4 Proven Steps to Become a Contributor For Major Publications

Want to become a contributor? Contributors write for publications like Forbes, Business Insider, Entrepreneur Magazine, Huffington Post, and others. This is a golden opportunity for you to get your content in front of millions of people!

For writers and entrepreneurs, it’s a smart way to show off your writing skills. It also comes with a bunch of other rewards I’ll share down below.

In this post, read about how to become a contributor.

I’ll cover:

• Why you should become a contributor
• 4 steps on how to become a contributor
• The difference between contributor vs. writer
• How to become a Forbes contributor and how much you’ll get paid
• And more!

Ready to start?

Why Become A Contributor?

You’re thinking you might want to become a contributor, but what are the benefits?

• Increased visibility
• Brand recognition
• Thought leadership
• Make money from your writing
• Professional development

Increased Visibility

Becoming a contributor to major publications and authority websites is one of the fastest ways to increase your visibility and create brand awareness. You can become more credible in your industry and start building your reputation as an expert.

This visibility can bring a wealth of benefits, like creating leads for your business, developing joint venture partnerships, SEO benefits for your website, and other perks.

Brand Recognition

Boost your personal brand and be associated with reputable, well-known publications. It builds trust in your community and will help you become more recognized.

Thought Leadership

Publishing high-quality, insightful content as guest posts in big publications can help you establish yourself as a thought leader. You can further build your reputation as an industry expert.

Writing Income

Did you know that contributors can get paid for their writing?

Some writing pieces pay more than others, but in general, making up to a few hundred dollars per article is what you can expect. Writing 5-10 pieces a month can earn you a healthy side hustle!

Professional Development

Become a better writer, improve your research skills, and improve your content quality. You’ll be able to stay abreast of developing trends in your industry, continuously add to your expertise, and gain experience.

Are you sold yet?

Next, let's cover how to become a contributor…

How To Become a Contributor?

You’re ready to become a contributor. What do you do, and how does it work?

The four steps you’ll follow will be to:

1. Publish a portfolio
2. Understand the publication’s article submission guidelines
3. Pitch
4. Be active on social media and network 

Publish a Portfolio

The first thing you want to do is get published online. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it’s incredibly helpful to be a published writer before pitching to a major publication like Forbes, Huffington Post, Fast Company or South China Morning Post.

Getting your content published online is pretty simple.

Start with smaller publications in your niche to write guest posts for. Look for guest blogging opportunities, and make sure you have at least 5-10 published blog post articles online before you pitch bigger publications.

This is the perfect place to host your writing. And then, when asked to supply your portfolio or examples of your work, you can drop the URL of your personal blog.

Another option is starting a Medium blog. Medium is a platform popular among writers, bloggers, and tech enthusiasts (check out our article on how to make money on Medium).

This is just like having your own blog, but it will be hosted on Medium, which is a good way to increase your visibility. Include a short bio that shares your own compelling personal story to add credibility.

You can launch a blog on your own website, a Medium blog, or do both! I see the benefits of doing both, and I personally do this!

Read this guide on how to start a money-making WordPress blog.

Understand the Publication’s Guidelines

Understanding the guidelines of the publication is an important part of the pitching process. Research this in advance before you even pitch.

It would be a major failure to get as far as pitching, get your pitch accepted, then learn about publishing guidelines afterward and hit a brick wall.

This won’t happen if you research the guidelines upfront.

Especially for bigger publications, they tend to publish their guidelines for the public’s view. And they are pretty clear in their expectations:

• Topics covered
• Wordcount
• No interviews
• Original content only

This gives you an idea of some of the guidelines you might come across. Here’s a look at some of Harvard Business Review’s contributor guidelines:

Pitch

Find media outlets you want to contribute to and pitch! Each publication’s contributor process is different, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach here.

For example, to get writing published at the online publication Fast Company, you will submit your 600-900 word completed and unpublished article to their Work Life section. They are actually against pitches, but other authority websites will welcome your pitch.

It just goes to show how different one major publication can be from another.

How Do You Find Publications Where You Can Become a Contributor?

This is where your research process to becoming a contributing writer will come into play.

• Network and use your connections: Reach out to your network and leverage the connections and relationships you’ve built.
• Use social media: Get on a social media platform to search your niche to find followers, groups, and hashtags that could lead you to potential publications to contribute to.
• Use Google: Do a thorough online search using Google to uncover high authority publications in your industry where you can be a contributor.

Be Active On Social Media and Network

Build out your social presence on a social media channel or more than one! Connect with your peers and key people in your industry. Contribute on social media, tweet, publish posts, and get your name out there. This is social networking.

Use social channels where your audience and peers in your niche hang out, like X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.

What Is The Difference Between a Writer and a Contributor?

Are you a writer or a contributor? Does it mean the same thing or not?

There is a clear difference between a writer and a contributor, though sometimes people use the two terms interchangeably:

Writers and contributors both create content. They have that in common.

The main difference is that writers produce content as a contributor on a full-time basis, whether it be to one or multiple companies, websites, or publications. 

Contributors have less of a formal role with publications, but they are subject matter experts and industry professionals who contribute content occasionally.

How Do I Become a Contributor to Forbes?

You want to be a contributor to Forbes. This means you’ve followed the steps highlighted above, identifying Forbes as the publication you want to write for. 

Then, you created a portfolio for yourself online, whether with smaller publications or through personal blogging. 

You’re ready to pitch Forbes! 

How does it work?

4 Steps To Becoming a Forbes Contributor

Follow these steps to bring yourself closer to joining the Forbes contributor program.

Step 1: Read Forbes

If you want to be a Forbes writer, then chances are, you already know the outlet well. You know they publish such articles as:

• Business and Entrepreneurship
• Personal Finance
• Digital Marketing
• Technology
• Real Estate

If you haven’t already read Forbes, you’ll want to start here.

Reading the publication will give you incredible insight into how stories are structured and writing style. So you can structure your content this way.

Step 2: Research The Editor

Look up the editor on Google, Twitter (X), and LinkedIn. For online media, pitching the editor is pretty standard. Once you identify the editor, look up their email address and get ready to prepare your pitch!

Step 3: Craft a Clear, Compelling Pitch

Now comes the hard part: writing your pitch!

Don’t let pitching scare you. If you’re new to writing a pitch, this will be good practice for many more pitches to happen in the future. To become a contributor to Forbes, fill out their application. You'll need to provide links to your X (Twitter) and LinkedIn profiles, a few story ideas, your concept page for Forbes, links to a few articles published already, and an explanation of why you're qualified to write on the subject.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Write clearly: Make your pitch clear and concise.
• Your story ideas should be relevant (this is where your Forbes research and previously reading the publication will come in handy).
• Sell your story: Make a case for your story. Tell the editor why it needs to be published in Forbes.
• Write for Forbes: Ensure your story aligns with Forbes’ audience.
• Communicate turnaround time: This creates a sense of urgency. Tell the editor why your story should be published now and why it’s relevant.

The goal of your pitch is to share your story idea and get approval before writing the article.

Do not write the story before pitching. Don’t submit a rough draft or final draft to the editor unless asked to do so.

Step 4: Write Your Article

If you’ve made it this far, that means you’ve been successful pitching Forbes, and you’ve gotten the green light to write your article for publication!

Congrats!

Make sure you follow the contributor guidelines:

• Keep your wordcount under their limit
• Write for Forbes’ audience
• Write in a clear, compelling way
• Deliver a high-quality article that demonstrates your expertise and knowledge about the topic
• Use published research and industry stats in your writing

Here are some quick tips to be successful writing for Forbes:

First, write your contributed articles to serve the audience. Create value-driven, high-quality content that delivers your point across clearly. Second, remember that shorter is better. Cut out the fluff and get to the point in your writing.

Provide valuable information and brand yourself as the subject matter expert that you are! Each Forbes editor has a long list of potential contributors eager to publish, so make sure your content stands out to get the editor's attention.

Do Forbes Contributors Get Paid?

Yes, Forbes contributors do get paid. Our research revealed payments of $250/month for 5 pieces per month or $500 for 7 pieces.

This is a lot lower than I thought, personally, but most contributors to Forbes are not doing this type of freelance writing for the money, I think. 

You’ll boost your career development and online reputation, and it can do wonders for personal branding.

If you're interested in writing for Forbes or similar publications for the money, consider joining their team of staff writers and professional journalists for full-time work.

Or, read this list of 19 websites that pay you to write short stories.

The Bottom Line On Becoming a Contributor

We just covered the steps of how you can work towards being a contributor. Writing for a major publication is a goal many writers have.

It can be a ton of work. The process can be challenging and stressful, but if it were easy, anybody would do it, right?

In all, I think the process is well worth it. And, once you get your foot in the door with a relevant editor at the publication you're targetting, your future contributions will be a lot easier.

Be patient and be prepared to wait a while before the right opportunity comes your way, and you can finally become a contributor at the publication you’ve been eyeing.

Hopefully, this guide provided some clarity on the process and put you at ease knowing the process ahead.

Are you psyched to start this process of becoming a contributor?

Which publication are you aiming to get published in?

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