Your next chapter deserves a byline.
Civelle is the lifestyle magazine by women veterans, for women veterans, and for women 35 to 65 who want honest, useful reading about the rest of their lives.
We want to hear from women who served, in any branch and any era, Guard and Reserve included. You don’t need to be a professional writer. You do need a real story, firsthand knowledge and the willingness to tell it straight. We also welcome civilian writers and experts whose work serves our readers, especially in health, money and careers.
What we publish
Every pitch should fit one of our sections. If you’re not sure which, tell us and we’ll help place it.
- Life After Service. The transition, identity and second acts: your first year as a civilian, the job that finally fit.
- Health & Wellness. Fitness, strength and the body after service: workout routines that work at 50, a clear-eyed look at GLP-1 drugs, recovering from an old injury.
- Style & Beauty. Getting dressed for a civilian life: building a work wardrobe after years in uniform.
- Money & Careers. Pay, benefits, retirement, business and job hunting: negotiating your first civilian salary, using VA benefits well.
- Home & Travel. Where we live and where we go: solo trips, a PCS-proof home, travel on points and military discounts.
- Love, Life & Culture. Relationships, family, friendship and humor: dating after divorce, making friends outside the military.
- Unranked. A Civelle Original Series of candid profiles of women veterans’ lives beyond the uniform. Nominate a woman whose next chapter deserves a story, or pitch a profile yourself.
- The Day Room. Books, movies and TV: a review, a reading list or a watch list with a point of view.
- The Field Guide. Practical how-to guides to benefits, money, health and home decisions.
We publish personal essays, practical service pieces, profiles, reviews and lists, and we’re open to fiction and poetry that speak to our readers’ lives.
What we’re not looking for
- War stories for their own sake. We care about what came after, and how service shaped it.
- Menopause explainers. It’s well covered elsewhere; pitch it only with a genuinely new angle.
- Political commentary, partisan arguments or endorsements.
- Product promotion, sponsored content or stories about a business you own, unless you disclose it in your pitch.
- Stories already published elsewhere, including on your own blog or social media.
- Stories that identify or criticize people who haven’t agreed to be in them, or that share anyone’s medical, legal or personal details without permission.
How to pitch
Use the form below. Please don’t send a finished draft first; a pitch lets us shape the story with you. A strong pitch includes:
- The story in two or three sentences. What happens, and what the reader will take away.
- Why you. Your connection to the story and what you know firsthand.
- Your service. Branch, years served, and your rank and job when you left.
- The section you think it fits, and a working headline if you have one.
- A writing sample, if you have one. It’s optional; a good story matters more than clips.
We read every pitch. If it’s a fit, we’ll reply within about two weeks with an assignment, a length and a deadline. If you haven’t heard back in three weeks, you’re free to take the idea elsewhere.
Voice and style
Write the way you’d talk to a friend who served: warm, direct and a little irreverent. Our readers are smart, busy and allergic to fluff.
- Be specific. Names, places, numbers and moments beat generalities. “I cried in the Target parking lot” beats “the transition was hard.”
- Be useful. Every story should leave the reader with something: a laugh, a plan, a new way to see her own life.
- Translate the jargon. Our readers include civilians. Spell out acronyms on first use, and skip ones a civilian wouldn’t need.
- Skip the clichés. No “thank you for your service” framing, no “warrior” branding, no age-shaming or anti-aging talk.
- Respect every branch and era. Inter-service ribbing is fine; contempt isn’t.
- Use AP style. Our editors follow the Associated Press Stylebook for spelling, numbers, titles and military ranks.
Length, format and filing
- Personal essays: 800–1,500 words.
- Service pieces and Field Guide: 1,000–2,000 words.
- Unranked profiles: 1,200–2,000 words.
- Reviews and lists: 500–1,000 words.
File in a Google Doc or Word file, with the headline and a one-line summary at the top. Use short paragraphs and a few subheadings in longer pieces. Include a two-sentence bio (your name, branch and years of service, and what you do now) and, if you’d like, a recent photo for your byline. Meet the deadline we agree on, or tell us early if it’s going to slip.
Accuracy, sourcing and photos
- Get it right. Check every name, date, rank, figure and quote. You are responsible for the accuracy of your story.
- Attribute in the text. Name your source in the sentence, for example “according to the VA.” We don’t run a list of links at the end of stories.
- Send your sources to us. Include links or notes for every fact so our editors can check them. They won’t be published.
- Health and money advice should come from your own experience or a named expert, and must not replace professional advice.
- Get permission from anyone you name or quote, and from the subject of any profile.
- Photos: send only photos you took or have permission to use, with a credit line for each. Never send photos of identifiable people without their consent, or anything that could put someone at risk.
Editing, bylines, pay and rights
- Editing. Every story is edited. We’ll send you the edited version to review before it runs, and we have the final say on headlines, photos and placement.
- Bylines. Contributors get a named byline and their bio on the story.
- Pay. Civelle is new, and contributor pieces are unpaid for now. Paying our writers is a goal, and we’ll update these guidelines when we can.
- Rights. You keep the copyright to your story. You give Civelle first publication rights and the right to keep it on civellemag.com, share it in The Friday Dismissal and on our social media. After 90 days you may republish it elsewhere with a line noting it first appeared in Civelle.
- Disclosure. Tell us about any business, financial or personal ties to the people, products or companies in your story.
Pitch your story
A few sentences is plenty. We read every pitch and reply if it’s a fit for an upcoming issue.
Prefer email? Write to [email protected] with “Pitch” in the subject line.