Consumer and lifestyle · National
How to get featured in Real Simple
How to get featured in Real Simple: what its home, food, and life editors cover, why there is no public PR inbox, and how to pitch useful, practical stories.
- Website
- realsimple.com
- Owner
- People Inc.
- Lead time
- Digital stories: weeks. Print and seasonal packages: typically several months ahead.
- Last verified
At a glance
Audience. Busy adults looking for practical, uncluttered advice on home, food, money, health, and everyday life.
- Home and organizing
- Cleaning
- Food and recipes
- Money
- Health and wellness
- Beauty and style
- Relationships and life
- Staff reporting
- Editors and staff writers produce service journalism, product recommendations, and features organized by section, with an emphasis on practical, step-by-step advice.
- Contributed articles
- Real Simple does not run a brand contributor program. Editors commission freelance writers, and contributors typically pitch section editors directly.
- Opinion and op-eds
- There is no op-ed channel. Personal essays and first-person service pieces are commissioned through freelance pitches to editors.
- Press releases
- Releases are not published. Product and brand news can reach readers through roundups and service stories when it solves a specific everyday problem.
Pitching Real Simple, step by step
Read recent Real Simple stories in your section to learn its plainspoken, practical voice and the formats it uses.
Find the section editor (home, food, money, health, beauty) from recent bylines; Real Simple does not publish a public PR pitch inbox.
Pitch a reader problem and a clear, practical solution, with your product or expert as one part of it.
Offer a credentialed expert who can give specific, actionable advice.
Send one short email with a working headline and follow up once.
How Real Simple decides what to cover
Real Simple, published by People Inc., is built on practical service. It covers home and organizing, cleaning, food, money, health, beauty, and relationships, and its stories tend to break an everyday task into clear steps or recommend products that make life easier. The name is the editorial filter: if an idea cannot be explained simply and used immediately, it is a hard fit.
Editors are organized by section, and much of the content is service that is updated over time. Product mentions appear in roundups and how-to stories when an item solves a specific problem.
How to pitch Real Simple
Real Simple does not publish a public PR pitch inbox, tips page, or brand submission form that we could verify. The honest route is to read recent stories in the relevant section, identify the editor or writer from bylines, and send a short, specific pitch.
Frame the pitch around a reader problem. “How to organize a small pantry in an afternoon” is a Real Simple story; “Our new storage line launches Tuesday” is not. Your product, data, or expert should be one useful part of that story. Credentialed experts who can give precise, actionable advice, such as a financial planner, a dermatologist, or a professional organizer, are often more valuable to editors than a brand spokesperson.
Keep it to one email with a working headline and a few sentences of explanation, then follow up once. Seasonal stories are planned well ahead, so pitch holiday and back-to-school ideas early.
Contributed articles and op-eds
Real Simple does not publish brand-contributed articles or op-eds. It commissions freelance writers for essays and service pieces. Executives and founders appear as quoted experts in reported stories rather than as bylined authors.
Frequently asked questions
Can you pay to be featured in Real Simple?
Editorial coverage is not for sale. Advertising and branded content are sold by People Inc. and labeled separately.
Does Real Simple accept guest posts?
No brand guest posts. Editors commission freelance writers.
Who should I pitch at Real Simple?
The editor or writer covering your section, identified from recent bylines. There is no verified general PR inbox.
A PR-led agency pitches Real Simple with practical, expert-backed service angles instead of launch news. Our media relations work builds those angles for consumer and home brands.
Mistakes that get pitches ignored
- Launch announcements with no practical use case
- Vague expert commentary that lacks specific steps
- Pitching seasonal print stories on a short timeline
- Mass pitching every editor with the same email
Keep going
Related outlets
Sources for this profile (2)
Profiles describe public editorial processes and are reviewed periodically. Digitize is not affiliated with Real Simple. Spot something out of date? Email [email protected].