Dear writers
These last few days have given me some good news. An ill-conceived music festival was cancelled. A fascist dictator was overthrown, which gives me hope about the future.
As the year comes to a close, I have to ask: has your freelancing career panned out the way you planned it? Did you manage to overcome the COVID19 impact on newsrooms across the world and persist in your journey? Tell me about your year, the good and the bad. We could all learn from each other’s experiences.
This week’s paid edition - out TOMORROW - breaks away from the status quo to include an international publication (though with an Indian connect). Thaen X is a new online publication started to ‘create a safe space for conversation around sexual health and wellness within the South Asian Diaspora’. I’ve interviewed the founder, Mathusha Senthil and she talks about the importance of having a voice, and also, how to pitch them (they accept pitches from new writers, too). There’s a note on creating your portfolio by Divya Karthikeyan, job opportunities, and plenty of pitch calls.
Note: If you sign up for a monthly subscription, payments happen automatically. You will receive an email if there’s an error with your card/payment. Hence, if you want to stop/pause a subscription, you have to unsubscribe yourself. Also, check if your money is deducted after you input card details; often you get a success email from Substack but the payment gets declined.
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Ready? Let’s begin.
Subscriber Speak
This is where I invite you, my subscribers, to share your wins, offer suggestions and feedback or ask questions. I am extremely pleased to announce that this editions has all IAW #BylineBrags.
Writer Apeksha Bhateja says, ‘In a newsletter a few weeks ago, you mentioned you worked with Smitha [Menon] on a piece for CNT. You shared her email and I shot a pitch to her that I wasn’t able to sell before. She accepted the pitch and my piece was just published. I wanted to write a little note of thank you, for the amazing work you’re doing. I’ve worked with a couple of international publications since I started freelancing in July, but this was my first piece for an Indian mag (even digital). So, it's extra special for me. Really grateful for the community!
I am so pleased you got your first national byline Apeksha, and this is a wonderful story about dhaba culture and the lockdown’s impact on them.
Resmi Jaimon did this story on Roadschooling In India (what an excellent idea!) for VICE. She pitched VICE India. Note: Vice India and Vice (international) may have different rates for stories. I have heard the Indian edition delays payments, so research a bit before pitching them. Vice India recently put out a call for pitches for original reports, explainers and reported essays on sex, gaming, drugs, food pop culture and more. Email dhvani.solani@vice.com
Toonika Guha attended my The Pitch Club session a couple of weeks back. She says, “I used the knowledge to successfully pitch Whetstone magazine.” They published her story on Kolkata’s Chinese cuisine, a fascinating read about the history of this Bengali favourite.
MISCELLANY
(News you can use)
Job: Nayi Dhara, a multi-media digital platform, is looking for a content associate with a strong command over Hindi language and a keen interest in Hindi literature. Remuneration: As per industry standards. Email kartikay.khetarpal@nayidhara.in.
#FF: Southern Collective is a motley crew of researchers led by and friends interested in building a transdisciplinary network in the northern Indian Ocean. They will talk about the anthropocene and will highlight issues around climate change, livelihood transformations, coastal emergencies, marine resources, interdisciplinary scholarship and more.
Workshop: Prem Panicker and Arati Kumar-Rao are conducting a workshop Tell Me a Story covering the tools and the techniques that help you tell multi-sensory stories – through text and voice and stills and videos. Topics include Finding a story, pitching an idea, Art & craft of researching and organizing in a multimedia world, Techniques and tips for gathering information in field, and more. Eight hours/week. Dates: November 18 to December 19. Cost: Rs 25,000. Deadline: November 10. More details, here.
Job: Gojek Designs seeks applications for Designers across Bangalore & Jakarta.
Job: The non-profit Point of View is hiring a remote, full-time Second Lead, Gender, Sexuality & Technology team. They want people who have a deep understanding of gender, sexuality & tech, and are self-starters with organisational abilities. Work experience of 5-7 years. Deadline: November 10. More details, here.
Work: PitchyDeck is looking for content writers for decks (Investor pitches, sales deck, corporate decks etc). It will be 50-100 words a slide, and each deck will have 12-15 slides. They want someone with experience in business storytelling, who understanding business models and technology, and proficient in English. Email Venkat on hello@pitchydeck.com
READING GUIDE
“Give a Dalit man a pair of scissors, and he’ll show you what freedom is like no one else can, regardless of what colour the thread is or how long”: read Vijeta Kumar’s evocative piece about her father and the friends he has found in his birds and plants.
Since it is election season, here’s a tale of a Russian mayor who needed someone to run against him to make the local election look legit, so he forced the woman who cleans city hall to run after everyone else refused, and...she won.
“The deep-fried snack is the perfect culinary idiom for creative self-expression. At the same time, inside cafés, teashops and roadside eateries, the bhaji or cutlet has created community, catalysed ideas and sparked protest”: Supriya Roychoudhury connects the deep fried snacks of Calcutta and Panjim and their role in the political movements of both cities.
FiftyTwo.in does these fantastic longform stories. (I hope to interview them for IAW someday) My favourite is this Sharanya Deepak piece on custard, and how it swept India’s imagination.
If you love tea, dip into this illustrated story in Longreads (another great platform for longform articles).
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Until next time, stay safe + wear a mask + wash your hands (off propaganda marketed as news)
Adiós.