Call for Pitches: Daily Bread

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. 

Cake Zine’s sixth issue is an exploration of the ways bread impacts our daily lives—routine, religion, devotion, subsistence, and sustenance. Think: A peek into the rich labor history of bread unions, a megachurch eucharist taste test, an ode to the hedonism of the Panera bread bowl, a history of bread riots as the precursor to revolutions, a formal analysis of bread packaging graphic design, the Wonder Bread-ification of America, a reported feature on the incarceration to bread-baking pipeline paved by Dave’s Killer Bread and Homeboy Bakery, or a dispatch from the hungover misery of the Sunday morning bagel line.

We are a small print publication with very limited space and a very high pitch volume. We prioritize adherence to and subversion of theme—ie, an unexpected but clearly connected take on “Daily Bread.”  We delight in the esoteric, the historical, and the contemporary, especially when woven together. 

We are looking for imaginative bread recipes, sweet or savory, leavened or unleavened. Banana bread counts? We are admittedly not interested in pitches related to baking sourdough bread during the pandemic (but if you have an especially hot/unexpected take on this, feel free to shoot your shot.)

We’re looking for advertisers. Email: hellocakezine@gmail.com



Essential details

  • Written pitches for Daily Bread are due by 9 a.m. EST on August 5th.
  • Visual contributor submissions are due by 9 a.m. EST on August 10th.
  • All Daily Bread pieces will be assigned by late August. We have a rigorous editorial process with multiple rounds of revision over several weeks.  
  • Daily Bread will be released in early December. 



Types of writing we’re looking for

Cake Zine has published everything from critiques of phallic desserts across history to investigations into pie as a metaphor for rejection on Love Island and condemnations of “deepcakes” in the age of “is it cake?” We've printed taxonomies, fables, fan fiction, interviews with directors and sex workers, visual art, and much more.

You can pitch us variations on the suggested topics above or something entirely different. We welcome broad interpretations of “Daily Bread.” Just be clear about how your pitch relates to the theme. Pitch us:

  • Historical deep dives that pair solid research/reporting with a critical eye
  • Recipes including bread as an ingredient accompanied by a short thematic intro
  • Flash fiction or short stories
  • Poetry
  • Unexpected interviews
  • Personal essays
  • Lyric essays 
  • Cultural criticism (literature, film, art, and pop culture)
  • Profiles
  • Humor pieces
  • Underrepresented magazine storytelling formats such as comics, listicles, and historical taxonomies. If it doesn’t fit in another publication, we want to hear about it.



Types of visual contributions we’re looking for

If you would like to be commissioned to create an illustration to accompany an accepted pitch, please get in touch. Not an illustrator? Not to worry, we welcome all visual mediums (that we can print). If you have an existing body of work you think might pair well with the theme of this issue, we would love to see it.  



Rates

We pay creators. We’re a small, self-funded publication with flat rates based on length. All commissioned contributors will receive a copy of Daily Bread.

  • Shorter pieces (350 words or less), poems, and recipes: $125-$175 
  • Mid-length (500 to 1K words): $200
  • Longform (2K words - plus or minus): $300
  • Illustrations and visual contributions: $200
  • Misc content: Based on conversations with editors.



Instructions & What to Include 

Written pitches for Daily Bread are due by 9 a.m. EST on August, 5th. 

Visual contributor submissions are due by 9 a.m. EST on August, 10th.

Send pitch emails to hellocakezine@gmail.com with “WRITING PITCH — Last Name” or “VISUALS PITCH — Last Name” in the subject line.

 

For all types of content:

  • please tell us about yourself and provide a few links to relevant work that demonstrates your style, voice, and tone, whether in a major publication or personal blog. We are committed to publishing burgeoning voices and care more about your talent and ideas than your resume. We also prioritize work by and centering BIPOC, women, and queer people. 
  • Please include the entire pitch in the body of your email. If you are pitching multiple pieces please include them in the same email.

For Non-fiction

  • Include a sample headline (to demonstrate the angle) and estimated word count.
  • Provide a few sentences about your story idea. It’s not enough to share a topic—what is your take on the topic? How does it advance, complicate, or expand what we know or how we think about the subject of your piece?
  • Feel like you have the silhouette of a piece, but don’t feel like you’ve fully nailed the crux of it yet? Feel free to include some reference links to articles/media/content that capture the approach you’re hoping to take and an explanation of how you’ll make it your own.
  • For reported pieces, provide a few sample sources. 

For Recipes

  • Include a sample recipe title, a few sentences about the recipe and how it adheres to the Tough Cookie theme, plus a brief info about the major flavors/techniques. 

For Fiction and Poetry

  • Fully written rough drafts are strongly preferred. We will also accept robustly outlined pitches if you provide other examples of your fiction or poetry work.
  • Maximum 2000 words. Shorter forms are welcome!

For Illustration and Visual Storytelling

  • Please link to a website, instagram, etc. with work samples.
  • If you don't have work online to share, attach 3-6 images to your email. Either as individual image files (no bigger than 3 MB each) or a single pdf (no bigger than 15 MB).