Heya, it’s me, Dari, normal writer for Indie Hell Zone. So, life is a bit busy for me because I have a different job with more demanding hours, which has left me with less free time to do this, game dev and, well, gaming without obligation to write about something. However, the financial situation at home has been more stable than it was months ago, so it had me thinking: why not pay someone else to write something?

And so, I’ve decided that this site’s open to pitches now. I solely want it to be pitched content, because I don’t like telling other people what to do. There’d be more variety for the site, people will get paid and I can maybe enjoy playing a game for the sake of playing a game.

As it currently stands, I’m only going to take two pitches a month because, well, most of the pay will be out of pocket. Currently, the word rate I’m going for articles is $0.05 a word (aka $50 for 1000 words). But again, I’m paying out of pocket, so don’t do the college essay thing of deliberately stretching things out. Please.

Pitch Guidelines:

1. I mean, this is obvious, but you can only pitch about indie games on here. Please ignore that time I wrote a bunch about Persona 5.
2. As the RPG Maker respecter, I will prioritize good pitches on RPG Maker games. Sorry folks, it’s the Brand(TM).
3. It’d be nice if you’re writing about a recent release, but timeliness honestly doesn’t matter. I just write about whatever I feel like writing about week to week, so I’m not going to hold freelancers to a standard I refuse to hold myself to.
4. Reviews are perfectly fine. Most of the content on this site is pretty much reviews, anyway. However, I will not accept review pitches for games that are already popular (likes Hades, Spelunky, etc); when it comes to reviews, I’d like to introduce people to new things, whether I love it or hate it.
5. When it comes down to it, I want the pitch to be something interesting. You could be introducing a new experience with a game that you feel deserves more attention or write a new perspective for a game that’s been written about a whole bunch.
6. If you’ve worked on a game yourself, don’t review it. However, if you’re going to write about the process of making said game, I think that’d be interesting; personally, learning about a game’s development process is always fun.
7. For the pitch, I’d like to see details to show that you have a solid direction for the thing you’re pitching to write. For example, if it’s a review, I’d like to see a snippet instead of a vague “I will review this game.” Give me a good sense that you know what you’re getting into, you know.
8. If you’ve written some stuff before, cite it in the pitch! It doesn’t even necessarily have to be writing about games. It could be like, some Haikyuu fanfiction or whatever, just show that you can write.
9. Let me know how long you think writing the article could take. If you’re still playing through a game or haven’t even played it yet, I want you to get the time in to form a good opinion.

OTHER THINGS:

1. I usually take my own screenshots for games I’m playing, though it’s okay if you don’t do it as long as there’s official screenshots for the game to draw from.
2. Payment will probably be through PayPal. I don’t know how anyone else does it.
3. I will refuse to post your content until you get your money; this is my ethical vow.
4. If you plagiarize I’m going to kill you.

Until I get a more formal email, you can send your pitches to scitydreamer@gmail.com!