Welcome to Spot-Report Magazine! We are an online magazine that offers news and trends within the following sections; Fashion, Beauty, Love, Art, Lifestyle, Culture, Music, and Entertainment.
Contributors wanted! As we have already launched the website, we are now looking for contributors who are interested in showcasing their work online. If you’re a writer with a thirst to tell stories about the wonderful life in Japan, then we’d love to welcome you to the family.
At this point, we are only looking for individuals interested in building a portfolio as well as freelancers.
Majority of the stories in SPOT-Report are written by freelancers, and they are also the ones who come up with many of our best ideas. However, we receive lots of queries every week, and can only respond to those who give us what we are looking for. So if you want to write for us, please check out our writers’ guidelines below. That’ll help us get your idea into print, and is the best way for you to start freelancing with us.
Five Essential Tips For Writers
Tip 1: Always send us a pitch for an actual story idea. Don’t just send an email that tells us you’re a freelance writer who is interested in contributing to the magazine. We need to know your experience and what topics you can write about. If you are a new writer, you must include this in your pitch.
Tip 2: Read the magazine before you pitch. Get to know our regular sections (see above for the list). In your pitch, explain where in the magazine you think your story would best fit.
Tip 3: Highlight in your pitch why your story is worth publishing now. Is it based on a hot new trend? Did something recently happen in the news? Or maybe it’s the season to tell readers about Japan’s 10 Best Hanami Locations? Always keep in mind what stories would interest SPOT-Report readers. Which leads us to…
Tip 4: Time your pitch to fit in with our lead-time. Don’t pitch your idea for Japan’s 10 Best Hanami Locations sometime in April. If you want your story to appear in the April issue, you will need to be pitching in many weeks before that. Each publication has a different lead-time. For SPOT-Report, it is approximately six weeks before printing (see below for more detailed schedule). So if you want a story to be printed in the April issue, you will need to send us the idea by mid February.
Tip 5: For travel stories, only pitch domestic or close international destinations. Because people pick up SPOT-Report to learn more about Japan’s major cities and surrounding areas, we rarely publish travel stories on far-flung places like Europe etc. In addition to the Big Cities, our readers are also interested in expert advice on places around Japan, and close international destinations such as Asia, Micronesia, etc…
Requirements
- Passion for writing and/or journalism
- Passion for fashion, travel, photography and/or entertainment
- Good eye for detail
- Fluent in English
SPOT-Report’s Schedule
- Distribution date: first of every month (ie: 1 April)
- Printing date: one week before the end of the month (ie: 25 March)
- Copy deadline: by the second week of the month (ie: 11 March)
- Submission date: middle of the month (ie: 11 February)
If you think that you have what it takes to become a contributor for Spot-Report Magazine, please send us an email as well as samples of your previous work to info@spot-report.com
Please note that this is a non paid position, but all the credits will be given to the respective person and is available for those looking to build up their portfolio. Feel free to visit us at https://spot-report.com
