Eater Houston Is Looking For Writers and Contributors
Here’s how Houston-based freelance journalists, food writers, and photographers can pitch the site and share their Space City food knowledge with the world
Eater Houston is a local news site based in Houston that reports on restaurants and bars, chefs, dining trends, food pop-ups, food trucks, and the business of restaurants in the Houston metropolitan area. It is part of the Eater network and under the Vox Media umbrella.
We’re currently seeking innovative, enthusiastic writers to contribute features, news stories, maps, and dining guides to Eater Houston on a freelance basis. Photography skills and experience reporting news and writing about restaurants are a bonus. Please note: Eater Houston does not publish restaurant reviews.
Here are some of the types of pitches we’d love to receive:
Maps, map updates, and guides
To know Eater Houston is to know that we love pointing people to the best restaurants and bars in their city and where to go for specific dishes or cuisines. If you have a new map concept or guide you know Houstonians would use, please pitch it to us! Alternatively, if a map on the site needs an update and you’re interested in reworking it, we’d love to hear from you. We’re also happy to assign map updates to you as they come up.
Examples:
- The Best Brunches in Houston
- The Best Date Night Spots in Houston
- Houston’s Best Wallet-Friendly Happy Hours
News
Eater Houston publishes news on restaurant openings, closings, and interesting initiatives in the dining scene. We’re especially excited to publish news that hasn’t been reported elsewhere. If you’ve encountered an intriguing restaurant, pop-up, or food truck that deserves more coverage or something happening in the restaurant scene needs to be uncovered, please email us.
Examples:
- At This Houston Mexican Steakhouse, the Drinks, Performers, and Steaks Are on Fire
- Thai and Native American Restaurant in Kemah Will Take You Back Thousands of Years
- Houston Restaurants Open Following Tropical Storm Beryl
- Following Divorce Filing, Nakia Holmes Seemingly Takes the Turkey Leg
Feature stories
This includes profiles on local restaurants or chefs, reports on food trends, restaurant-centric personal essays, deep dives into particular cuisines or food communities, and photo-driven stories related to dining.
Examples:
- Olympian Simone Biles’s First Meal Back in Houston Didn’t ‘Miss’
- One Houston Woman Changed Tex-Mex Forever
- How a Massive Facebook Group Rose Up to Support Houston’s Chinatown
- A Chinese Puerto Rican Restaurant Is Drawing Diners to Katy
- This MasterChef’s Journey in Cooking Began as She Lost Her Eyesight. Now, She’s Raising Awareness.
How to submit:
Still interested? Send a brief email to houston@eater.com with the subject line “Eater Houston Contributor.” Include a few sentences about yourself and relevant professional experience, as well as a few writing samples or links to a personal blog, portfolio, and/or social media. If we like what we see, we’ll be in touch quickly. Please note that you must live in the Houston area to write for Eater Houston.
We appreciate all pitches and aim to respond to each one as soon as possible. If we’re interested in your pitch, we’ll discuss rates, deadlines, scope, kill fees (if applicable), and other expectations with you. All accepted stories are paid competitively based on the scope and type of work. Please resubmit if we have not responded to your pitch within a month.
Pitching tips:
- Map out your vision. Emailed pitches should give us a clear, concise summary of the proposed piece’s subject, angle, or thesis, along with an anticipated story structure. Your pitch should also serve as an example of your writing style and tone.
- Do your research. Demonstrate that you have some background on the subject you are choosing to write about and sources in mind. Pre-reporting is encouraged.
- Familiarize yourself with Eater Houston’s archives to get a sense of the kind of stories we publish. This can help prevent you from pitching stories that we’ve already done, would never do, or aren’t quite on target with the Eater brand. Tip: you can search the Eater Houston website for specific topics, restaurants, chef names, and more by entering “[example topic here] site:houston.eater.com” into a search engine like Google.
Publishing on Eater Houston:
If your pitch aligns with Eater Houston, you’ll receive an email back from the editor and an agreement with clearly defined terms, typically sent through our freelance management platform, Shortlist. Through the editing process, we believe clear, thoughtful communication is our responsibility and yours. Freelancers are expected to follow Eater’s statement of ethics and our Vox Media Values, which include lots of collaboration and respectfully giving and receiving feedback. If you experience a problem working with us, we encourage you to discuss it with your editor or our legal team. We also offer a hotline for reporting concerns about conduct anonymously.
Eater Houston commits to appropriately crediting all contributors. After publication, we pay promptly in accordance with your agreement (typically within 30 days via the Shortlist platform), including reimbursement for any agreed-upon expenses.
