Submissions
Want to write for Peppermint? Dream of seeing your brand or story on our pages? Read on!
Tip: our inbox gets flooded with submissions and we aren’t able to respond to everyone, so reading (and following!) our submission guidelines will help all of us.
Submission Guidelines
What is Peppermint?
Peppermint is an Australian biannual print magazine and digital platform celebrating style, sustainability, sewing and substance. We champion ethical fashion, climate action, inclusivity, sewing and DIY, social justice and more – telling stories with authenticity, care and heart. You can read more about us here.
Our ethos
Our ethos and purpose is to empower, educate, entertain and inspire through hopeful, thoughtful and practical storytelling that helps build a fairer, more sustainable world.
Do we accept contributors?
Yes! We welcome pitches for photography, illustration and written work. Before you contact us, please make sure you’ve read Peppermint and understand our tone, ethos and editorial pillars – pitches that don’t clearly align with these won’t be considered.
We’re always looking to expand our pool of writers (particularly in social justice, First Nations stories, environment, sustainable fashion and sewing). If you’d like to be on our radar for future commissions, feel free to introduce yourself with a few examples of your work.
What kinds of stories do we publish?
We’re drawn to evergreen stories with longevity, across all our core Editorial Pillars:
- Sustainable/ethical fashion
- Sewing, craft + DIY
- Environment + climate change
- Diversity + inclusion
- First Nations stories
- Sustainable/regenerative food, gardening + farming
- Mindfulness + mental health
- Slow living
- Green homes, interiors + eco design
- Natural beauty + body positivity
Story types we accept:
- In-depth explainers and story features
- Personal essays and first-person stories
- Shorter, lively roundups featuring lifestyle topics, brands, products or ideas
- DIYs and sewing tips
For the website
Our digital home is a little more flexible in tone and structure, but still grounded in research, fact-checking and our core ethos. Online we publish inspiring features, round-ups, interviews, tutorials, sewing hacks, DIYs, upcycling projects and more.
What we don’t publish
A general guide (not strict rules):
- Intro-level sustainability explainers: we assume our readers know what’s what!
- Product reviews
- Parenting stories
- Brands, products or content misaligned with our ethos
- One-off events or launches (unless we’re partners)
- General health and wellness stories
- Any content, story or brand making claims that can’t be fact-checked or verified
General Submission FAQs
Who do I email?
Please send pitches to submissions@peppermintmag.com or email the editor directly (see our Contact Us page, or check our latest issue for current team details). We cannot accept pitches via social media DMs.
What are the pitch deadlines?
We work at least three months ahead. For the Summer Issue, feature pitches close mid-August, for Winter, mid-March. Some sections (Limelight, Eco Abode, Entertainmint, Beauty) may accept content closer to the six-week pre-print deadline.
Can I pitch elsewhere too?
If your pitch isn’t exclusive, please let us know and indicate a reasonable timeframe in which you’ll need a response from us before you pitch the idea somewhere else. We generally don’t accept anything published elsewhere and omissions of this information will be treated as a breach of contract.
How does brand coverage work?
We’re happy to receive press releases and love hearing about new brands doing good work, but can only authentically feature a limited number of brands per issue. If your brand aligns with our ethos and aesthetic, we may reach out. The only guaranteed way to be featured is through advertising (contact Mandy to chat about options).
What about brand-written articles?
We rarely publish brand-authored pieces unless they explore a topic beyond your business and offer value to readers. Personal stories about your journey or business challenges may be accepted occasionally, or if your story is something we’d like to cover, we’ll commission a writer to interview you. Commissioned writers’ work won’t include promotional links.
Can you feature my event?
We generally don’t feature events in print, and only occasionally online as part of a partnership. We keep our content as evergreen as possible.
When will I hear back from you?
Due to the volume of pitches and brand submissions we receive, we simply can’t reply to everyone. Our biannual print cycle also means that it may sometimes be a couple of months before we’re actively working on an issue. Particularly for brands and businesses that are included in our round ups, Limelight and Eco Abode sections (for example), our editorial process can sometimes mean that things can move and change between issues, right up until just before print deadline. If we’re interested, we’ll be in touch.
I’d love to meet in person to share my idea/brand/pitch!
We love meeting passionate creatives, but our team is small with limited availability, so unfortunately we can’t take in-person pitch meetings (including from PR agencies).
Can I send you a promo product?
You’re welcome to send products for consideration, but it doesn’t guarantee coverage. Please check with us first to make sure it’s something that fits Peppermint’s ethos, and please consider packaging carefully. Sending a small organic face moisturiser packed with polystyrene pellets in a big box wrapped in plastic won’t win you any brownie points around here!
FAQs for Writers and Contributors
What do I include in my pitch?
Send a short and sweet email to submissions@peppermintmag.com with:
- Email subject: Peppermint submission: [title of submission]
- Suggested story headline(s): What’s the heart of your story? How would you communicate it to a friend who knows nothing about it?
- Relevance: Which of our content pillars does it fit? Why should Peppermint’s audience care?
- Background: Why this story, and why now? What’s the hook? And why are you perfect to write about it?
- Content breakdown: How you’ll approach the story structure, who you’ll interview, what research you’ll use.
- Conclusion: Your intended takeaway and estimated word count.
- Photography/illustration: Do you have imagery to accompany the piece? Will we need to shoot or illustrate it? Great photos or illustrations to support your pitch is always a win.
- About you: If we haven’t worked with you before, links to relevant writing samples showcasing your work is very welcome.
How important is fact-checking?
At Peppermint we’re very protective of our content, and take great pride in cutting through the noise of difficult issues with education and information. As there has been an increase in disinformation and misinformation recently, we have been refining and strengthening our policies on claims – especially regarding any evidence-based information on topics particularly surrounding health, sustainability, climate, etc. We require any stats, facts or claims (in editorial and also advertisements) to have a clear reliable origin (for example be backed by peer-reviewed scientific evidence or the origin to have an easily identifiable, verifiable source) to assist us with our fact checking. All factual assertions must be linked to a credible source.
Do you accept photo shoots?
You’re welcome to submit sample shots (keep attachments small, in jpeg format) and details of the shoot, and why it matters to Peppermint. Please include the following information:
- Brands/ clothing featured
- How the shoot aligns with our values (organic, recycled, vintage, handmade, fair trade, locally-made, diversity etc)
- Model ages (18+ only) and location of shoot
We publish shoots featuring diverse, relatable, un-retouched models and don’t accept images with fur, fast fashion, smoking or anything misaligned with our values. A shoot focused on a single brand is considered a campaign and won’t be published.
Please don’t publish shoot images elsewhere (including online) before submitting.
Final Notes for Contributors:
- Say you love Peppermint? Then read Peppermint! It’s the best way to understand our tone and sections.
- Search our website before pitching to make sure we haven’t covered the topic recently, and to ensure your idea offers a fresh angle.
- We aim for stories that are uplifting, inspiring and hopeful, but also useful and applicable to the everyday person. We want our readers to learn something new or take away a new idea or perspective that helps inform their actions too.
- Always consider diversity when researching topics or selecting sources – even if the topic isn’t about race, identity or inclusion.
- We cannot take responsibility for unsolicited emails or ideas that overlap with others: many people often contact us with similar ideas and pitches. (Or it may be something we’ve already thought of ourselves but just haven’t fit into our schedule yet!)
- Keep our long lead times in mind when pitching for print.