Write for the Wave
Long Island Wave is written by people who live here. If you run a restaurant, organize events, build things, or simply know your town better than anyone, we want to read your story, whether you have been published a hundred times or never once.
Four kinds of pieces, one standard
Local, useful, honest stories about Long Island. Restaurant and business owners, event organizers, and local experts shape what runs here, across Business, Food & Drink, Health, Beauty, Lifestyle and Events.
Local stories
What is opening, who is building what, how a business or a block is changing. Lead with what it means for the reader's town, not with the announcement.
First-person pieces
The story only you can tell: opening a shop, running a farm stand, raising a family in your town. Specific beats general every single time.
Events & weekends
Previews and write-ups of the things worth leaving the house for. Tell us who it is for, what it costs, and why it is worth the drive.
Guides & expertise
You know something your neighbors would pay to learn: the best bagels in your hamlet, how to read a property listing, where to launch a kayak. Write it down.
The pieces we say yes to
Every editor has a list. Here is ours, written down, so you are not guessing.
- They are local. A named town, a real street, a place a reader could walk into this weekend. If it could run anywhere, it does not run here.
- They are useful. The reader should finish knowing where to go, what to try, or what is about to change near them.
- They are honest. Tell us what is great and what is not. No press-release voice, no hard sell, no borrowed superlatives.
- They move through real experience. One concrete story about one block teaches more than five paragraphs of generality.
- They sound like a person. We protect your voice when we edit, trimming and clarifying without overwriting you.
Write the piece you would forward to a neighbor.
Before you send
How should I format the piece?
Plain text or a Word document, with your name as you want it to appear, a two-to-three-sentence bio, and the Long Island town you are writing from. Include a link or two if you have them. Full details live on our Editorial Resources page.
Do I need to be a professional writer?
No. Some of our most-read pieces come from restaurant owners, event organizers and longtime residents writing for the first time. If you know your subject and your town, we can help with the rest.
When will I hear back?
We read everything. A reply usually takes a week or two. If your piece is tied to a date, an opening or an event, say so in the first line of your note and we will move it up.
Do you pay contributors?
Long Island Wave is free to read and supported by local advertisers, and most contributions are unpaid. What contributors get is a byline, a bio with links, placement on longislandwave.com, and a readership across Nassau and Suffolk. Commissioned work is discussed case by case.
Can my piece promote my business?
Your bio is the place for that, and it can carry your business name, your town and a link. The piece itself has to earn its place by being useful to readers. If you want a promotional placement, that is advertising, and sponsored content is always labeled as such.
What about images?
Send a headshot and any landscape photos you have the right to publish, at the largest size you have. If you do not have photography, we will pair your piece with our own.
From your desk to the site
- Step one
You send it
Use the form, with your draft or your pitch, a short bio, and the town you are writing from.
- Step two
An editor reads it
Every submission is read by a person. If it is a fit we will tell you when we are aiming to run it.
- Step three
We edit together
You will see any substantive change before it runs. We trim and clarify; we do not rewrite your voice.
- Step four
It goes live
Onto longislandwave.com with your bio and your links, and the strongest pieces get featured in The Weekly Wave on Friday.