Joanne the Coach

Back to Basics: Pitching Your Ideas

Apologies to the more experienced writers amongst you who may find this post quite basic.  But somebody, somewhere is looking to get their first feature published, and this is to help them avoid ending up on the Bad Pitch Blog.

Pitching Your Ideas to a Publication

When you want to get published in a newspaper, magazine or website, you start by pitching the idea – not the finished article.  A common mistake is to write an article then look for an outlet to publish it, but this is not how publications work.

The reason for this is that the commissioning editor will have their own ideas about what they want to see in the piece.  They'll know how much space they have available and how many words they need you to write. 

Start by reading several copies of the section you’re pitching to so you get a sense of what they cover and where there might be opportunities for you.  Believe it or not, many people pitch to sections they've never read.  If you want to hit a target, don't just take aim and fire - do your research first.

Think of an idea for the slot you’re targeting – something original that your specialist knowledge will make you the best person to write about.  All publications have writing staff – so why would they pay you to write for them instead?

Submitting Your Pitch
Call the publication and find out the best person to send your idea to.  You can gleam information like this from websites and directories, but the media has a high staff turnover so it’s essential to keep checking that you are approaching the right person. 

Most editors prefer to receive pitches by email.  On bigger publications, editors receive many pitches every day and some won’t even read them if they don’t recognise the writer’s name. 

Write your pitch and send it.  Describe the idea in a few paragraphs (around 100 words) and give some details of your professional background and experience (ie why they should ask you to write this).  The idea is more important than your writing experience, but do emphasise any experience that you have.

What’s next after you’ve submitted your pitch?
Responses vary enormously.  Sometimes you will hear back fairly quickly – within a day or two if it’s a daily newspaper, perhaps a few weeks if it’s a monthly magazine.  If you don’t hear anything you can take it that they’re not interested or the email hasn’t been read.  The editor will not have time to give you feedback if your idea is not suitable.

If you don’t hear anything, you can always follow up with a phone call or a short email.  If an idea is time sensitive, some writers phone up soon after they’ve sent the pitch.  They might say ‘My email’s been playing up so I’m just checking you received this’ but really this is just an excuse to get closer to the editor and start to build up a relationship. 

Another follow up could be to pitch the same idea to another publication,  tweaking it to make it relevant to the new recipient.

Don’t call us…
Pitches are similar to press releases in that you do need to be sending them consistently to build up a profile and eventually have one accepted.  Even experienced writers say they have a hit rate of only 1 in 10 pitches getting commissioned, so don’t despair if you are pitching stuff and getting no response.  Your hit rate should in theory be much higher if you target lower profile publications.  But ultimately it is a numbers game, sugared with a teaspoon of luck, and persistence will lead to success.   

Oh the Horror - Pitching to Editors on the Phone

If you've been following the posts on getting started as a writer (here and here), you may well be gearing up to the freelancer's horror - following up your pitches by phone and (agony!) actually speaking to a real live editor.

When I was first researching this topic, I spoke to a number of editors to find out what they felt about freelancers' calls.  It was interesting to hear that a phone call makes the biggest difference with the stories or writers an editor's not sure about.  In other words, if it's a definite yes they'll get back to you, if it's a no they most likely won't, but in between there are many stories where if you can get on the phone and convince them, you stand a much greater chance of being commissioned.

Remember that the more reluctant you are to call, the more potential work you are missing out on, and the harder you are making it for yourself.

Before The Call
• Connect with your passion – why are you pitching this?  If you're not 100% convinced that what you are pitching is right for the publication you're approaching, why would anyone else be?
• Make more phone calls.  I know it sounds obvious, but with email and texting so popular, speaking to a real human being on the telephone becomes rarer and a much bigger deal.  Work your way up to the more challenging phone calls by doing more of the easy ones.  A cheap call service like this one will mean your calls are practically free so what's to lose?
• Research your target.  Find out what the publication covers, what the editor’s like & the best time/day to call.  Don’t call on press day.
• Clear your desk – make it a positive space to work from.
• Prepare a script for your opening sentence, rehearse it, but don’t speak from it.
• Write down the most important information, including your phone number.
• Have your pitch in front of you.
• Be clear about your requested outcome
• Visualise the person you’re about to call as ready and waiting for your call.
• Think about:  What are the likely questions they might ask?  What is the worst question you would hate them to ask?
• Always ask yourself – why might this person say yes to me?

During the call
• Stand up to feel more confident.
• Use your opposite hand to hold the phone - it's a psychological trick to distract yourself and help you feel less nervous.
• Check you’ve got the right person.  Enlist the help of switchboard operators, secretaries and PAs - make friends of them, not enemies
• Be brief, and give verbal signals that you intend to do so.
• Be friendly and polite – Don’t gush.  Use their name as they say it. (I am Joanne - not feckin' Jo, alright?)
• Listen more than you speak.
• Build rapport by looking for communication clues.  Mirror their tone & pacing.  Don't be flip if they sound like their dog's just died.
• Establish a deadline and the next steps you both need to take.

After the call
• Make a note of everything – name, phone number, friendliness, anything that will help you make the next phone call.
• Follow up as you said you would, when you said you would.
• Write down what you learned from this call – both about the person you were calling and about yourself.
• Write down what you intend to do differently next time.
• Remember that every no gets you closer to a yes
• Pick up the phone and do it again!