read through a few dozen freelance pitches today and i have some thoughts that can help you write better pitches!!!!

thread

the most common misstep i see (p much since quar started) is the "this happened to me/i was talking to my friends about/i 'feel' like this is a thing/i see on twitter a lot" story. those *can* be real stories, but in general they are not! personal experience/exposure ≠ a story

it is SO important to put a proposed hed in the subject line!!! this 1. helps you clarify your thinking 2. forces you figure out what's important in your story and 3. it's the best way to grab your editor's attention. lots more about this here: https://freelancingwithtim.substack.com/p/the-8-most-common-questions-about

include clips!!! 3-4 max, cool if they're relevant to the topic you're pitching, but nbd if they're not. you just want to include your best work. (extra credit if you link to your website/portfolio — this is the first thing an editor will google after reading your pitch)

stop pitching ideas, and start pitching stories. what does mean?

usually it looks like: "i'd like to write about X topic/trend/idea."

that's great! but do you have people, data, anecdotes, themes, analysis, etc. that tell a genuine story? without those you're just riffing!

last, something i talk about all the time: personal experience ≠ expertise. that's great if you went through something and you want to tell people how to navigate it, but going through something does not make you a subject-area expert. but that's ok! go FIND the experts!!!

(to everyone asking: no, i am not taking pitches — i read through literally dozens today and i still have hundreds in my inbox. there are many places that publish service journalism! go pitch them!)