Pitch Perfect: A Quick Guide for Pitching to Publications
One of my freelancer dreams is to have editors handball ideas to me so that I can write them up into full articles for them. While this has happened a few times (yay!) the reality is that for the majority of work I secure, I’m the one pitching ideas and potential articles to them.
For most freelancers, pitching is the best way to secure work and land published work with their dream platforms. Understanding what works when it comes to your pitch and how to tailor this for the various publications you’d like to write for is crucial for ongoing freelance success.
A Pitch Explained
Essentially, a pitch is an idea.
Your idea for how you’d like to approach or write about a topic, event, or theme that would be relevant to the publication you’re pitching.
It’s an overview of the story you’d like to write and an outline that demonstrates to the editor how you’ll be getting that story down on paper. It’s how you sell yourself to the editor and convince them that you’re the right person to write this incredible story their audience needs to hear.
It’s the first stepping stone to publication and an essential part of your freelance writing career.
Creating A Pitch
Crafting the perfect pitch is about so much more than simply finding the email address of the editor you’d like to approach. It takes a little bit more research and consideration, including:
Reading the Publication
There’s no point pitching an idea to a publication if it’s not a good fit, has already been covered recently, or your style of writing isn’t aligned with theirs.
Reading the publication allows you to build a familiarity with the tone and preferred style of writing the editors publish, understand their content themes, and begin to identify gaps that you can weave into your pitch.
For example, you wouldn’t pitch a piece about general anxiety to Write or Die Tribe that’s heavy in research and academic references. However, you might pitch an article about overcoming the fear of sending your first pitch, using your own experience to add personality and connection to the readers.
Understand the Audience
When pitching an idea, you need to let the editor know why the idea is suitable for their platform and in particular, why their audience would be interested in reading about it.
To do this, you need to know who their audience is.
You can find this out by the general feel of their website or magazine, but also by checking out their social media presence and taking a look at their mission statement or ‘About Us’ section. Being able to tie your pitch to broader interests of the publication’s audience is a great way to get editors interested.
Know Your Idea
Before you can even begin crafting your pitch, you need to have a firm idea of what you want to say and why you want to say it.
Drafting out a brief outline that includes a few dot points on the core sections of an article is a great way to help you formulate your idea into something more rounded. If you’re pitching non-fiction, consider the introduction, body of the article, potential references or sources you should tap into, any call to actions, any calls to value and a conclusion.
If you’re pitching a memoir or personal essay, consider what the ideas of themes are that you want to explore, why do you want to explore them, how are you the right person for this and why do you want to tell this story now?
Reflecting on all these points will help give your pitch more weight as you can confidently say what you want to talk about in your piece.
Structuring Your Pitch
How you structure your pitch will depend on the editor you’re approaching. If this is the first time you’re reaching out to them, you need to include a little more detail about your idea, writing background and previous work.
You should ideally include the following in your email:
An entry line about you.
Your overall pitch
A short writer bio
Links to previous publications, your portfolio or social media
If you’re pitching to an editor you already have a relationship with, you can usually just get straight to the point. Here are a couple of examples of pitches I’ve sent this week to show you what I mean:
The below is a pitch I sent to a new publication:
(This one followed a set format the website asked new writers to follow on their website and is slightly longer than an average pitch I would send.)
Hi Janice,
I'm reaching out as a new blogger for XXX Magazine - I've been a fan of the magazine and website for a while and am trying to be a bit braver this year approaching a few of my dream publications to write for, so here I am!
As per the guidelines on your website, please find my proposal and short bio below:
Blog Proposal: I've been a passionate Careers Educator & Coach for almost a decade, and in that time I've had the opportunity to hone my expertise to focus on how we can combine creativity with our careers. I'm particularly interested in ideas of positive psychology and how they apply to our professional identities, as well as how we can use psychology to become more authentic in the work we pursue. The theme for my blogs focuses on these topics and my experience in applying them to myself to build a career I love.
Topics for my first 5 proposed blogs are:
- Purpose Anxiety (what it is, how to overcome it)
- Pursuing duality at work (the personal benefits of being a generalist over specialist)
- Coping with career transitions
- Exploring the concept of 'Career Crafting.'
- Handling toxic work experiences (relationships with managers, colleagues or clients)
From my own work experience, these topics speak to many early to mid-career-focused women, who I know form a large part of your readership so I’m confident they'd bring a lot of value.
A short bio: Elaine is a Careers Educator, Coach & Writer from London, currently based in Hobart, Tasmania. She has worked internationally with young people from all walks of life, helping them to understand and pursue their passions for fulfilling work. Her interests are in building creativity and curiosity into our career journeys to find our versions of happy, not just at work but in all areas of life.
Twitter: @_elainemead
Instagram: @wordswithelaine
Website: www.wordswithelaine.com
Similar to XXX Magazine, I've previously written for Darling Magazine, Healthline, Psych Central and Medibank's 'Live Better' Magazine (amongst others).
Let me know if you need anything else from me or have any questions at all. I can't wait to hear from you regarding my proposal.
Kind regards,
Elaine
Now compare this to a pitch I sent to an editor I’ve been working with for a while:
Hi Megan,
Hope you're well and had a wonderful weekend!
Just sending over this little piece for you that I thought would be suitable for the site - it’s a follow up on the working from home tips we published together last month, expanding on one of the points I know got quite a few comments :)
Let me know if you have any Qs or editing feedback.
Thanks!
E x
I’ve been working with Megan for a little over a year; I know exactly what the website looks for and how to structure my pieces to create minimal extra work required from Megan. This means I’m able to send a full article, without an outline or brief pitch first.
Top Tips for a Successful Pitch
Aside from some of the pointers above, other things you need to consider when it comes to your pitch include:
Spelling and Grammar
I would hope this one is a bit of a no-brainer, but as an editor who fields pitches and articles, I know it needs to be said.
Spelling and grammar are crucial for a successful pitch - you’re a writer; act as a competent one. My advice here is to draft your pitch and then put it away for a day. Re-read it with fresh eyes and triple check your spelling and grammar!
When to Pitch
The last thing on a Friday is NO. No one wants to feel the pressure of reading (and potentially rejecting) a pitch on Friday afternoon which means it probably won’t get read. Your carefully crafted pitch will then get lost in the sea of emails that many editors receive over the weekend and never be seen again.
Mid-morning Monday or Tuesday when minds are fresh, and editors are thinking about their future content needs is a right call.
Subject Line
Arguably the most crucial part of your pitch! The subject line of your email grabs the editors attention to make sure you spend some time on this.
The subject line has to give the editor enough information to want to read your email. A standard subject line should be set out as follows:
‘PITCH: [NAME] + [TOPIC] + [THEME]’
Your subject line could also be a hook-question, like this:
‘PITCH: Are All Writers Narcissistic?’
Your subject line needs to contain buzzwords. Anything that might catch an editors eye (as long as it’s relevant to your story) should be in your subject line. Adding ‘time-sensitive’ if you’re writing about a current event that needs to get pushed out quickly is another way to let an editor know you’re focusing on something current they might not already have covered.
Find Your Pitch
Pitching seems complex and it can be nuanced, but over time you’ll begin to get a feel for what works for you and how to approach different publications. The above are some general guidelines that I’ve found has helped me, but I’m still working on pitching in different ways and figuring out what works where.
It’s always a great idea to get feedback where you can and keep working on this important skill.
