tie in to any other big stories in mental health?
3. Give me an idea of what the headline and subhead might be
This will give me an idea of what you think the story is about so give me a headline that sums it up and a very short description of what the article is about.
4. Give me an idea of how long you think the article will be
We tend to work to 600 for one page, 1200 for two pages and 1700 for three pages approximately.
5. Give me a bit of background about yourself
Give me a very short biography and links to any other bits of writing you’ve done (including blogs) for me to have a look at.
If you do all five of the above it’ll make it much easier for me to see where you’re coming from and if what you’re pitching is right for One in Four.
It’s also worth reading the editorial principles of One in Four:
Statement of Editorial Principles
‘One In Four’ wants to widen understanding of mental illness and mental difficulty.
‘One In Four’ aims to challenge the stigma of having a mental health condition or experiencing mental health difficulties.
‘One In Four’ does not have a sectarian position on the treatment, diagnosis, nature and cause of mental illness or mental difficulty.
‘One In Four’ believes that there needs to be an authoritative source of information about mental illness and mental health difficulty, and that this source should deliver information to the widest range of people possible.
‘One In Four’ presents information and ideas about mental illness and mental difficulty in a measured, balanced format.
‘One In Four’ believes that media representations of mental illness affect both the perception of mental health difficulty in the wider community and the ways that people who have mental illnesses or mental health difficulties understand their condition.
‘One In Four’ believes that people with mental illness and mental health difficulty have the same interests and aspirations as people who do not have mental health conditions or mental health difficulty.
‘One In Four’ believes that helping people to access unbiased and balanced
information about mental illness and mental health difficulty is important, reinforcing positive messages and countering negative views, ideas and understandings.
‘One In Four’ presents positive images of people with mental illness and mental health difficulty and positive, aspirational information for people with mental illness and mental health difficulty.
‘One In Four’ believes the experience of mental illness and mental health difficulty should be situated within the realm of normal experience; that those experiencing these conditions should be helped to feel part of the wider community and that the wider community, through a greater understanding of these conditions, should look upon mental illness and mental health difficulty more positively.
‘One In Four’ believes that a professional, well-written, well-publicised and well- distributed regular magazine is key to guaranteeing the success of this editorial statement
All that done, read and digested get pitching to me at editor@oneinfourmag.org
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Mark Brown, Editor, One in Four magazine
