10 Paying Markets for History Article Submissions
Freelance writer Matthew Adams shares 10 paying history markets open to freelance article submissions from writers.
A history article is any text-based content that recalls, analyzes, and interprets aspects of the past. Such articles can cover military, social, political, sport, cultural, technological, or even natural history throughout the ages. Thus, history is a very diverse subject, which also means there’s a large magazine and website landscape for authors to submit historical articles on a freelance basis. I have collaborated with various digital and print publications that have published my historical articles.
First, you must find magazines and websites open to freelance submissions for historical articles. However, some of them might only be open to voluntary contributions. To help you find more genuine potential article markets in the historical niche, these are some paying magazines and websites open to freelance submissions for history articles to check out.
Britain at War is a UK magazine devoted to British military history. It is a magazine that explores all aspects of British history from the 18th century up to modern times. This magazine aims to provide fresh perspectives on Britain’s wars throughout history. Britain at War is open to freelance submissions for Collections Museum profiles, historically related news, and feature pieces.
This magazine offers £50 per page for published articles. Britain at War uses direct bank transfer and PayPal for making remuneration transfers. You can pitch article titles to and ask the Britain at War editor for submission guidelines at john.ash@keypublishing.com.
The Naval History magazine explores naval heritage from sail to the nuclear era. This magazine includes historic warships, naval battles (or campaigns), naval news, pictorials, book reviews, and aviation articles. Naval History is open to freelance manuscript submissions for articles that fit those topic categories.
The remuneration Naval History offers ranges from $60 to $150 per published page. It also offers $75 for a book review and $250-$500 for pictorial pieces. There is no minimum length requirement for Naval History articles, but the publication sets a 3,000-word maximum limit. Naval History instructs potential contributors to submit articles through its website portal (for which you’ll need to register on the magazine’s site) without pitching titles first.
Shipping Today and Yesterday, which has recently merged with Sea Breezes, is a magazine that covers the history of civilian ships alongside present-day vessels. Although Shipping Today and Yesterday does include some navy features, this magazine is more slanted toward merchant shipping (ocean liners and cruise ships) than naval warfare. Shipping Today and Yesterday includes articles about ship history, the evolution of ports, and other maritime heritage stories.
I can confirm that Shipping Today and Yesterday currently offer £50 for articles included that are no longer than 1,000 words. However, pay rates can vary for articles eclipsing that length. This magazine utilizes PayPal for fund transfers. You can pitch article titles to the Shipping Today and Yesterday editor, David Sutherland, at david@shipping-magazine.com.
The History of War magazine covers military conflicts throughout all historical eras. This magazine includes features about major global conflicts and a Frontline section focused on more specific battles, campaigns, strategies, and equipment. Thus, military history is very much the heart of the History of War magazine.
History of War is open to freelance pitching, but does not accept on-spec article submissions. This magazine typically offers £10 per word (£10 per 100 words) for articles included in it. It accepts proposals for shorter Frontline articles, 800-900 words in length, or longer features between 2,000 and 3,000 words in length. Send your article pitches to Timothy Williamson at timothy.williamson@futurenet.com.
History News Network is a website that aims to provide historical perspectives on current events in its regular newsletters. Its newsletters include reflection pieces that connect history with current events. Thus, HNN publishes articles that apply the present-day context to historical topics. History News Network is also open to freelance submissions for explainer, historiographical essay, and reconsideration articles.
The History News Network offers $375 for accepted articles, typically within the 1,000-1,500-word range. This website welcomes pitches and on-spec submissions for completed articles. The email address for sending pitches to HNN is pitch@hnn.org.
Listverse is a well-established website based on list articles for a wide variety of subject categories, including history. A listicle article submitted to Listverse can be about any aspect of history, but must include the standard 10 listed things, persons, or events. Also note that Listverse has a preference for more offbeat and novel historical lists.
The Listverse site offers $100 for articles published. You’ll need a PayPal account to receive remuneration transfers from Listverse. Listverse instructs contributors to submit articles via this contact form page without pitching titles first. Read the Listverse author’s guide PDF document before submitting articles.
FlyPast is a leading magazine for aviation history, heritage, and restoration. This magazine provides detailed coverage of historic aircraft, especially those from the world war (1914 to 1945) and the Cold War (1945 to 1989) periods. It also includes museum visit, restoration spotlight, and airshow event coverage.
FlyPast publishes articles from freelance contributors and offers £60 per thousand words, with additional remuneration for original images provided. The articles it includes can vary in length from 600 to 3,500 words. Pitch your article title proposals for FlyPast to the tom.allett@keypublishing.com (Tom Allett) email address.
OK, Cracked isn’t strictly a historical website, but it does include a Science and History section for more humorous articles. Cracked has a big appetite for history with a twist articles. This website includes historical nostalgia articles with amusing angles. For example, articles that debunk historical myths or highlight absurd realities from the past are more prevalent on Cracked.
Cracked proudly boasts that it’s one of the best sites for freelance article submissions. This website offers remuneration in a range of $100 to $250, depending on article length. Cracked also invites inexperienced prospective contributors to apply to be more regular columnists by sending samples to write@cracked.com. To propose Cracked article ideas, send your title pitches to workshop@cracked.com.
Ancient History is a magazine that provides broad coverage of the ancient world, typically in the Near East and Europe, such as the Roman, Egyptian, and Greek civilizations. This magazine covers cultural, political, religious, military, and daily life aspects of the ancient world. However, its Ancient Warfare sister magazine is more heavily focused on wars and battles. Ancient History is open to freelance submissions for articles about ancient times that aren’t related to the issues’ primary themes.
The Ancient History magazine offers 10 cents per word for most articles included. Ancient History articles are typically 1,750 to 2,750 words in length. Its submissions page instructs potential contributors to send pitches that include 250-word summaries for proposed articles. Send your article proposals to the editor@ancienthistorymagazine.com.
Strategy & Tactics World at War is a magazine all about World War II. To be more specific, this magazine is about the strategy & tactics of World War II. So, articles submitted to it should discuss the strategic and tactical aspects of World War II battles and campaigns alongside what happened during them.
Strategy & Tactics offers 10 cents per word ($10 per hundred words) for articles published in World at War. This publisher sends credit memos that you can return for checks when your total article compensation exceeds $100. The Strategy & Tactics editorial email address to send World at War pitches is doccummins@decisiongames.com.
Strategy & Tactics Press also has two sister publications open to freelance contributors. The Strategy & Tactics magazine covers broad military history for all eras. Its Modern War magazine is about post-1945 warfare.
The magazines and websites above cover a broad range of history and offer reasonable remuneration for articles included. Some have submission guidelines on their websites (linked above), but there are a few that don’t. You can ask the FlyPast, History of War, Britain at War, and Shipping Today & Yesterday editorials for submission guideline details via email. Although those magazines and websites are currently open to freelance contributors, note that their remuneration rates offered and submission requirements are subject to change.
Matthew Adams is a freelancer who has produced a variety of articles for various publications and websites, such as Swing Golf Magazine, TripAdvisor, Windows Report, Tech Junkie, MakeUseOf, Naval History, Military History Matters, Artilleryman, dotTech, and Bright Hub. He has been a freelance tech writer for more than 10 years. Matthew is also the author of Battles of the Pacific War 1941-1945. Check out the book’s blog at battlesofthepacificwar.blogspot.co.uk.
