Know Cancer, one of the most-popular cancer communities on the internet with more than 1,000 unique visitors every day, is soliciting article submissions for its news section, The Cancer Beat, which will launch on May 1.

The Cancer Beat aspires to become the place for cancer news on the internet, and all submissions will be held up to a high standard. The upside for contributors is that writing for us won’t be a thankless, faceless experience. As editor, I will work closely with you to ensure that we put out top-notch articles, professionally and attractively presented to the Know Cancer community.

Story topics

While cancer is the tie that binds our community, that doesn't mean we are only looking for stories about research breakthroughs or recent studies, though these are certainly on our radar. Cancer impacts millions of people and influences so many aspects of life, and we want The Cancer Beat to reflect this. That means stories like this one (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121335690) about a woman who was able to find humor in her disease is as relevant to our community as this one (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/health/19cancer.html) about research findings on the efficacy of PSA blood tests.

We are not looking for news briefs like this one (http://blog.taragana.com/health/2010/02/08/poor-women-tend-to-be-edgy-after-cancer-diagnosis-19117/) about the correlation between income and stress level after a breast cancer diagnosis. But we would accept a strong story that builds on the brief by, for example, weaving in the account of a low-income woman’s emotional struggle to cope with her diagnosis.

The common factor is people. Know Cancer is a community—not just of cancer patients and their loved ones but doctors, scientists, health gurus, athletes, entertainers, etc.— and we want The Cancer Beat to appeal to the people in this community. While we are open to breaking news, we are more interested in in-depth articles with shelf life. Our top priority is providing our community with compelling stories written in strong prose and supported by solid reporting.

Guidelines

There are few guidelines for submissions. We are looking for print, audio and video stories with a connection to cancer, whether direct ("Study Provides New Insights into Testicular Cancer Detection and Monitoring") or indirect ("Lance Armstrong Takes Up Skydiving"). Generally speaking, print stories should be between 400 and 1,200 words and audio or video pieces between two and five minutes, but we will certainly make exceptions if the topic warrants it. Just make sure to include how long you expect your piece to be in your story pitch.

Compensation

Know Cancer offers contributors a modest acceptance fee of $10 plus 100 percent of the ad revenue generated by their article pages. In addition, we will maximize your exposure by presenting your work to the 20,000-plus members of our online community and use our strong social-media presence to get you the broadest possible audience. Finally, we will link to your personal website from your article page.

At Know Cancer, we know that making The Cancer Beat the best cancer news source on the Web depends entirely on our content and thus entirely on our reporters. We are looking for talented, passionate journalists to cover the cancer beat, in all its rich complexity, for our vibrant and diverse community. Know Cancer is a family and, in line with our face-to-face approach to freelance submissions, we will treat every contributor as someone we may have a long and fruitful relationship with.

Thank you for your interest in Know Cancer and The Cancer Beat. We can't wait to share your work with our community.

Sincerely,

Jordan Melnick
Editor, The Cancer Beat

Please send all story pitches, inquiries and submissions

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