As a writer or business owner, you sometimes need more exposure than your blog, social media pages, or other platforms can provide.

In a situation like this, you need a publication that has a massive reach and an excellent reputation.

With about 150 million monthly readers, Forbes is an excellent platform for you to increase your reach and create more awareness around your product, service, or work.

So, it makes sense to get published on Forbes.

Now, the question is obviously how you can get published on Forbes.

It’s no secret that it’s not as simple as sending an email and having an article published.

There are some steps you need to go through and some research you need to do to make sure that you improve your chances of success.

And this is where the problem comes in.

There’s so much information available on the Internet that it’s often challenging to find the right information or even know where to start looking.

Fortunately, we’re here to help and with this post, we’ll look at how you can get published in Forbes in more detail.

What is Forbes?

Forbes is a global media company that focuses on business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle topics.

It’s well known for the amount of exposure it can give to individuals, businesses, and thought leaders who get featured in it.

Here, it’s necessary to distinguish between the website and the online publication.

The print magazine is written by professional journalists and writers.

In contrast, the website uses a network of contributors who write and publish articles directly on its website.

To give you an idea of how powerful it can be, let’s look at the numbers:

  • Forbes has been in business for over 100 years.
  • It currently has over 400 employees worldwide with over 2800 journalists.
  • It has a magazine audience of 6 million people and has 78 million monthly website visitors from the United States.
  • It has hosted over 100 ForbesLive events and it has 40 global editions.

Considering these numbers, it’s easy to see why getting published in Forbes can give you massive exposure.

For example, if you’re a business owner, this exposure can propel your business to the next level.

Likewise, if you’re a writer or thought leader, it can give you a platform to get your ideas and perspectives out into the world.

The Different Ways of Getting Published

There are many ways in which you can get featured in and published on Forbes.

The most common, however, is pitching an article to the publication or becoming a contributor.

There are, however, certain differences between the two.

When you choose to pitch an article, you’ll need to come up with an idea and develop a story around it.

You’ll then need to approach a contributor with your pitch.

If they accept the story, it will then be written and published.

Another option to be featured on Forbes is by becoming a contributor.

Here, you’ll do all the writing yourself.

Here, you’ll need to pitch an editor and convince them why you should write for Forbes.

Another difference between pitching an article and becoming a contributor is that, as a contributor, you’ll be expected to contribute at least one article a week.

So, unlike pitching a once-off story, you’ll have a continuous obligation to keep writing for the publication.

Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if you’re a writer and you want a platform to showcase your work.

Why Publish on Forbes?

Now that you’ve seen the different ways of getting published on Forbes, let’s look at what it can mean for you if you are.

The main benefit of getting published on Forbes is that it gives you a platform of millions of readers every month.

In fact, almost every person on earth has heard of Forbes magazine in some way or another.

As a result, they know the brand cachet and the awareness that comes with it.

Also, most people associate it with big corporations, billionaires, and serious businesses.

So, if you’re a business owner, featuring in Forbes can have a significant impact on how people perceive your business.

And you know what comes with it?

If people perceive your business as more valuable, you have the potential to make more sales.

Likewise, for a writer, it can be an excellent platform to showcase their work.

It’s simple, millions of people get to see it.

It can also lead to new opportunities.

This is simply because its readership, to a large extent, consists of many important decision-makers in companies and businesses.

And these people are often difficult to reach through traditional methods.

So, featuring in Forbes can open up doors to these people that can lead to lucrative opportunities, whether it’s the building of new partnerships or finding job opportunities.

How To Get Published?

Now, you’re probably wondering how to get published on Forbes.

Here, we’ll look at the different methods depending on whether you want to get featured or whether you want to become a contributor.

Pitching an Article

To pitch an article for Forbes, you need to get into contact with a Forbes contributor or journalist.

There are a few ways you could do this.

For one, you could just email the contributor.

Now, this sounds easier than it actually is.

But the fact is that emailing is still the most effective way to get into contact with contributors and get featured on Forbes.

It’s simple, every contributor has an email, and every contributor reads their emails, so this is a surefire way to make contact.

Your first challenge will be to find the right contributor for your piece.

To overcome this challenge, you’ll need to look at the niche in which the article falls.

Here, you’ll need to look at different angles to the story and what it entails. In doing so, you’ll find a niche.

Once you find the niche, you can search for topics related to that niche on Forbes.com.

You can even do this by using a search engine like Google.

You’ll then be able to find all the specific articles in a specific niche.

Once you find these articles, you can compile a list of all the contributors who wrote those articles.

When you have your list, it’s time to do a bit of investigating.

In the first place, you’ll need the contributor’s email address.

To find it you can use Google to see whether their email addresses are listed online.

If this fails, or it has less than satisfactory results, you can use paid tools that allow you to find email addresses online.

The second part of your investigation is looking at whether you can find these contributors on social media.

This will show you what things they’re interested in, what they like, and what they don’t like.

This, in turn, can give you a great idea of what to focus on when preparing your pitch to the contributor.

With all this information in hand, you’ll then be able to send an email pitch to the contributor.

Remember, if you fail at first and get rejected, you can try pitching again with a new idea or new angles on the same story later.

Another option for you to reach out to contributors is by using social media.

It works a lot like email, but the key advantage of social media is that it can be much more personal and down to earth compared to an email conversation.

Keep in mind, though, with social media you’ll often need to build a relationship first with the contributor before pitching the story.

This increases the possibility of your pitch being accepted and will make you stand out because, many times, these contributors are flooded with article suggestions on social media.

Some of the best social media platforms you can here are, for example, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Becoming a Contributor

To become a contributor, the process is largely the same as the process we described above for pitching an article.

There are however some differences.

Like the process described above, you’ll need to identify a niche that you will be writing in.

In addition to identifying a niche, it’s also important that you already have well-written examples in your chosen niche.

It will allow you to show the editor the content you’ve written before in the niche.

It’s also ideal if you’ve already generated a large following as well as having several published pieces on high authority publications.

The next step in the process is emailing the specific Forbes editor in the niche you’ve chosen.

Like the process above, you can use Google or other paid tools to find the specific editor’s email address.

You could also find their contact details through their author page on Forbes.

So, like pitching an article, you’ll be able to make contact with them through social media where you’ll be able to build a more personal relationship.

Once you find their email address or social media handles, you can pitch your application to them.

There are, however, some tips that you can use to increase your chances of success. These are:

  • Keeping it short. Remember these editors get a lot of emails from other people just like you want to be a contributor. So, keep it short and straight to the point while also giving them enough links to do their own research if needed.
  • Focus on the numbers. If any of your previous content had significant reach or great conversions, be sure to include the numbers in your proposal.
  • Be clear. Your application should be as clear as possible. This makes it easier and quicker to read. These editors don’t have time to spend ages going through one application, so the easier you make it, the more you’ll improve your chances of success.

Becoming a Forbes contributor isn’t necessarily easy and there are hundreds of people applying to become contributors.

So, the chances are that you won’t be successful on your first try.

Or even your second.

Therefore, it’s best to keep trying and improving your writing and applications as you go along.

Also, keep in mind, that you don’t succeed at first, you’ll also be able to submit a guest post to the publication.

A once-off post like this is a perfect way to get to know editors better and makes it easier to pitch applications later on.

How Much Does It Cost To Publish on Forbes?

So, how much does it cost to publish on Forbes?

The good news is that it doesn’t cost you anything.

However, you should consider that, if you want to pitch an article to a contributor it will take some time to research a specific niche, who the contributors are, and what their email addresses are.

This can take a lot of time and effort, which ultimately, for a business owner means time away from running their business.

So, if they choose to hire a freelancer or PR agency to do this for them, there will be some costs involved.

Likewise, for a writer, it will also take time to do the necessary research.

So, this could say take some time away from writing other pieces.

But, considering the benefits, it makes all the effort worthwhile.

The Bottom Line

When you want to create a lot of awareness, whether it’s for your business or as a writer, you need a platform with a large audience and the necessary industry recognition.

Here, Forbes is an excellent option.

The challenge is that it can get difficult to feature on Forbes or become a Forbes contributor.

Hopefully, this guide helped illustrate the benefits of getting published on Forbes in more detail as well as the steps you need to take to achieve this.

Joel Mark Harris

Joel Mark Harris graduated from the Langara School of Journalism in 2007. Joel is an award-winning journalist, novelist, screenwriter and producer.

He has ghostwritten numerous books in all types of genres including true life crime, business, memoir, and self help. With over 1,000 blog posts to his name, he has helped hundreds of business owners scale their business and increase their visibility. You can email him at info@ghostwritersandco.com