Call for Pitches: The Unexpected Family Business

Know of a family that runs a surprising and one-of-a-kind business? Tell me more, please!

Hey ya’ll! Narratively Editorial Director Brendan Spiegel here. Early last year we put out a call for stories about unusual and fascinating family businesses, and this turned out to be one of our all-time most successful calls for pitches. I was blown away by some of the incredible and out-there pitches we got in, and loved working with writers on several of these pitches that became fantastic Narratively stories. That includes Abigail Edge’s riveting saga “The First Family of Human Cannonballing” and Hallie Lieberman’s one-of-a-kind tale “The Deep South’s Dames of Dildos”— which Narratively CEO Noah Rosenberg recently shared is the #1 Narratively story he tells strangers about. (Give that one a read and you’ll quickly understand why!)

Stories about tight-knit families running quirky businesses like these, with inherent drama at their core, are my absolute favorite type of Narratively piece. The rest of our team (and our readers) love these stories, too. So we’re reopening this call for pitches!

Know of a grandmother and grandson who run an illegal medical marijuana dispensary in Singapore? A team of siblings reviving the art of lion-taming against their dying mother’s wishes? An Amish family-run group home in Alaska that caters to the recently incarcerated? If you have the inside track on an unexpected family business where tensions and emotions run high, we want to hear about it. The more unique and unheard of the better, with bonus points for finding the comedy and joy in unlikely circumstances. And as always, we’re particularly interested in businesses run by people from underrepresented groups — as well as stories from super unusual industries.

These can be first-person pieces about your own experience or reported stories. Pay starts at $1,000 with room to go up for more ambitious stories.

Wondering how to write a pitch that gets our editors’ attention? Don’t miss my story on The 3 Best Pitches I Ever Received, where I share the full text of three very successful Narratively pitches (including Abigail’s pitch for the Human Cannonball Family story mentioned above), along with some insider tips about how to pitch your own story.

Ready? Head over to our Submittable page and pitch away!

PS: Not a writer but have a great idea for a story we should know about? I’d love to hear about it!