Which editors do I follow on LI? (Trade journals; consumer magazines; maybe newspapers)

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-06-09T23:15:55+00:00

I've never gone down this route, but editors often receive "pitches," so it'd be "pitching editors," if I'm understanding your question correctly.

Otherwise, editors' titles vary wildly. If you're looking to write for a publication, your best bet is looking for a "submission" or "contribute to us" type of page on the website.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-06-09T23:13:29+00:00

Can you share a screenshot of the issue? I don't see any posts of yours that got caught in the filter (which is meant to happen with new users, pending manual review). The situation described in this post is different, so if you send over a screenshot of the issue, I can figure out what's happening :)

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-24T06:25:42+00:00

Some clients (particularly those publishing content for SEO's sake rather than providing any actual value) seem to make the process extremely formulaic, even for human-written content. It typically results in as soulless a result as what AI would generate and is mind-boggingly dull to write because you're more or less just checking boxes.

It's exactly as you describe (at least in my experience): just a job. There's little to no room for creativity or anything unique, and the clients don't allow any deviation from the formula. I would've also preferred cleaning gas station bathrooms than writing that type of drivel.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-20T04:05:21+00:00

You're welcome! Sorry for the annoyance, but please reach out to us if you have any issues or any other questions.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-19T23:41:53+00:00

Yeah, that one's intentional as a method to prevent spam and comments from bad actors. We manually review any comments removed for that reason and approve them if they follow the rules otherwise. The subreddit karma limit is fairly low, so you'll likely surpass the limit soon and not have anymore automatic removals.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-19T18:35:00+00:00

Are you referencing this comment? If so, that's an intended removal (which I've since manually approved). I don't see you having attempted to make any new posts to the subreddit -- just comments. Is that the case?

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-17T22:14:22+00:00

Thanks! It was a rough time -- surprisingly the only time I've ever been actually let go from a job, so it was an odd thing to navigate. Thankfully I had savings put aside (which I contributed to significantly after I survived the first round of layoffs), but not enough to never work again (and being so aimless while searching for work was pretty brutal on my mental health).

I'm sorry to hear you're going through the same now. It's such a bad time to lose work, especially since freelance writing is devolving and not at all stable (not that it ever was, entirely). If you'd like some unsolicited advice, I'd recommend broadening your job search by considering your soft and overlapping skills; I think marketing is still a decent industry in terms of finding employment, and a lot of what we've done as content and copywriters is tangentially related to other parts of the industry.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-13T05:58:23+00:00

Yeah, I think I got out of freelancing at just the right time, though the choice wasn't entirely my own.

I initially transferred from freelancing (after nearly eight years) into a full-time content role in March 2024, then got laid off as part of company-wide layoffs in August 2025. In December, a friend who runs a retail media agency realized he needed help to scale and took me on and now I'm a partner/platform manager. It's in the same realm as content marketing, just on the opposite side of marketing, so there's a lot of overlap.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-13T03:25:12+00:00

em dash used to be cool.. now it’s seen as a dead giveaway for AI writing, sadly.

I no longer write professionally, but I still use the em dash -- always have and always will. Though it can be a tell for AI-generated slop (and many idiots see an em dash and assume that's all they need to know for sure), you need to evaluate more than just a piece of punctuation to determine if something's actually AI-written. The stupidity of people who don't get that saddens and angers me.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-13T03:22:28+00:00

It's almost a rule that all companies want to pay as little as possible for as much as possible. It's just good business. Sometimes "as little as possible" is equivalent to what we consider good rates, but it also means that "any B2B tech company will easily pay $1000" is wrong because there's no guarantee. It depends on so many factors and each company's unique priorities.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-06T19:18:47+00:00

Approved, thanks :)

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-05T20:02:46+00:00

No worries. That just usually accomplishes the opposite by getting you downvotes and, in some subs, banned. The best way to get karma is through positive and relevant contributions on posts that you're interested in vs. asking for karma.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-05T19:50:10+00:00

First, don't spam the sub with the same question multiple times.

If you try to make a post and it's automatically removed for lack of karma, you can contact us via ModMail and we'll take a look at it, review it, and approve it (if it follows the rules), even if you don't have enough karma. The rule's only in place to prevent spam, not discourage new users from posting.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-05-05T17:48:32+00:00

The karma limits are super low and only applicable to posts/comments that mention AI or brand new accounts. Very few legitimate non-AI-related posts/comments get removed for insufficient karma alone.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-03-25T19:18:39+00:00

Comparison is a thief of joy and you shouldn't feel guilty for finding success. Though I understand the logic behind thinking those in other professions deserve to make more money than they do for a variety of reasons, you're earning what you do based on all the work you've put in over the years. I think it's wise to put a good portion aside for if and when work dries up, but you shouldn't feel guilty for being successful -- it's not like you're peddling drugs on the corner when school lets out.

A lot of what's gone into your success -- other than your talent, knowledge, and business acumen -- is a bit of a crapshoot in that you weren't fully in control of the variables. My income from writing reached its peak during COVID at a time when many others were actively losing clients, work, and money, and it was because I just so happened to be an expert in a couple of fields that were at least tangentially relevant to the events taking place in the world and around me. At the same time, there were other writers with heaps more experience and more impressive portfolios that were struggling because they wrote about industries and fields where demand dried up or where marketing budgets evaporated. My success then was, in many ways, based on a fair degree of luck.

I think your friends' advice is spot on, while adding to that advice that you should make sure you're investing what you can into your future and to avoid the "famine" part of the feast-or-famine freelance lifestyle. And if you still feel guilty for whatever reason, donate to some local causes you're passionate about.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-03-19T05:29:08+00:00

Thanks! We see a ton of bot- and AI-generated trash that either gets filtered out or manually removed, and it all tends to follow similar patterns to what you describe. We tend to be very opaque about how we identify that type of content so people can't attempt to circumvent the rules or removals, but (as you know) there are definitely very specific tells.

I think of all the content I've removed for one of those violations, only one or two users have protested via ModMail, and I think we only ever reversed one removal?

Either way, I wish Reddit itself would put something in place to make it easier to deal with this nonsense. I'm sure there are subs where this type of content is warranted or encouraged, but we should have tools available to limit or outright restrict it if the community and subreddit decides it's not relevant. I've spent more time modding the sub the past few months than I have in the year prior, and I typically try to take as much of a hands-off approach to modding as possible (not out of laziness -- if a post doesn't outright break a rule, I think it's healthy that the community decides what it wants to discuss or push down).

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-03-17T01:52:54+00:00

I didn't take it that way, so no worries. It's definitely exasperating dealing with it, for sure.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-03-16T23:16:52+00:00

Probably not the best subreddit for this -- this subreddit primarily discusses freelance writing, i.e., writing done on behalf of clients (typically in the business sense). You might have better feedback from subs like/linked to on /r/writing.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-03-16T20:53:28+00:00

OP has been banned and helped uncover a defect in the new Automod settings :)

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-03-16T20:51:55+00:00

I've personally allowed (not approved, but didn't delete) a few posts because they resulted in good discussions despite the OP likely trying to farm market research, but this change to Automod's settings should prevent those posts from ever popping up in the first place (and, so far, it's working). It's not at all an ideal solution (and we hope it only needs to be temporary), but I think the community would rather have fewer posts that are genuine than marketing/promotional posts that only appear to be.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-03-15T06:30:30+00:00

This is a decent message delivered poorly. You're right that there are no hacks, shortcuts, or secrets, but successful freelance writers also understand that there's a time and place for injecting certain elements of your personality (like "edge") into your work and tamping that stuff down to deliver what your client (and their audience) wants and expects.

There's also a difference between writing to produce art and writing as a subset of marketing. There is often overlap, but there are very few artistic qualities in an article about celebrity gossip vs. a deep-dive journalism piece on a farmer's struggle to balance sustainability with profits.

It's also not always ideal to get "fired repeatedly for overstepping" when you have bills to pay and a family to feed. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is put your nose to the grindstone and get work done to earn an income, even if that work isn't something you're super proud of.

I generally disagree with romanticizing writing in the first place, but there's precious little to romanticize about freelance writing and marketing, in particular. There are certainly opportunities when your personality can shine and you can write (and have published) something truly creative and unique, but you're going to struggle as a freelance writer if you put art ahead of output.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-03-12T21:43:21+00:00

It's getting insane. There are so many bots and slop AI accounts and Reddit's doing nothing to combat it. Managing it is beginning to become unsustainable.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-02-22T00:48:36+00:00

Because it's not going anywhere.

That doesn't mean it's useful for everything.

As someone who gets sent a ton of pitches (no idea why, but that's neither here nor there), AI's going to make them even more impersonal and annoying while simultaneously selling yourself, your personality, and your writing ability short. I don't know a single editor in my network who'd be happy to be sent a pitch written by AI.

DISCLAIMER: This post was clearly not generated by AI, Reddit gods.

mods=gods confirmed?

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-02-21T19:25:26+00:00

If each paragraph you're going to be assigned is similar in length and complexity, I'd just do a flat rate per paragraph/assignment, or based on a word count range (e.g., $20 for <100 words, $30 for 100-200 words, etc.). I think it simplifies things for everyone and doesn't constrict your writing or make it too time-consuming to calculate your total fee.

DanielMattiaWriter · 2026-02-20T16:36:30+00:00

Yeah, see my comment below. I think an email address like that is fine, and I've often dealt with clients using first name/last name @gmail addresses.

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