By Boluwatife Jimoh
The Website That Sat on My List for Months
As an undergraduate student in Nigeria, I spent an embarrassing amount of time looking for ways to make money online.
My browser tabs were always full of job boards, freelance opportunities, remote work platforms, and writing websites. Whenever I found a publication that paid writers, I added it to a growing list on my phone.
Mental Floss sat near the top of that list for many months.
I knew they paid writers, I knew they accepted pitches and I knew I wanted to write for them.
But for a long time, I never actually pitched.
Part of it was fear, part of it was uncertainty. Like many Nigerian writers, I assumed international publications were mostly interested in writers with impressive credentials, journalism degrees, or years of experience.
Meanwhile I was a final year student in university, with no journalism degree, no industry connections, and a phone with low RAM that froze mid-sentence. I had tried everything before this; video editing, social media management, graphic design, virtual assistant work. Nothing had converted into real, consistent income. Getting paid in dollars felt like something that happened only to other people with better equipment, better connections, better everything.
I had applied to other websites before, but it was mostly silence, and majority of them weren’t accepting Nigerians. It felt like an endroad.
Mental Floss was my last hope, my bet on myself.
Eventually, I stopped overthinking and sent a pitch. Here is the actual pitch I sent.
“Hello Natalie,
I’m pitching a listicle titled “6 Strange Laws That Sound Absurd Until You Know Why.” Rather than focusing on laws that seem bizarre for shock value, this piece explores historical laws that were practical responses to real social, economic, or religious concerns.
The list includes Rome’s tax on reused urine, Sparta’s fines for unmarried men, Athens’ strict protection of olive trees, and laws governing ritual purity in ancient Delos. Each entry explains what the law was, why it existed, and why it feels strange today.
I’m a freelance writer with a particular interest in reframing unusual historical topics through cultural context. Link to writing portfolio is included below.
Best regards,
Boluwatife Jimoh
Less than a day later, it was accepted.
“Hi Boluwatife,
Thanks so much for reaching out with this! We like this pitch and would like to move forward. We can offer $45 for this. Let me know if you’d like to move forward and if so, what timeline you were thinking for submission.
Best,
Natalie”
That first article earned me $45.
The amount itself was modest, but it was the first time an international publication had paid me for my writing. More importantly, it shattered an assumption I had been carrying around for years: that publications like Mental Floss were somehow out of reach.
For the first time, I knew it was possible.
This is the link to the published article.
One Acceptance Doesn’t Mean You’ve Figured It Out
That first acceptance gave me confidence, but it also made me overconfident.
I assumed that if one pitch worked, future pitches would be easy. I had cracked the code. All I needed to do was keep sending more ideas.
Reality had other plans.
My next pitches were rejected.
My editor told me the topic had already been covered, while some other pitches received no response at all. After a while, I started wondering whether the first acceptance had simply been luck.
At first, I blamed my writing.
Then I started paying closer attention.
Four Months of Rejection Changed My Approach
The breakthrough came when I stopped treating Mental Floss like a publication I wanted to write for and started studying it like a researcher.
Instead of brainstorming random interesting ideas, I spent time reading through their archives. Not just recent articles, but older ones too.
A pattern emerged.
Many of my rejected ideas were not bad ideas. They had simply been published before.
I began reading articles differently. I looked for gaps in coverage, subjects that had not been fully explored, or topics that could be approached from a completely different perspective. I reverse engineered my first pitch and compared it to the ones that were rejected and the ones that weren’t replied to at all.
I also noticed that much of the historical content I was reading focused on American and European contexts.
As a Nigerian writer, I naturally approached stories differently. Instead of seeing that as a disadvantage, I began treating it as an asset.
That shift in thinking eventually led to my second Mental Floss acceptance.
Between my first and second Mental Floss publications, I sent multiple rejected pitches and spent roughly four months studying the publication more closely.
The Second Acceptance That Taught Me Everything
The idea that later got accepted focused on historical etiquette laws that might sound absurd today but people actually took seriously in the past.
Before pitching I read dozens of Mental Floss articles. I noticed they often took familiar subjects and approached them from unexpected angles. Instead of asking what was weird in history, I asked why something that looks ridiculous today made complete sense at the time. That became the core of the pitch.
Here is the pitch I sent.
Hi Natalie,
For centuries, something as small as removing the wrong glove at dinner or introducing a person incorrectly could seriously damage your social reputation.
I’m pitching a Mental Floss feature exploring historical etiquette rules that people once took surprisingly seriously and how those rules quietly shaped class, status, and everyday social survival.
Possible entries include:
– the elaborate calling-card rules of Victorian society
– strict glove etiquette at formal dinners
– mourning dress timelines that could last years
– social consequences for improper introductions
– hat etiquette and what it communicated about respectability
– why refusing food or tea could be interpreted as an insult
Rather than simply presenting “old-fashioned manners,” the piece would explore the hidden social anxieties and status systems behind these rules.
I’m a Nigerian freelance writer whose work has appeared in Mental Floss, including “6 Laws in History That Sound Absurd But Actually Make Sense.”
Happy to send clips or additional ideas if helpful.
Best,
Boluwatife Jimoh
What made this pitch work was specificity. I did not just pitch a vague topic. I gave the editor concrete examples with enough detail to see exactly what the finished article would look like. She could evaluate the piece before it existed. That is what you want an editor to be able to do. I also hinted at my previous relationship with the publication.
Before sending I had my best friend read through it. Fresh eyes caught things I skipped. I sent it around noon, less than 12 hours later, the editor replied with an acceptance.
Hi Boluwatife,
Thanks so much for reaching out! We’d love to have this piece on Mental Floss.
We can offer $45 for this. Would you be able to submit it in a week’s time (May 19)? Thanks again!
This is the link to the published article.
The Unexpected Challenge: Receiving Payment
I didn’t actually have trouble getting paid by the publication. The challenge came from my own banking setup.
I already had a PayPal account, but when the payment arrived, my bank informed me that I needed a domiciliary account to properly receive and hold foreign currency.
Without one, there was a risk the funds would be returned.
It felt crazy. What do you mean money I worked for could be returned to the sender?
I went to the bank three separate times. There were forms, conversations with customer service representatives, and far more paperwork than I expected. I was terrified the entire time. I did not want to alarm my editor and I did not want to lose money I had genuinely earned from my first real writing opportunity.
Eventually I was able to speak with both my account manager and my editor. After opening the domiciliary account and completing the required paperwork, the payment finally landed successfully.
For Nigerian writers navigating international payments here is what I recommend based on my experience:
Set up your payment infrastructure before you need it. Do not wait for an acceptance to figure out how you will receive the money. The platforms that work most reliably for Nigerian writers right now are Grey and Geegpay for USD transfers, Wise for bank to bank international payments, and Payoneer and Stripe for platforms like Upwork. If you use PayPal, make sure you understand exactly how your bank handles the conversion before any money arrives.
Communicate with your editors early. Most of them are understanding if you explain your situation professionally. They want to pay you. Help them do it.
Many new writers think success comes from sending more pitches. Volume matters. But volume alone is not enough.
The biggest lessons I learned:
Research the publication. Read archives before pitching. Many rejections happen simply because an editor has already assigned or published something similar. Go deep, not just recent articles but years back.
Focus on the angle. An ordinary topic can become extraordinary with the right angle. Often the angle matters more than the topic itself. I was not just pitching weird laws, I was pitching the explanation underneath the weirdness. That shift made everything.
Follow the guidelines carefully. Editors tell you exactly what they want. Reading submission and pitching guidelines sounds obvious but many writers skip this step. Do not.
Do not take rejection personally. A rejected pitch is not proof that you are a bad writer. Sometimes the timing is wrong, sometimes the topic is not a fit, sometimes the publication already covered the idea. Go back to your pitch. Re-examine the angle and try again.
Why This Acceptance Meant More Than $45
Looking back, my first Mental Floss acceptance gave me confidence. My second Mental Floss acceptance gave me a system.
The first article showed me that international editors were willing to work with a Nigerian student.
The second article taught me why pitches succeed.
I learned that getting published is rarely about luck. It’s about understanding a publication, finding gaps in its coverage, developing stronger angles, and continuing to pitch after rejection.
The first $45 mattered. But the lessons I learned between those two acceptances have been worth far more.
That $45 did not change my life overnight. But it changed how I saw myself as a writer. It told me that the barrier was not my nationality, not my location, not my equipment. It was my pitch.
Fix the pitch and everything else follows.
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Boluwatife Jimoh is a Nigerian writer and Mental Floss contributor. Her work covers culture, history, and the strange logic hidden inside ordinary things.
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