If you want to get published by magazines, newspapers, and many of the best websites and blogs, then pitching simply becomes a regular part of your routine. This article is all about writing a pitch that gets your writing published and gets you paid.

Writing pitches is one of those things that are only difficult until you have written about a dozen of them. After that it’s just one more routine in your day. It’s actually not a big deal once you get the hang of it and you might be surprised at how often writing one pitch will lead to additional ideas for other pitches and even open your eyes to other markets.

Tailor your pitch to the market

Just as you have to change your tone with different publications, you also have to change your pitches. A pitch that will land you a gig writing for Cracked will not be as well received at Forbes. In most cases you will be fine as long as you are familiar with your target.

Online Content

This is where new freelance writers often get stuck. What you need to remember here is that pitching online markets is not really different than pitching to a print publication. It just seems that way because there are so many different styles floating around on the Internet. Essentially you use a similar tone that you find on the website that you are targeting. This is one of those times when you ignore the big picture and zero in on a single site and then move on to the next one.

Print Media

Most magazines have a digital presence (There might be one that doesn’t but I can’t name it) and often the content is different than the content that appears in their print edition. This is where it gets tricky. I would advise new writers to always try to break into a magazine via their digital door. Typically this pays less but it gives you the credential of having written for them previously.

Writing a pitch for a print market is the same in basic format to writing a pitch for most other markets with a twist in type of pitch. It’s important to understand that print media, such as magazines, tend to have the content for the next issue secured and planned a minimum of 6 months in advance. This means if you are writing about the winter holidays then you have better pitch the story in May or June.

For newspapers you will often be given what is known as a “stringer” pay. This is simply newspaper lingo for a freelance writer or pitch hitter for a specific topic. The deadlines here are immediate if not sooner and you need to have the article ready almost as soon as you pitch it.

When pitching to magazines it is imperative that you have read several issues and have a good grasp of the flavor of the publication. You want to match the tone and interests of the target audience with your pitch.

Send it to the correct person

This used to be so simple. Back in the old days you just send your pitch to the editor. Now there is probably an editor for each specific department, one for online media, one for print media and maybe even one for each specific department in both online and print! It can get confusing even for those who have been writing for decades. Here is the easiest way to figure out who is the Pitch Master you need to find:

Blogs:

Generally here you will be pitching to the owner. Check out the “About Me” or “Contact” pages on the blog. It will typically tell you who to contact if you are pitching ideas. If there is no specific person listed then send it to the Administrator of the blog. That is usually both the owner and manager of the blog. Blogs that frequently have guest bloggers will most likely have a link on their contact page for this specific purpose.

Newspapers:

The person to contact here is normally the publishing editor. The managing editor runs the entire newspaper while the publishing editor makes the decisions about content.

Magazines

This is tricky. As I mentioned earlier, magazines often have print content that is different from the content on their website. If you are pitching to the digital aspect of their magazine then you need to send your pitch to the editor in charge of digital content. Do not send the same pitch to both digital and print divisions at the same time. The website should tell you who to send pitches to for their digital site. The problem is that they rarely tell you where to send print pitches. This is where Writer’s Market comes in handy. Go to their entry and see who print Pitch Master is there. If you don’t have a copy of this necessary little book then either get one or take a trip to the library and do the research that way.

Keep it short

Once you have tailored your pitch to the specific market and figured out where to send it you only need to remember to keep your pitch as short as possible. This is one of the places where your website will come in handy. You keep the pitch itself as short as possible and include a link to your website in your contact information.

One thing you need to assume when sending out a pitch is that the person on the receiving end is very busy. This means that they don’t have the time to wade through three pages of information on your pitch. Keep it short and to the point.

You will want to include everything necessary in your pitch so don’t misunderstand me on this. The pitch should be as short as possible and yet include all of the information that the editor will need in order to make a decision. Remember this writing truism when creating a pitch: When it doubt, leave it out.

Put it all together

Now that you have all the basics, assemble your pitch. The best pitches tend to go in reverse order of regular writing. That is you will introduce the pitch before you introduce yourself.

After addressing the Pitch Master of your target you want to jump into the pitch. Always use the formal form of address during the initial email. It will be an email. I know of no publication that still accepts pitches through the postal mail.

In one sentence state you are a writer with a story idea that you wanted to submit to them. Then lay out the idea you have, including points to be covered in the story. After you have presented the pitch you give a brief summation of your background but limit it to only that which concerns your specific pitch to them. Include a hyperlink to your webpage and invite them to visit it and examine your samples. Close with contact information.

Tips

• Never pitch the same article to more than one publication at a time.
• Wait a week before submitting the same pitch to another publication.