How to write a successful pitch as a beginner freelance writer—real life examples!
How to get your freelance essays published
You’re here for the examples, so let’s hop right into it like the bunnies we are.
A Successful Pitch
Your checklist:
It’s simple, the narrative is clear, you’ve said why the pub’s audience will find it relevant, and your outline/plan gives the editor confidence that you can follow through.
Dear R—,
In my senior year of college, during the pandemic shutdown, the wife of a professor showed up at my door with some homemade muffins to help me feel less alone. We struck up a friendship. She was in her 40's and having trouble raising her angsty 12-year-old daughter. Because she had been so kind to mentor me, I offered to mentor her daughter. And so, our tri-generational relationship began.
I would love to share this story with your readers and make a case for how helpful this model was to each woman involved. Middle-aged mothers often struggle to get through to their teenagers. But teenagers often love hanging out with young adults. As a young adult on the cusp of graduation, I was thirsty for a picture of life after college and benefited from being "part" of their family.
It's a relatively easy and practical step towards a more communal model of family life and childcare that I think many families would appreciate hearing about.
Let me know what you think!
Some clips:
From Town Bloody Hall to 2023 (Merion West)
(2 forthcoming articles for Medicinal Media)
The editor’s response:
“Let’s do it!”
She sent me a wordcount and their pay rate, suggested a different title, and set me loose.
Funnily enough, I had pitched her before and been ghosted—probably because my story wasn’t what they were looking for at the time. That’s one important thing to remember that I often forget. Editors are inundated with emails, their attention is fragmented by a million different articles, and so if your pitch isn’t what they’re shopping for at the time, they’ll skip it without a second glance. It’s nothing personal, although it can be frustrating.
My best advice to minimize ghosting is to respond to calls for pitches instead of cold-pitching your ideas out of the blue. My favorite resource for this is Sonia Weiser's Opportunities of the Week Newsletter. Also, be sure to check the pub’s pitching guidelines, if they have them.
An Unsuccessful Pitch
The narrative is vague or overly general, you haven’t shown a clear connection to the pub’s audience, or you don’t have a plan/outline that gives the editor confidence you can follow through.
Hi E—,
I saw your call for pitches on Twitter and thought this would be a killer story.
Compared to most cults getting news coverage, The Twelve Tribes is pretty chill. It is a cult by most people's lights—but it's innocuous enough that as you pass their sprawling, timber-framed community mansion, you might wonder whether it's some sort of Salvation Army rehab thing. They've garnered controversy locally over the years due to allegations of child labor law violations and controlling behavior. For example, in Ithaca, the cult supports itself off the revenue from the local Yellow Deli (picture a Dr. Seuss meets Skyrim aesthetic), where the workers aren't paid but "volunteer" their hours for the good of the community.
I have contacts who've covered the story locally, and there's been some news about the controversy, but I want to capture the community from a more personal angle. My goal would be to get permission from The Twelve Tribes to spend a day or two with the women of their household.
I don't want to mock them, or "infiltrate" the cult, or put labels of right or wrong on what they do. I'm just curious about their day-to-day, and I would bring that tone of respect to my article—although it's bound to be humorous.
Aren't you also tickled by the thought of juxtapositioning humdrum mundanity with "AGH CULT?" It's priceless. This story would also ride the wave of the 2022-2023 TikTok "day in the life" trend.
Let me know what you think. I would love to do some in-depth investigative journalism for this story. Non-fic storytelling is the name of my game. See my portfolio here.
Cheers,
Amelia
Excerpt from the editor’s response (she was really nice!)
“I think to really consider these folks for feature treatment, we’d need an objectively newsworthy reason to cover them in 2024, as well as an angle of particular relevance to young women and a specific reporting plan for bringing the piece to fruition.”
She told me to circle back if I was able to meet these criteria. Unfortunately, my current life situation makes it a little tricky to do any investigative reporting—but I’m keeping my ears pricked for news about our local cult, in case there is a story there.
But E’s email made me aware of a greater deficiency in myself—ignorance. I am becoming increasingly aware of the amount of legwork and specialized skill that goes into writing features for big magazines (like this one; I won’t name names, but it was one of the biggies). I am good at writing, but I don’t know much about conducting interviews, journalism ethics, reporting plans, conventions etc. I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants, just doing whatever seems logical. It would be great to have an industry mentor or newsroom experience. That’s probably why most people work for a publication full-time for a few years before going solo.
To remedy this deficiency, I am applying for a young professionals journalism bootcamp with a magazine. They haven’t officially opened applications yet, so I’ll keep the name quiet for now, but I’ll tell you about it once it’s gone public, in case you would like to apply! That’ll open up more freelance opportunities as well as giving me mentors (and hopefully friends) in the industry.
Btw, feel free to check out some of my past articles on related topics:
What to pitch as a beginner
If you don’t have the reporting chops to write big features, then what should you aim for? I recommend pitching…
1. Testimonials
If you too lack a background in journalism, I suggest beginning by pitching pieces based on personal experience—stuff like “I tried the no shampoo trend for 6 months. This is what it did to my hair.” People love to scout testimonials before trying trends or products, regardless of how well they’re written, or what the author’s major was in college.
2. Something that uses your specialized knowledge or work experience
Since I have an academic background and worked at a university for a year, I’ve enjoyed doing some science journalism, which involves skimming a lot of research paper abstracts and emailing the authors to set up mini interviews.
As a philosophy major and a (bad) poet, I also enjoy combining those skills to write personal essays for publication. In general, though, writing of a more literary kind is harder to publish and pays little to nothing. So, I don’t know if I’d even count that as freelancing?? Those are more like pet projects—much like this Substack!
3. The local newspaper
Another good place to start is with your local paper. I shot over an email offering my services, and the publisher emailed me back asking for a resume and some writing samples. We met in person once, and he started sending me little assignments that fit my lifestyle as a mom (stuff I can handle through phone interviews with a slower turnaround rate).
I hope you found this helpful! I certainly don’t know all the answers, but I hope that by sharing my experience as I trial-and-error my way into this profession, I can help those of you who are on the same path. Let me know in the comments whether there is anything else you’re curious about, and I’ll try to show up for ya.
xo,
Amelia
thanks Amelia, very useful. Do you think there is a time and place for sending an article you have already drafted?
You’re fearless! I love how you’re making it happen. ❤️