Launched in May of 2012, Cosmopolitan for Latinas bills itself as “the spirit of Cosmo with a Latina sensibility and the Latina voice.” Although half of the pub is freelance-written, editors say they would love to receive more ideas.  ”At this point, [I] haven’t received a ton of pitches,” said managing editor Jessica Rodriguez.

Anything with a unique angle will catch the editors’ eyes, and a good example from the latest issue is a piece called “I Won’t Date a Latin Guy.” “That’s an actual real topic that a lot of Latinas discuss, and it’s sort of an unspoken, but never really verbalized or articulated idea… We’re really trying to bring those issues to the table and really have an honest conversation about them,” said Rodriguez.

For more, read How To Pitch: Cosmopolitan for Latinas. [Mediabistro AvantGuild subscription required]

No sections are off-limits to pitches at Canoe & Kayak, where 60 percent of the content is freelance written. Though the editors have a stable of writers they assign to, they are always on the lookout for new voices and ideas — just make sure they’re original.

“Please don’t come to us with an idea that we’ve heard before,” said editor Jeff Moag. “Don’t send us the same queries you send the Sunday Travel section. You’ve got to have an angle, and it’s got to pertain to canoeing and kayaking.” The editors themselves are canoe and kayak enthusiasts and take to the field as much as possible, deadline permitting.

For more info, read How To Pitch: Canoe & Kayak. [Mediabistro AvantGuild subscription required]

“What is most personal is also the most universal,” said the Dutch writer Henri Nouwen. Perhaps that’s why such content is in demand by readers and editors alike.

In this update to one of our most popular series, we’ve gathered some of the top markets and listed them, including details on pay, word count, submission etiquette and insider tips from the editors themselves. We’ll cover even more markets in Part II and Part III, and will present an updated guide to digital outlets in Part IV.

Read the full article in Personal Essay Markets, Part I. [Mediabistro AvantGuild subscription required]

Sometime between Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26, Vanity Fair made a decision that it is today deeply regretting. Perhaps the magazine’s brass figured that by making deputy editor Bruce Handy’s online op-ed about Zero Dark Thirty star Jessica Chastain quickly disappear over a weekend, the move would not be noticed.

But in what has to rank as a major embarrassment for editor Graydon Carter, Nikki Finke has caught up to the subterfuge. Hollywood initially played dumb when the journalist inquired, before New York finally fessed up:

Publicists for Sony Pictures and Chastain’s BNC flackery told me it was “not true” that VF deleted the article. But, to its credit, Vanity Fair owned up to it. Explained VF spokeswoman Beth Kseniak: “We took it down because it ran counter to what a number of people at the magazine believed.”

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To go along with the return to Hollywood moviemaking, Arnold Schwarzenegger is also going back to his bodybuilding roots. But instead of pumping iron, he will be pushing the paper of a couple of very familiar American Media Inc. titles.

From today’s announcement:

David J. Pecker, chairman, president and CEO of American Media, Inc. (AMI), announced that Schwarzenegger will again join forces with AMI as group executive editor for Muscle & Fitness and Flex magazines. Schwarzenegger, who won bodybuilding’s top contest, the Mr. Olympia, seven times, and is the youngest man to win the Mr. Universe title, returns to AMI in the position he held before becoming Governor of California in 2003…

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Hidden Los Angeles, the popular Facebook page and website dedicated to our town’s lesser-known treasures, has slapped Los Angeles magazine with a trademark infringement lawsuit, reports LA Observed. Hidden LA’s complaint is with the magazine’s February issue and its “Hidden LA” theme, featuring “73 secret spots in the city.” The magazine also ran a Lexus Hidden LA sweepstakes and a private Hidden LA dinner event.

Los Angeles first published a “Hidden LA” themed issue in 2011, prompting Hidden LA founder W. Lynn Garrett to have a sit-down with the mag’s publisher, Mary Melton, leaving Garrett with the impression it wouldn’t happen again. This time around, she decided a sit-down wasn’t enough and filed suit.  ”I am not by nature a litigious person,” Garrett wrote on the Hidden LA facebook page. “I was left with no choice. A legally registered trademark is only as good as your steady enforcement of it.”

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Half of all freelancer pitches get the green light at Relish, and editors are always hungry for more. Launched in 2006 to celebrate America’s love for food, the pub enjoys a large readership thanks to its status as a newspaper-distributed magazine.

Now that its parent company has a new CEO, “We are looking towards being a total multimedia company, not just print,” said editor-in-chief Jill Melton.

Relish tells stories of the people, places and things behind the food, and editors like queries with national appeal and a good sense of place. Think you’ve got a great idea? Get more details and editors’ contact info in How To Pitch: Relish. [Mediabistro AvantGuild subscription required]

If only he had enough hours in a day. That’s the most challenging part of Adam Glassman‘s gig as creative director of O: The Oprah Magazine, a post where he’s constantly navigating the worlds of graphic design, fashion and media. In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do? series, Glassman recalls his groundbreaking decision to use real women over fashion models.

“I don’t want to say that we don’t ever use models because there are times that we do, but as we speak to these three generations of women, how can you do that?” he said. “You need something that is going to appeal to everyone. So I started using women of all ages, and not just all ages, but really all shapes. And I thought that was really key. Even Oprah thought I was nuts in the beginning. She was like, ‘You really want to do fashion on real people?’ And I said, ‘Yes, why not? You do it on the show. You show your people in makeovers; you have it in the audience. Let’s try it.’”

Read the full interview in So What Do You Do, Adam Glassman, Creative Director at O Magazine?

Seventy-five percent of Inked is written by freelancers, and many sections are ripe for pitching. The lifestyle pub does more than just cover a niche industry.

“Not every story is strictly tattoo-related,” says editor Rocky Rakovic. “The misconception for people who don’t know Inked might think it’s just a bunch of pictures of tattoos where that’s not true. Just think of us sort of like a Maxim [except] everyone in the magazine has tattoos, so it’s like Maxim plus tattoos, minus the articles that they do [on] the very ‘clean’ men’s lifestyle,” said Rakovic.

The majority of the magazine is open to freelance pitches, including the feature well. Besides covering the magazine’s regular topics, “We try to have something with, you know, some gravitas in each issue,” said Rakovic. “For our automotive installment, we ran around with the Detroit police department from 2:00 to 5:00 in the morning to try to see how the economy and the automotive industry in Detroit transcended to its poorest people in terms of where crime’s concerned. So we always try to have some serious piece in the book.”

For more info, read How To Pitch: Inked. [Mediabistro AvantGuild subscription required]

Seventy percent of Running Times is freelance written, and a good chunk of that content comes from first-timers.

All sections of the magazine are open for pitches, but there are certain topics that freelancers should be careful to avoid. Basic running how-tos won’t cut it for this advanced crowd, so save your “10 Stretching Tips” for another outlet. Instead, said editor-in-chief Jonathan Beverly, writers need to cite new research and relay the importance of why readers need to rethink their stretching routine. “You have to answer the ‘why’ and not just the ‘how,’” he said.

For more info, read How To Pitch: Running Times. [Mediabistro AvantGuild subscription required]