25 Publications that Pay for Writing About Pop Culture

Today, for our latest roundup of publishers, we have a list of 25 publications that pay for writing about pop culture and that work with freelance writers.

We’ve researched payment rates and found contact information for all of these publishers, to make it easy for you to connect with the right opportunity.

If you want to browse even more opportunities, be sure to check out our database of over 1,500 publishers that pay writers. It’s easily searchable, and includes thousands of listings just like the ones below.

If you’re new to freelancing, I also very much encourage you to take our course on pitching. You can get the details here.

So, without further ado, here’s today’s list…

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. Popverse is a modern entertainment brand that covers TV, movies, comics, creators, and conventions. They welcome pitches from freelancers. They’re seeking in-depth analyses on major projects in comics, movies, TV, and games; personal stories that would be evocative to their readership; and captivating interviews/conversations with pop culture personalities. They have previously mentioned paying a standard rate of $100 per article (1,000-1,800 words), $150 or more for in-depth interviews or deeper original reporting and $50 or $75 for exceptionally short write-ups. To learn how to write for them, refer to this page.

1. The A.V. Club is an entertainment website for the pop culture obsessed. They cover news, films, music, TV, games, and more. Current pay rates are not clear. According to an old payment report, they paid $0.06 per word. To contact them, refer to this page.

1. The Humanist is a quarterly publication of ideas and action focusing on the philosophy of humanism—a naturalistic and progressive outlook informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion. They are interested in receiving pitches for pieces that explore specialized topics (from politics to pop culture) relevant to humanism, columns recounting life experiences or “deconversion” stories, editorials, and book and film reviews. They have a limited budget for compensating authors. To learn more, refer to this page.

1. Pride Source is Michigan’s LGBTQ+ news source. They cover LGBTQ+ politics, relationships, sex, health, home, pop culture, celebrities, and more. They publish features, profiles, Q&As, essays, opinions, listicles, and video interviews. Though their focus is on Michigan, they’re open to national stories, especially those with a Michigan spin. They’re interested in stories of survival and perseverance. According to their pitch guide, they pay $125 to $150 for columns/essays and $200 to $250 for news features and other news/pop culture reporting.

1. Mental Floss is a media brand that offers interesting facts, quizzes, trivia, and brain teasers to the audience. They are always seeking new voices to write about the diverse verticals they cover, whether that’s history, science, entertainment, language, pop culture, art, or beyond. They accept pitches for lists and features. They have previously indicated that their rates started at $150 for lists, $125 for short features of 500 words, and $200 for longer features. Current pay rates are unclear. To learn how to send them a pitch, refer to this page.

1. The Ringer is a major website covering sports and pop culture. They are owned by Vox Media. They also host a wide variety of podcasts. According to an old payment report, they paid $0.60 for a 8000-word feature. You can pitch them here.

1. Dirt is a newsletter about digital pop culture. They cover books, streaming, music, style, fashion, blockchain, and the internet. Their pieces are generally around 500 to 800 or 800 to 1,000 words. According to their pitch guide, standard rates begin at $0.50 per word, negotiable for reported pieces. Q&As are paid out at $250.