Submission Guidelines
Beta for Being publishes five main types of articles. Though we have a local angle to many of our pieces, we also accept stories from international climbers and experts.
Featured Stories
These are personal essays and stories about climbing. We love hearing from everybody, but we’re especially looking for stories from unconventional or diverse climbers who don’t fit typical climber stereotypes.
We don’t care if you crush 5.14 or five-point-fun — we are drawn to stories with heart, humor, and those that bring fresh perspectives.
Skill Up
These evergreen service-style pieces offer research and actionable advice on improving your climbing.
We welcome strategies and science on strength training, cross-training, hang board, endurance and cardio, as well as tips on improving climbing technique and mental fortitude.
These pieces can also focus on peripheral topics like gear and climbing products, as long as they have a how-to or service-based angle.
If it’ll help readers become better climbers, we want to hear about it!
Community Ties
These are Q&A style profiles highlighting both new and experienced climbers, in the SWMO area and beyond.
These stories are relatable and fun vignettes on climbers from all walks of life. This piece on Jade Zickefoose is an example of this type of article.
Interview with an Expert
These articles feature actionable advice from prominent experts — personal trainers, nutrition experts, exercise scientists, coaches, and professional athletes, to name a few.
These pieces should distill complex information into tangible advice or concrete steps that ordinary climbers can follow to improve their climbing.
Product Reviews
These articles highlight and provide feedback on specific climbing products, from shoes and harnesses to climbing clothes to trad climbing and outdoor gear.
These articles may contain affiliate links, but we only post reviews of products we have personally tried.
AI Policy
As a modern publication, we believe it’s important to talk about AI.
Our philosophy: though we may use AI tools to carry out administrative tasks like audio transcription, we do not and will not ever use AI to create written or visual content.
Our posts are written by writers and our images are created by photographers, designers, and artists. Period.
We also strongly believe in the magic of the writing process as an extension of the human brain, and we strive to create one-of-a-kind stories about real people, in contrast to the clickbait and repetitive sludge you see elsewhere.
If this resonates with you and you’re interested in contributing, we invite you to submit a pitch using the form below.