How I Became a Regular Contributor to an Established Publication

By Precious Nwosu

For three years, I grew my portfolio, getting published in international publications and magazines, sharing the lived experiences of Black women through the lens of culture, identity, and pop culture. On the surface, my writing career was blossoming. I was holding conversations with editors who, in the beginning, as an entry-level writer, I couldn’t believe were within my reach.

So why was there still a hunger I couldn’t shake off?

While my portfolio grew, my financial statements remained relatively stagnant. I was getting paid around $100 per article across several publications, which wasn’t entirely bad, as I often get commissioned two or three times a month. As an undergraduate and later a fresh graduate, that should have been satisfactory, right? I had also been paid $200 twice, which felt like proof that higher-paying opportunities were possible. Still, those assignments were rare rather than the norm.

But I wanted more.

Not because I was ungrateful for the opportunities. I still wanted those assignments. But with my growing knowledge of pitching, the endless freelance newsletters I subscribed to, the writing websites I followed, and the opportunities I came across weekly, I felt capable of reaching for more. I also wanted assignments that challenged me in new ways. My pitches to these publications were often met with some variation of: “Thank you, Precious, for this pitch, but we’d love to pass.” Other times, they disappeared into silence. Sometimes, I couldn’t even bring myself to pitch at all.

Until Black Girl Times.

Black Girl Times has come up more than once in a WhatsApp women-only writing community that has invested greatly in my growth as a writer. Whenever conversations turned to publications that paid fairly and cared deeply about stories centred on Black women, the magazine surfaced repeatedly.

Naturally, I became curious.

One Friday night in 2024, while scrolling through a newsletter, I came across their call for pitches about Black women’s lived experiences. Putting away my fear, I decided to pitch. To my surprise, it was accepted. To say I was thrilled is an understatement, and I told my friends immediately. Then the worst happened. After the acceptance and a few editorial suggestions, silence followed. Back-to-back follow-ups yielded nothing. Weeks passed. Eventually, I was back to square one.

But I did not stop pitching.

Then, in May 2025, I came across Black Girl Times’ second-quarter theme on music. Before sending another idea, I did something I had not done deeply enough the first time: I studied the publication. As I read through article after article, I noticed a pattern. The stories were deeply personal, but they were also rooted in the lived experiences of Southern Black women. That observation changed how I approached my next pitch. Instead of focusing only on my Nigerian experience, I looked for a bridge between my world and theirs.

I sent this pitch: