Contributor Program for Market Sentiment
Hi,
If you are reading this, you are probably interested in writing a report for Market Sentiment.
Here’s everything you need to know:
About Market Sentiment
We are an independent publication that focuses on data-backed investment reports. Over the last 4 years, we have published over 200 articles, and Market Sentiment is now one of the biggest financial newsletters read by 48,000+ investors, analysts, and financial advisors. Our audience is predominantly U.S. investors, and all our reports are focused on the U.S. Markets.
If you are new here, I highly recommend you read the following two articles to understand how we write.
As you can see, the report can either be
An interesting take on existing research.
A novel idea that’s backtested by our team.
Please note that we are not stock pickers. We don’t cover individual stocks or go long or short companies. This helps us remain unbiased and rational.
Article Structure
First, the story:
Our reports usually start with an interesting story, thought experiment, or historical parallel before we jump into the research/data.
Here are some examples for reference:
Coin toss experiment — For explaining the Kelly Criterion
Japanese asset bubble — To show stocks don’t always go up
Finding a lost submarine — To highlight how momentum investing works.
It’s not a must-have if your topic is very interesting, but preferably, it should be there. Also, please avoid using familiar stories like the dot-com bubble, GFC, Covid crisis, etc.
Do not force-fit the story just for the sake of having a story.
Research
All reports should be well researched and not an opinion piece. If you are quoting another article, ensure it’s of high quality. If you are using a research paper, make sure it’s either published in a reputable journal or comes from a trustworthy source.
You will connect this data with the story to build the entire report. If you are unclear how to connect the story with the data, please look at the articles above.
Paywall
70% of our reports are paywalled. If the article is 1200 words long, the paywall will usually hit after 400-500 words. It’s critical to ensure that the hook and the story are good enough for a reader to stay till the paywall. If you have an interesting insight, it should come after the paywall, and you can tease about it before the paywall.
An example of a good paywall transition is here:
Free reports are usually novel insights or breaking topics that are more likely to go viral.
Takeaways/Conclusion
All reports should be decently actionable for a retail investor.
While our articles don’t say “buy this stock now”, it should be clear enough for the reader what we are implying with our work. Once again, please read any of the above examples if you are not clear on this.
Social media post
We expect you to create the social media post for your article since you are the best person to do it. This is critical in bringing new readers, and we can use a little bit of hyperbole here. Examples below.
Support from our team
Since our reports are research and analysis-heavy, we don’t expect you to do everything yourself. You can use our help in the following.
Infographics — we have an in-house designer that you can use for infographics and cover images. (lead time — 1 week)
Data analysis — You can take the help of our analyst for data processing (the request should be very clear with all access to relevant data sources)
Editing — Our team will be guiding you constantly on where to improve/change
Payment
Coming over to the good part, our payment structure is simple.
15K per article — If your idea is an extension/rehash of existing research (Example)
25K per article — Novel idea with your own backtest (Example)
Our reports are approximately 1,200 to 1,500 words long. The payment is made only after the report is published. You will not be paid if you work on something and we do not consider it good enough to publish.
Process
If you are reading this, there is a good chance that I invited you personally, or a friend of mine thought you were a good writer.
I am available best via WhatsApp at +91-8332908749.
Before you start your work, please send me
Topic
100-word write-up on why it’s interesting
After I approve it, you can start working on the first draft. The first draft is expected at least 2 weeks before the proposed publication date in a shared Google Doc (flexible based on the time sensitivity of the report).
Once we approve the first draft, we can start working on the infographics and cover images.
FAQs
Will my name come on the report? — Completely up to you. We have anonymous contributors and reports where we share the author with our audience. Ideally, unless your credentials are very relevant, we post under our brand name.
What’s the best way to contact you? — I am available on WhatsApp at +91-8332908749. If you don’t have WhatsApp or are not comfortable with it, mail me at noble@marketsentiment.co
I have a great idea, but don’t have the data — you can still pitch us, but it’s mostly going to be a no.
What if I want to pitch a stock idea? — No. Refer above.
I want to guest post an article from my blog — Unless it's extremely good, it’s mostly going to be a no. For reference, over the last 4 years, we have had a grand total of one guest post. Plus, no payment for this since it’s not original work.