Tiny Plastic People Pitching Guidelines
Editor’s Note: It is important to keep in mind that we can not pay for writing at this time. Everything is volunteer-based at the moment, and we currently have no plans to make the site a for-profit enterprise. It may be the case that in the future we are able to pay for stories, and we will update this page if and when that happens.
Tabletop gaming is a hobby with a diverse range of voices in, including yours, and we want to hear from you. If you have an idea for an article you’ve been itching to write, a love of an aspect of the hobby that you want to share with a wider community, or a personal story to tell, we want to hear from you.
This pitching guide will lay out what we expect in a pitch. The closer you stick to the guide the easier it is for us to get a feel for your submission and style, and ultimately accept your pitch.
To get an idea of what we’re looking for, take a look at our site, our code of conduct and our About Us section, then read the guidelines and send us a pitch.
What we like to read:
- Why you love a particular faction, game system, mechanic, painting style
- Meaningful criticisms of the hobby
- Have you spent a long time on a project and want to explore it?
- Exploring outside influences on the tabletop
- Personal stories about your hobby
What we think is best covered elsewhere:
- Tactics and numbers
- Up to the minute news
- Why something isn’t good
Pitch Status: We are accepting pitches!
Guidelines
- Please keep pitches under 300 words or three paragraphs if possible. Getting to the core of the article helps us decide as quickly as possible.
- Propose a title to your piece.
- One submission at a time please. We’d rather multiple emails than one long one.
- Give us an estimated word count for your finished article. This isn’t set in stone, but it gives us a better idea of what we can expect from you.
- Do not pitch already completed articles – if you want to revisit something you’ve written in the past, make that the pitch.
- We welcome new writers! Please submit a snippet of your writing if you can – this can be a published piece, a blog post, or even a Twitter thread covering a topic, but this is not required.
- We are currently aiming to read pitches at the start of every month, and then two weeks into every month.
- We will attempt to respond to every pitch. Feel free to bump things two weeks after sending a pitch.
General things to avoid
As a rule, we are not overly interested in articles that are overly negative. If your article is based purely on a dislike of something, be it game system, play style or model, we probably won’t accept it. If you have criticisms about any aspects of the hobby, we’d prefer if they are tackled fairly and thoughtfully.
Anything that could be considered a ‘hot take’ or an opinion shot straight from the hip is best avoided. We don’t really see ourselves as the kind of site that is aiming to provide a platform for reactionary opinions. If you have a strong opinion about a new release, rule or idea, take a minute to decide if it’s something that will be fun and interesting to read, long after its announcement..
What to expect from us
Once your pitch has been read we’ll either accept or reject it. If we reject it, we’ll do our best to provide feedback on why.
If we accept your story, we’ll give you a proposed due date and a word count. These are both flexible to an extent, and we’re happy to discuss these with you.
We take stories as Google Documents, and we will add comments and suggestions there. Once these suggestions have been processed, we’ll OK the piece and give you a publication date.
If you do not want to write for free, we completely understand that, hence us being upfront about it now.
Please send all pitches to: thetinyplasticpeople@gmail.com
Updated 16/05/2021