Guide to Pitches & Submissions

Murmuration publishes essays, reporting, fiction, and poetry from a regional perspective. We accept short pitches and submissions of finished work. In general, for reporting, essays, or interviews, send a short pitch for your story. For fiction, poetry, or literary works, submit the piece as it is. If either are accepted, editors will work with the writer to help with the reporting process or prepare the finished piece for print publication.

Murmuration wants eclectic stories for an audience who cares about local struggles in the Northwest. Writing should be thoughtful, critical, and above all, curious—the goal is to demystify the complexities of the place we live.

For journalism, consider sending us stories that:

• Fill in critical gaps in existing media coverage of regionally relevant stories with underrepresented sourcing and perspectives
• Ask key questions that heighten the contradictions in existing systems and structures of power (and seek nuanced answers)
• Clarify or demystify present struggles through historical accounts, sharp analysis, and unique perspectives
• Brings multiple voices together to add depth to a pressing question

For other non-fiction forms (short interviews, book reviews, historical inquiries, or short columns reporting from ongoing struggles), consider stories that:

• Are lively and use formal experimentation, including humor
• Provide accessible, politically incendiary information for a lay audience
• Are critical and curious, not polemical

Lastly, for fiction, poetry, or already completed works, our inbox is open. If you want to work with an editor on a piece, send a short pitch about the story you want to write and we will consider assigning an editor.

How to Pitch

In 500 words or so, tell us the story you want to report and why it matters to a regional audience. Tell us what form you are working in, as well as the angle you are taking and a short bio.

For form, consider if the piece you are proposing would be best as a personal essay, journalistic reporting, historical inquiry, or some other hybrid form. Think about your source material and consider how you want to arrange it for a lay audience. If journalistic, tell us the story as you see it and how a reporting process will add depth, nuance, and drive forward the public understanding of the topic.

As for angle, consider the specific perspective, question, or lens that gives a story its focus. What is driving the piece? Is it a source or conversation? An experience or an event? What is it's relevance to our audience and the publication?

Editors will bring pitches to our meeting, and, if accepted, the story will be assigned with a draft deadline and some notes.