"You don’t have to put up with rude editors, we are lucky to have your words"
How to pitch Cosmopolitan's features director, Harriet Hall
Hello! How are you doing today? My last editor interview of 2024 is with Cosmopolitan’s features director, Harriet Hall. I’m thrilled that Harriet’s part of this series – she one of the most thoughtful, sensitive editors that I’ve worked with. Your words are in safe hands, and she really wants to help you write your best work.
Tell us more about your role at Cosmopolitan.
I’m the features director at Cosmopolitan, working across our bi-monthly print issues and daily digital output, making sure we’re always on the button with trending topics, analysing the big political talking points of the day and tapping into the zeitgeisty conversations we’re all having with our friends down the pub. When it comes to our coverage, women’s rights and safety are front and centre, and I’m so proud to say our features in this field have made a direct impact on laws, won awards and regularly receive shining feedback from readers.
I look after our News&Politics, Body, and Love&Sex sections, with the brilliant support of our features editor, and sex and relationships editor. I strategise, write, commission and edit our output, op-eds, interviews, and longer investigative features, and plan how they will be promoted across social and via off-platform partners. It’s a real mixed bag and I love it!
How many pieces do you commission? Do you take ideas to meetings, or are they straight off the bat?
If I am pitched a great idea, I’ll always take it into our print planning meetings. We don’t have a set number of features that we commission. This really depends on the news cycle, where our budget is at that month and where our team priorities lie. We tend to do a lot in house and our budget is quite fluid — saved up for big events like the US election one month, or our Cosmo Sex Survey the next.
Do you have specific sections or regular features that you always commission out?
Online, I look after our News&Politics, Body and Love&Sex sections where we cover the gamut of stories from current affairs to royals, health, wellbeing, fitness, friendship, dating and sex.
In print, this translates to our Thrive and Love sections. Most of these we write in-house, but I am always on the lookout for brilliant vibey pieces for our 1,500 word, four-page section openers.