How to Pitch Scuba Diving Magazine
Scuba Diving magazine is always accepting pitches.
Before sending in your pitch, make sure we have not covered the story before by searching Google for: “Story keywords site:scubadiving.com.”
Submit a brief summary of your idea to [email protected] with the phrase [DIGITAL PITCH] or [PRINT PITCH] in the subject line. If you have not written for the publication before, include links to relevant clips.
Our staff acknowledges that the perspectives of women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities have been historically underrepresented in dive media, an imbalance we are committed to changing. To ensure we capture the full spectrum of diving experiences, and make scuba more inclusive to all, Scuba Diving would especially like to highlight the voices and experiences of these divers.
DIGITAL PITCHES
It’s not necessary for you to be an underwater photographer to have a successful digital pitch, but you must be aware of quality imagery on your subject and able and willing to help us connect to it.
The stories we publish generally fall into the following categories:
Travel: Personal dive narratives, round-up, dive hub location guides and trip tips.
- How a Scuba Diving Liveaboard Changed the Rest of My Life
- COVID Trapped Me On a Remote Island. Learning to Scuba Dive Saved My Sanity.
- Best Places for Cage Diving with Great White Sharks
- 10 Beautiful Airbnbs with Shore Diving Access
- Five Best Places to Go Scuba Diving in Egypt
- Tips for Planning a Drive-and-Dive Road Trip
What it’s Like: Stories in the first-person or as told to accounts of atypical underwater experiences.
News: From pink manta rays to the pandemic, these pieces are inspired by dive-related news and events.
- New Photos Captured of World’s Only Known Pink Manta Ray
- House with Private Scuba Diving Tunnels for Sale in Kansas
- Divers Set Depth Record in Missouri’s Roaring River Spring
- New Turkish Marine Park Lets Divers Witness Gallipoli’s Bloody WWI History
Animal encounters: Unique dive experiences that revolve around marine animal encounters, like the Sardine Run in South Africa or Grouper spawning in Florida.
Training: Tips and tricks for improving dive skills, from nailing buoyancy to packing for a dive trip.
- How to Pack for a Dive Trip
- Tips and Tricks to Prepare Your Kids for Scuba Diving
- Helpful Resources for Disabled Divers
- How to Take Care of Your Skin During a Dive Trip
Gear: Examinations of how gear is evolving or a look at industry innovations.
- Everything We Know About Prescription Dive Masks and Corrective Lenses
- The Mothers of Invention: A Brief History of the Evolution of Women’s Dive Gear
Conservation: Dispatches from the forefront of ocean sustainability.
- How I Became a Reef Rescuer in the Caribbean
- Researchers Use Global COVID-19 Shutdown to Study Ocean Noise Pollution
- Scientists Are Breeding More Resilient Corals. Could They Resurrect Reefs?
- How the Local Dive Community Protected Blue Heron Bridge
- My Island Nation Rallied to Fight An Oil Spill. Here's What We Learned.
Dive Profiles: Highlighting the interesting, inspiring or plain quirky work of divers around the world.
- This Florida Art Nonprofit Will Make You a 3D Reef Sculpture for Any Occasion
- How South Africa’s ‘Black Mermaid’ Is Expanding Ocean Inclusivity
- Meet Barnacle Busters, One of America’s Largest and Oldest LGBTQ+ Dive Clubs
- How to Discover Virgin Dive Sites from Your Phone
- Dropped Your Wedding Ring Off the Boat? This Michigan Diver is the One to Call.
Is this amazing diver doing really impactful work? Maybe they deserve even more than a digital story — nominate them to be a Sea Hero candidate instead! Here’s how to nominate a great diver for recognition.
PRINT PITCHES
Availability of strong images is a must for any print pitch. It’s not necessary for you to be a photographer to have a successful pitch, but you must be aware of magazine-quality imagery on your subject and able and willing to help us connect to it.
The stories we publish in print generally fall into the following categories:
Travel Features
We are always looking for compelling travel narratives with a focus on diving that would be of interest to the novice to advanced diver. Strong preference is given to stories with a specific hook, angle or narrative arc, and interesting characters, rather than a general destination overview (i.e., this is not a “trip report” but a narrative long-form feature); 1,500 to 2,500 words, including sidebars.
- Divers Reinvent Wreck Diving in the British Virgin Islands with Pirates and Shark-Planeo
- A Rugged Dive Adventure Through Channel Islands National Park
- Adventuring Through Oz
Travel Roundup
A piece that typically features four to six or more different destinations, liveaboards or resorts based on a common theme, which can be a certain region, a type of diving or a category of diver. Word counts and structure range widely.
Discovery
Stories about exploratory, advanced, groundbreaking or archeological dives that either provide an interesting insight into advanced research and discovery, introduce compelling characters in the world of dive, or serve as an inspiration to readers who might not ever replicate the experience; 1,500 to 2,500 words, including sidebars.
Conservation Science/Policy
Feature-length articles that explore the issues facing the world’s oceans and waterways. Must identify the problems or conflict at hand as well as the stakeholders affected and what, if anything, is being done about it. 1,500–2,500 words
- A Millennia-Old Culture is Crumbling. Can Divers Save it?
- Inside the Liveaboard Rescue Mission for Exuma’s Urchins
- Scuba Diving Artist Jason deCaires Taylor is Transforming Coral Reefs Around the World
- Battling for the Future of Striped Marlin During Mexico's Secret Sardine Run
- Liveaboard Diving in Belize's New Shark Sanctuaries
Photo Essays
Stories told primarily through stunning imagery.
Featurette
Four- to six-page features—word counts from 500 to 1,200—that touch on an interesting dive-related topic, including but not limited to: Developments in conservation; discovery of a wreck, dive site, treasure, etc.; profile of a unique person, group or foundation; unique training made possible through diving. In a nutshell: Interesting shorter reads related to diving and the underwater world!
- Youth Diving With a Purpose
- Buddy-Breathing with Danny Devito: Inside the World of a Hollywood Stunt Diver
- Testing the Underwater Research Tools of Tomorrow With Robert Ballard
Front of the Book
Shorter stories (from 200 to 600 words, approximately) that spin off anything in the zeitgeist—not breaking news, but pieces that are inspired by dive-related news, taking it a step further to narrow the focus to dive or marine-conservation angles. Essays based on personal experiences in the world of diving fall into this category as well. Also of interest: pieces related to PADI dive instruction and PADI continuing-education experiences.
- What Goes into Making a Greener Wetsuit?
- Can the Critically Endangered Vaquita Be Saved?
- Diving with Dementia
Special Issues Scuba Diving magazine has a number of special issues each year, such as the Liveaboard Issue, Photography Issue and Conservation Issue, and we are always seeking fresh ideas to populate these perennial favorites; word counts vary widely. We are specifically seeking pitches related to:
- All aspects of liveaboard life, diving and travel
- Dive-specific travel tips on all aspects of travel, from planning to execution
- Pieces related to underwater camera use and instruction, including exotic shipboard instruction
- Marine conservation-related stories (does not have to be dive-specific, just relevant to divers)
Have a great, relevant pitch that doesn't fit these categories? Don’t hesitate to run it by us — just let us know why it's worth covering.
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