We’ve worked with a lot of different freelance writers at Kotaku over the years. Maybe you want to be one of them! Here’s what you need to know before you tell us stories. What types of stories interest us? The good ones. Especially if you have a unique angle or access to provide our readers with exclusive ideas, information, or high-quality writing on something they never knew they wanted to read about before. This includes, but is not limited to, feature articles, opinion pieces, essays, scoops, in-depth investigations, and fascinating interviews. Most of the submissions we receive are for reviews and previews. These are also the easiest things to say no to because everyone else will post them. What Kotaku is most interested in when it comes to independent submissions are original stories that readers won’t be able to find anywhere else because of the unique angle you’ve created, the information you’ve discovered, the experience you’ve had, or the information you’ve gained. This could be an interview with a developer who reveals fascinating insight into a game they worked on a decade ago. It could be a strange but intriguing drama that unfolded in a Discord gaming community last month. They could be ideas from a studio about why a problematic project hasn’t been released yet or a profile of a group of modders trying something amazing in one of their favorite games. The best stories inform and entertain. They have characters, conflicts and tension. Some stories have exciting conclusions. Others remain unresolved and are richer for it. You don’t have to be pitching the next Pulitzer Prize-winning article to think about this kind of thing. What should you send us? Send us your idea of what you want to write with a projected word count and a timeline of when it will be submitted. Suggest a sample headline and explain what makes the story interesting, why we have to have it, and why there isn’t a version we can find online within five minutes of Googling it. This presentation should be brief, powerful and as exciting as the final version of the article you will deliver. Also share a link to relevant past jobs and any public profiles you maintain. We don’t need to know your entire life story or everything you’ve ever written, just one or two solid samples, whether published on a major website or your personal blog, that help demonstrate your ability to execute the ambitious idea you’ve just presented to us. send them to [email protected]. Or you can contact individual staff members. Please feel free to follow up if you don’t receive a response right away. And while we can’t guarantee we’ll return to every speech, we definitely read them all. We do not accept work produced by AI agents or written with their help. What do we pay? Our rates start at $50 for short news posts (300-450 words). Our standard rate for short articles (750-1000 words) is $150. These include light research and some original sources (quotes or information revealed for the first time in this story) and are often intended to show a trend, convey a broader point, or present a broader argument about the games and the world, although it is certainly not necessary. Sometimes the most interesting reads of all are highly detailed anecdotes or chains of events within specialized communities. We pay up to $300 for more detailed articles that require multiple interviews, more intensive research, or a lot of hands-on time with a game. Rates for everything in between and beyond are negotiable on a case-by-case basis. If you come along with a leaked version of Half-Life 3 or an exclusive interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, we can talk.
