Why is she not getting any bites? Because she’s not throwing enough lines in the water.
Personally, I can easily send 10 pitches or more in a day. I also probably send a half-dozen or so resumes out for copywriting jobs I see or am referred to each week. I collect story ideas in string files for all the publications I currently write for as well as new ones I’m targeting.
The other day, I sent one of my Entrepreneur magazine editors 11 pitches in a single email. I think I tacked on a couple more I thought of later a day or two afterward. This all led to a couple of assignments for an upcoming issue. Then I moved on to another editor at the magazine who edits stories on marketing for the Web site. Pitched her an idea and got an assignment. Then on to the franchising editor – pitched her a couple ideas and got one assignment out of it. So that’s four assignments for the month just at one magazine.
Besides sending many pitches, the corrollary here is: Get to know more than one editor at a publication once you’re in the door. They each have different needs.
I’m a big advocate of sending query letters that have more than one story idea in them – two or even three if you can squeeze them all onto one page. Why? This conveys not only several story ideas which ups your success odds, but also conveys that you are an idea machine. You not some one-off with a single story idea you’re flogging. You’re a useful resource, which is what editors usually need most.
They are trapped in their cubicles long hours and often never see the sky in daylight. They need writers who are out talking to people and gathering newsy ideas to send them! Sending a multiple-pitch query shows you are one of those valuable newshounds.
Multiple-pitch queries can also pay off because you don’t always know what type of story that editor might need most right now. I did this recently, sending a two-pitch email query to a Nation’s Restaurant News editor I usually write for once a year on a big special section the trade weekly does. I thought the first idea, which involved restaurant technology, was killer-perfect for them. As a bonus, I threw in the idea of doing a market study of the current restaurant scene in my hometown of Seattle. Lots of new restaurants had been opening.
Well, it turned out they had no budget for freelancing out technology stories. But they loved the market study idea! And bang, a $750 assignment for writing 1,000 words. If I’d stuck to sending the one query I thought they would like best, I would have had zip.
How many ideas have you got? In my next blog, I’ll discuss places to find story ideas.