Pitch Guidelines for the Vice Life Desk

The Vice Life desk manages coverage on the themes of health, wellness, self-care, sex, relationships, drugs, alcohol, and money. Our pieces explore consequences and power dynamics down to the level of the individual. We do not straightforwardly repeat the narratives served to us by powers that be; we question and think critically about how and why we live the way we do. We cover scientific research, current events, trends, and perspectives in short-form blogs, first-person journalism, and original reported pieces, as well as key franchise series that tap into the undercurrents of our modern existence as they relate to our health and relationships.

Our aim is to help people make sense of themselves and others, physically, mentally, emotionally, and professionally.

We are primarily focused on mid-length (700-1500 word) original reports and reported essays, as well as shorter, bloggier, voicier pieces with a quick turnaround time. We welcome first-person journalism that explores issues facing people today, or stories informed by personal experience and insight, though in the case of a piece that focuses entirely on these elements, we urge the writer to carefully consider what makes this story unique and why they are the right person to tell it at this particular time. We also publish lots of explainers or advice-giving reported piece (though we already have a pretty robust body of them, so we’d ask that you’d check whether your particular subject of interest has already been thoroughly covered previously on vice.com).

We also welcome pitches for reported narrative features on the themes listed above.

Not all stories need to be pegged to current events, though a timely element can definitely help distinguish a pitch.

Examples of pieces we’ve published:

Reports

• If You Don't Want to Have Kids, You Don't Have to Want a Career Instead
• JUUL's Banned Flavors Are Absolutely Still Available in New York City
• Dopamine Fasting is the Newest 'Sounds Fake, But OK' Wellness Trend
• The Jawzrcise Is Trying to Give Chads Everywhere a Shortcut to Hotness
• This Tiny Period Cramp Device is Scamming Women Out of Money
• Why Tiny Dicks Might Come Back into Fashion
• Could Trans Women Get Uterus Implants in the Near Future?
• An OkCupid Blog from 2009 Foretold the Rise of the Softboy

Personal narrative

• I Tried to Simplify My Life by Eating My Childhood Lunch for a Week
• 7 Americans on the Islamophobia They Faced at Home Because of War Abroad
• What It's Like to Cowork at WeWork
• How I Learned to Deal With Stress After My Creative Escape Became My Job
• Getting 'California Sober' Showed Me a Kinder, Gentler Way to Do Drugs
• Reason No. 437 to Date Trans Women: Apple Picking
• How to Get Out of Bed After You've Been Laid Off

Explainers

• We Looked into Whether CBD Would Show Up in a Drug Test
• How to Support Your Partner of Color at Your White Family's Holiday Gathering
• Is Sex Addiction Real?
• Dissociating Isn't the Same Thing as Zoning Out
• I Forgot to Get a Flu Shot. Am I Screwed?

Blogs

• Millennials Will Get Sick and Die Faster Than the Previous Generation
• Experts Condemn Keto. Will People Finally Stop?
• The Peloton Ad Woman Is Absolutely Not OK
• More People Than Ever Are Eating Alone, and It's Making Everyone Nervous
• Jillian Michaels Is the Biggest Loser
• Measles Are the Hot New Wellness Trend Sweeping America

Features

• How the Five Love Languages Became the Language of Love We All Know (and Love)
• Why Would You Ever Want to Live in 2019?

In addition to one-off stories, we have series/columns that freelancers are welcome to pitch into:

" The Good Fight" is an essay series in which people tell us about the explosive, unexpected, or long-overdue fights they got into that changed their relationships with another person (or themselves) for the better, and what went down in order to make that happen. (Drama!) We're looking for voice-driven, first-person narrative essays of around 1,000 words from contributors that are willing to go deep into the details of the conflicts that reshaped their points of view—including the parts that might be their fault. Rather than plaintive or wistful, The Good Fight is a funny, sometimes viciously self-aware examination of how we take ourselves and others to task. This series gets at why we fight, what we fight over (however trivial, however sweeping!), what resolutions we come to, and what that ends up meaning for ourselves and the people we love (and are bothered by). Pitch with “PITCH: The Good Fight: “ in the subject line.

" Asking For a Friend" answers those life questions you are too afraid to ask on your own behalf about situations you’re maybe not entirely willing to own up to: Does CBD show up in a drug test? How much sushi is too much? How bad is it to ignore high blood pressure? Do I really need to wash my hands every time I pee? Is texting all the time making me socially weird?

The answers to these questions/scenarios should be voicey and comprehensive, unafraid to be realistic and meet the reader where they are at. Where appropriate, the answers should be include input from medical professionals or similar. Pieces should be 500-800 words long in scope. Pitch with “PITCH: Asking For a Friend: “ in the subject line.

" Wellness Lies" is a series that interrogates wellness trends and the scientific support for them (or lack thereof). Pitch with “PITCH: Wellness Lies: “ in the subject line.

" This Is Fine." covers a personal bizarre-or-serious-or-both habit that a contributor turns to in order to make their days better. These aren't "self-care" guides, nor outright therapeutic or pathological—just individualized looks at the weird shit we love to do in our private time to feel good: marathon phone calls, eating fast food, breaking dishes, getting out of bed during semi-regular hours, painting weird things on our nails. Pitch with “PITCH: This is Fine: “ in the subject line.

Pitches that hinge on broad skepticism for established science, “Western medicine,” or similar must have SUBSTANTIAL backup for the alternative being discussed; for instance, a single source with a financial interest (“Dr. Susan says stinging her patients with bees cures their autism”) does not meet the bar. This is not to say we don’t cover these subjects, but the angle is everything.

Stories that focus entirely on policy or business-to-business matters with a national or regional scope are better directed to the Issues desk (issues.pitches@vice.com).

Stories that focus on food are better directed to the Culture desk (culture.pitches@vice.com), though diet- and nutrition-focused stories will be considered.

Email lifestyle.pitches@vice.com and please include “PITCH: ” in the subject line of your email. Give us:

• a sense of the sources you would use/speak to
• what length of piece you envision
• the date you’d be able to deliver a draft by
• what time pegs, if any, we’d need to be aware of to make sure the story publishes at the optimal time
• links to relevant previously published pieces

If you have further questions, please ask!