Savant publishes ideas for a more interesting tomorrow. Most of what we publish comes from our expert network: practitioners, researchers and specialists who write for us because they have something worth saying and want it read by people who will think about it.
Publishing through our expert network is free. There is no fee to submit and no fee to be published. What we ask for instead is original thinking, real expertise, and the patience to work with an editor.
Who we are looking for
People who know a subject from the inside. Founders and operators who have built something. Investors, advisers and analysts who have watched money decisions up close. Engineers, researchers and professionals who use new technology seriously and see its effects. Managers, coaches and scholars who understand how people decide and work together.
Titles matter less than experience. We are glad to publish people with no byline history at all, if the piece is good.
What we publish
Pieces that fit one of our four sections: Building a Business, Money Choices, How AI Is Changing the World and How to Make Better Decisions.
The pieces we like best explain how something actually works, show their reasoning, and leave the reader with something to use or to argue with. They draw on experience or evidence the writer can stand behind. They are usually between 1,200 and 2,500 words, though we care far more about whether a piece earns its length than about the number.
What we turn down
Pieces written to promote a product, a service or a company, including the writer’s own. Listicles, roundups and how to guides that repeat what is already easy to find. Hot takes on the week’s news. Pieces that promise easy answers to hard questions. Work that has been published elsewhere, in full or in part.
We also turn down pieces where the ideas are not the writer’s own. You are welcome to use whatever tools help you research and write. What we publish is your thinking, and we expect you to stand behind every claim and every number in it.
How to pitch
Send a short pitch rather than a finished draft. A good pitch includes:
- The idea in two or three sentences, and why it matters now.
- Why you are the person to write it: what you have done, seen or studied that gives you something to add.
- A rough outline of the argument.
- Links to two or three things you have written, if you have them.
Send your pitch to [email protected] with “Pitch” and your working title in the subject line.
We read every pitch. Because we turn down far more than we accept, we cannot always explain why a pitch is not right for us. If it fits, an editor will reply to discuss the piece.
What happens next
If we commission a piece, an editor works with you from draft to publication. Expect questions, cuts and at least one round of revision. The aim is never to change what you think. It is to make what you think as clear as it can be.
Before publication you will confirm that the piece is original, that the facts in it are accurate to the best of your knowledge, and that you have disclosed any financial or professional interest in its subject.
Each contributor has an author page with a short bio and a photo. Links in your piece are allowed where they help the reader, and every link is approved by the editor. Links that exist only to point somewhere commercial are removed.
Before you pitch, please read our Editorial Standards. They apply to every piece we publish.