Abilities Magazine Is Accepting Pitches/ How To Submit (Pay: $50 – $325)

Abilities Magazine is Canada’s foremost cross-disability lifestyle magazine. The mission of the magazine is to provide information, inspiration and opportunity.

Information about lifestyle topics, including travel, health, careers, education, relationships, parenting, new products, social policy and much more. Inspiration to participate in organizations, events and activities and pursue opportunities in sports, education, careers and more. Opportunity to learn about a wealth of Canadian resources that facilitate self empowerment of people with disabilities.

The magazine has a conversational tone. They are not looking for personal essays, but encourage writers to draw on their experiences to illustrate a broader topic.

Submission Guidelines For Abilities Magazine

• The editorial scope of the magazine includes travel, health, sport, recreation, careers, education, transportation, housing, social policy, relationships, technology, family life, movie/book reviews and personality profiles. Events and conferences are also considered.
• The magazine has a conversational style, and we strive to give their readers practical information that they can apply to their daily lives. Their readers already have disabilities. Therefore, they are not looking for personal essays about what it is like to acquire or live a specific disability.
• However, they encourage writers to draw on their experiences to illustrate a broader topic. For example, they recently published an article in which the writer explained how she continued to enjoy gardening after she acquired a disability by modifying her approach and incorporating new tools to make it easier.
• Another example; a writer, the mother of a young son with a disability, offers personal advice as well as insight from experts on how to choose a summer camp. You are encouraged to read their archive of articles at www.abilities.ca before submitting a story proposal.
• Please note that they do not publish fiction, poetry, cartoons/comics or drama. However if you are looking for open submission windows for fiction or poetry, click here, here and here.
• Finished articles, unless otherwise specified, should range from 500 to 2,000 words.

Additional Information

• They purchase first time serial rights and non-exclusive electronic rights for all material used. This includes the right to publish all material printed in ABILITIES in their alternate formats as well on the Internet.
• They prefer not to receive simultaneous submissions.
• Story proposals should be sent by email. If you are mailing in your proposal, please include a self addressed, stamped envelope. Please include all your contact information, including a phone number.
• All material is subject to the editorial prerogative of the publication as to word count, logical flow, grammatical accuracy and choice of terms as they relate to people with disabilities
• Submissions should be sent to:
  Jennifer Rivkin, Managing Editor Abilities Magazine,
  E-mail: jennifer@abilities.ca
  OR
  c/o Canadian Abilities Foundation
  340 College Street, Suite 270
  Toronto, Ontario M5T 3A9
  Fax: 416-923-9829
  Website: www.abilities.ca

Eligibility Criteria

• There are no entry fees.
• Submissions are open to everyone irrespective of their race, age, gender, etc.

Pay Rates

ABILITIES, as a non-profit organization, is generally able to award only honoraria as remuneration for professional work.

Honoraria ranges from $50 to $325, depending on the length and complexity of the article. A “kill fee” of 50% is available to writers where a financial agreement has been established.