24 Women’s Lifestyle Publications that Pay Freelance Writers

For those who want to get paid to write about women’s lifestyle, here’s a list of 24 publications that work with freelance writers.

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1. The Cut publishes stories that address their readers’ lives head-on, with generous wit, honesty, and power. They are in a dynamic conversation with women about the issues that matter to them most — politics, feminism, work, money, relationships, mental health, fashion, and issues relating to equality — and they’re always looking for ideas that add to that conversation. They are looking smart, generous, funny writing for their four verticals: POWER, SELF, STYLE, and CULTURE. According to their guidelines, they pay $500 minimum for essays and columns (1,000–1,500 words) and $600 minimum for features (1,500–2,000) words. To learn more, refer to this page.

1. PopSugar is a global lifestyle media brand for young women. They cover entertainment, beauty, fashion, fitness, health, food, current events, parenting, and more. They promote diverse voices and opinions. They have previously indicated rates to start at $200 for essays and $300 for reported pieces. An old payment report indicates that they paid $0.08 per word. To learn more, refer to their pitch guide.

1. Dame is a website “For Women Who Know Better.” They are “smart, quick-witted, opinionated and unapologetic.” They publish essays, news, analysis, and unique takes on relationships, gender politics, sex, race, entertainment, the arts, business, politics, internet culture, health and everything in-between. According to their pitch guide, they pay $350 to $750 for reported stories.

1. Stylist Magazine is a weekly magazine and a website for smart, successful, and sophisticated women. They welcome pitches from freelance writers. They look for “smart, original, newsworthy journalism, covering women’s lifestyle, feminism, current affairs, social trends, culture, health, careers, relationships, dating, sex, and tech.” According to an old post by their fitness editor, they pay £180 per piece. If interested, email miranda.larbi@stylist.co.uk. To learn how to pitch them, refer to their pitch guidelines.

1. Chatelaine is a Canadian women’s magazine that covers the topics of health, fashion, and beauty. Their lead time is between four and six months, so pitches must be submitted well in advance of publication while still remaining timely and current. For seasonal articles there is a four to six month lead time. They have previously indicated to pay $1 per word. To learn more, refer to their submission guidelines.

1. Bustle seeks to publish joyful, inclusive, and relatable stories for real women. They generally seek pitches for timely first-person pieces and personal essays, experiments and trials, and interviews and profiles. According to a payment report, they paid $0.25 for a 800-word opinion, editorial, column or essay. To learn more, refer to their submissions guidelines. 

1. Refinery29’s mission is to help women see, feel, and claim their power. Their Canadian edition aims to shine a spotlight on the Canadian stories and issues that resonate with their Gen-Z and millennial audience. They publish everything from personal essays to reported trend pieces to features on race, reproductive rights, and pop culture. According to their pitch guide, they typically pay $150 for short market roundups and $350 for a thorough news explainer with interviews. Personal essays and shorter reported articles start at $350 and increase from there, depending on the piece. To learn more, refer to this page.

1. Verily Magazine is a fashion and lifestyle magazine for women. They offer inspiring and insightful content that inspires women to be their best selves. They cover fashion, beauty, dating, romance, relationships, entertainment, culture, news, health, and lifestyle. According to their pitch guide, their rates start at $100+ for online articles, $200+ for print articles, and $150 for poems in the print magazine. To learn more, refer to this page.