Pitching

What is it?

Pitching your story to editors is usually done via a concise, well-written email.

How it works

When pitching your story think about these five questions:

1. To who?
   • Who are you writing to? Start by researching the market you have in mind, look at their masthead. Generally editors in the middle of the masthead (senior, associate, managing) are more receptive to pitches than editors-in-chief.
   • Check for submission guidelines online for your target publications. These guidelines will usually include where to send pitches.
2. Why?
   • Why do we need this story right now (or soon)?
   • Give a sense of character, curiosity, or conflict off the top.
3. So what?
   • Why will people care?
   • Why is this piece right for this publication?
   • Demonstrate you know this story exists in an ecosystem of competing news and why it deserves attention.
4. What’s the plan?
   • How will you tell this story in practical terms (i.e., word count)?
   • Who will you interview?
   • Will you travel?
   • Do you have a photos or a photographer in mind?
   • Can you provide or suggest other elements?
5. Why you?
   • Why are you the right person to tell this story?
   • If you have clippings, two or three links or .pdfs are enough.
   • Think about journalism’s challenge with trust: does the community trust you to tell their story & how did you build this trust? More on how ethnographers bring powerful solutions to journalism’s challenge building, here.

Timelines

Most story topics have some element of timeliness. Be mindful of a publication’s lead time (for printed publications, this is the time in between each issue). The publishing cycle may be clearly listed in the submission guidelines, but often it’s not. Giving editors more time is always better.

Remember that your pitch may not be accepted by the first outlet you query, so give yourself time to pitch to others.

Once sent, wait about two weeks before following up about the status of your pitch.

Tips

• Read back issues of your target publications.
• Send your pitch to only one outlet at a time.
• Don’t include a CV.
• Do link to a portfolio or work website if you have one.
• Upcoming anniversaries or commemorative days are often easy “why now” answers. The United Nations list of international days and weeks is a good place to start.
• Editors will more likely take a chance on an unknown writer for a shorter piece first. Look for the shorter sections of your target publication and pitch to them.
• If your research includes anonymizing research subjects due to an oversight committee like an IRB, then include a quick note about this to be transparent to the editor you pitch to. Explain that some participants, places etc.. require remaining unnamed due to a commitment to your research institution policies; but explain what this means practically, aka how much you can divulge. For example, perhaps you can name the state in which they live, but not the city. If this level of anonymity is still too high for the publication, offer to reach out to a select few participants anew for on-the-record interviews specifically for your article—often there exist participants who want publicity and this should satisfy your editor¹.

Further Reading

1. Ted Conover writes about this in his book Immersion: A Writer’s Guide to Going Deep, going on to say “I have met determined and enterprising social scientists who are working to manage and reform the IRBs at their institutions in order to produce work that is timely and relevant for an audience beyond the academy. I hope they succeed.” (p70). ↩︎