What editors actually want from FM contributors in 2026
Editors are buried in pitches. The ones they publish all share three things — and they're not what most contributors expect.
I spend a lot of my week reading what FM editors reject. The pattern is depressingly consistent: pitches that lead with the company, pitches that promise 'thought leadership' without an actual thought, pitches that hedge.
What gets through, in 2026, is the opposite. A specific argument. A named operational example. A view the editor hasn't read this month. Most pitches contain none of those.
The contributors who get repeat invitations to write are the ones who turn up to the call with a position they will defend on the record. Editors are not commissioning 'an article about workplace strategy.' They're commissioning the person who has spent a decade losing arguments about it.
If you want to be in next year's editorial calendar, send the position, not the press release.