Welcome to week two of the 5x5 Pitch Challenge!
This week, we’re talking about what editors and clients actually want to see in your pitches. The advice I’m sharing this week has come directly from the experts themselves; I’ve spoken with commissioning editors, as well as agency bosses to get a complete picture of what good pitching looks like across editorial and commercial projects.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t really matter what you’re pitching for, the core principles remain the same.
Here’s how to level up your pitching, according to the people on the receiving end of your emails:
It’s all about the idea
Laura Snapes, the deputy music editor at the Guardian, told me that secret to pitching lies in the strength of your idea. When it comes to editorial pieces, this means selling the idea as a clear story, rather than a general topic. “I want to see one paragraph focusing on the story, not just the subject,” she said. “Show that you've thought in detail about what is interesting or novel about it and why that story resonates now.”
At a panel on pitching to editors I hosted last year, senior Wired editor Vicki Turk, said the best way to know if that idea is up to snuff is if you can summarise it into one, punchy line. “If you can’t articulate the story within a few sentences, then you probably haven’t thought it through,” Vicki said. “Short is always better.”
Show don’t tell
Lots of writers are told that their pitches should make a case for why they should write the piece they’re pitching. Laura disagrees with this advice. “Editors can tell from your idea and well-chosen links to previous clips whether you're right for a job,” she said. “Nobody reads your paragraph of concentrated CV flim-flam.”
Stacey MacNaught, director of the content marketing consultancy MacNaught Digital, said she too is more interested in a freelancer’s work speaking for itself. Stacey works with copywriters and graphic designers and said that in the first email from them, she wants to see links to their work. “The primary thing I'm concerned with when taking on freelancers is the quality of what they deliver,” she said. “I'd look for a portfolio long before I look for any listed experience information, qualifications or even pricing. Quality of the work comes first.”
Stacey added that while past experience often doesn’t tell her much, testimonials do. “If a freelancer is able to offer testimonials this shows that not only does their work look good, but the service they provide around it is good enough to make people want to talk about it,” she said.
Stick to the brief
When Stacey receives pitches for specific projects where a brief has been given, she always gives preference to pitches that are clearly tailored to the brief. “I want to see evidence that they've understood the brief,” she said. “For example, if I've specified the client is a luxury brand, what will they tailor in their approach to reflect that?”
Vicki agreed that pitches need to be tailored and warned against copying and pasting your pitches. “I can understand the temptation of a scatter-gun approach, but it’s so obvious that you’ve done that.” Instead, she said, give your pitch the time it deserves. “It’s better to take half a day putting together a really well-thought-out pitch,” she said. “If you're at the beginning of your career, or if you're trying to pitch to someone that you've never written for before, you really need to put the effort in.”
Get your proportions right
When I interviewed Jessica Reed, the features editor at the Guardian US, for this newsletter she imparted a piece of pitching advice that I’d not heard before. Jessica takes pitches for in-depth, long-form pieces (which often require a significant budget for travel) and she said the work that needs to go into them should be proportion to the idea. “Some people want to write 5,000 words but don’t show me they’ve done the work, and importantly, why it should stand at that length,” she said. “If you want to write that long and you’re cold pitching, a lot of work has to be put in the pitch.”
Don’t forget the basics
Alina Cincan runs Inbox Translation, a translation agency which relies on a network of freelance translators for its projects. The pitches she receives aren’t for specific ideas, but rather cold email queries from freelancers who want to find work via the agency. She said it’s important not to overlook the basics when reaching out for this kind of work. “Make it personal,” she said. “If your email starts with ‘Dear Sir or Madam’, chances are it will be ignored and deleted.”
Vicki, form Wired, said to make sure that your pitch reflects your writing abilities. “If you're pitching to me and I don’t know who you are, I don’t know if you can write,” she said. “The only thing I have to go on is the email you've just sent me.”
Know the client
All editors say that something not enough freelancers do when pitching is actually reading the publication first. Not only is that the best way to get a sense of what will work as a pitch, but it can also offer a template for how to frame your pitches. Speaking on the pitching panel, Kate Lloyd from Time Out said that a great way to pitch to an editor for the first time is by knowing what their publication likes by reading it first. “Pitch to the formats that exist,” she said, explaining that you can take your cues from the weekly series and style of stories that a publication runs regularly. For example, if a magazine runs a regular feature on the best places to eat in London, pitch a piece that would work for that series.
Stacey, from the content agency, told me she’s open to freelancers being bold in their approaches. She told me about how one of her best copywriters opened her pitch by explaining the client’s website copy didn’t reflect its company values. “She opened the pitch by questioning something she saw as a contradiction to the brief. It told me instantly that, not only had she understood the brief, but she was also prepared to question things if she felt they went against the overall objectives,” she said. “Taking time to understand the client's goals and being prepared to challenge things when it makes sense is the difference between run-of-the-mill and bloomin' brilliant freelancers in my view.”
Happy pitching! Don’t forget that on Friday, I’m running an online Q&A, which you can take part in straight from your inbox, about how this week has gone. It will be at 3 PM (GMT) on Jan 24 – you’ll get an email about it then.