An Editor’s Eye View to Successful Pitching

Many environmental publications depend on freelance content, but contributors can find it hard to know what editors want — or don’t want — in story pitches. In Freelance Files, four top editors share their insights. Photo: Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels.com.

Freelance Files: An Editor’s Eye View to Successful Pitching

By Marianne Messina

When pitching a new editor, who among freelancers hasn’t wished, “If only I could be a fly on that editor’s wall?” Sure, we’ve read the pitch guidelines (haven’t we?) — but drafting the pitch seems to unearth a million nuances between the lines. For example, should I lead with the story or my history with the story?

On top of the subtleties, few rejections come without mention of the hoards of other freelancers pounding at the gates, “too many” to reply to personally. (“Though we’d love to, and do try us again. But did we mention we’re simply overwhelmed by numbers?”)

Perhaps it’s obvious that this rejection formula is one of my freelancing pet peeves. My rejection guidelines to editors would say something like, “Do reply. Three words are sufficient (e.g., ‘Not for us.’). Don’t make reference to the other hungry lemmings stampeding your inbox.

With all that in mind, it’s only natural that a freelancer, however seasoned, might wonder, “When does showing expertise in or passion for my topic cross over into disrespecting the editor’s time?”

It may surprise us freelancers to know that editors, too, find themselves in a quandary when putting out calls for pitches. They experience some of our same uncertainties (and peeves) as they try to communicate their needs, mission, tone and format with unknown journalists.

 

Freelancers are ‘the folks on the ground’

“I’ve learned that calls need to be both very specific, so writers have enough information to work with, while also providing enough flexibility for journalists to pitch the stories you didn’t know you needed to publish until you heard from them,” explained one top editor, John R. Platt.

To that sense of uncertainty, Platt (who also serves as a contributing editor to the SEJournal), added a comment that we freelancers should take to heart: “These are the folks on the ground; they know the stories.’

 

We’re essentially the citizen scientists of

journalism, collectively sampling more

of the field than beat journalists

can on their own.

 

Yes, we’re essentially the citizen scientists of journalism, collectively sampling more of the field than beat journalists can on their own. And like the citizen scientists who recently discovered the Mexican long-nosed bat in Arizona, we can bring exciting new discoveries to light.

Perhaps that’s why four environmental editors were kind enough to volunteer their time to help grant Freelance Files’ wish to be that fly on that editor’s wall.

The four are key decision-makers at significant environmental outlets:

• Lindsey Botts, digital editor at Sierra Magazine. “I'm responsible for acquiring stories that cover the vast array of issues within the environmental movement,” said Botts, who will commission stories on environmental justice, frontline communities, energy transition and climate change. “The topics that are near and dear to me tend to fall under the conservation, wildlife and biodiversity beat,” he added.
• Michael Kodas, senior editor at Inside Climate News. “My verticals and beats are the American West (one of ICN’s regional networks), climate science, wildfire and other environmental hazards, and ICN’s photo and video operations,” he told us.
• John R. Platt, editor at The Revelator, an independent journal published by the Center for Biological Diversity. “I oversee it all for The Revelator,” Platt said. “I make the decision on all acquisitions.”
• Margo True, editorial director at Civil Eats. “I oversee all our stories, which cover the full sweep of the U.S. food system,” she explained. In the Civil Eats collaborative process, editors bring their favorite stories to a weekly meeting, where discussion and assignment happen.

Here are some of the insights we gained by our conversations with them.

 

Many publications depend on freelancers

First, freelancers should be comforted to know the degree to which publications rely on us for content.

“The bulk of our journalism — whatever isn’t written by staff — comes from freelancers,” said Platt. True, for her part, said that “Around 80 percent of our stories are written by freelancers — generally by writers we’ve worked with before. But we’re always open to new voices, especially those who don’t often get heard.”

Botts noted that “We almost exclusively run on freelancers. We're a small team with only four editors. And we get to write sometimes, but most of our work is done by freelance journalists and photographers.” Up to 95% of the print magazine content and 85% of the web content is driven by freelancers, he added.

For Kodas, the balance is largely the opposite: “I’d guess that about 25 percent of the writers and photographers I work with are freelancers, but that proportion varies a lot.”

Kodas also explained that sometimes the rejection is largely budget-related, since ICN’s funding model relies heavily on grants for specific topics or regions. “Often, I have to reject strong pitches that fall into an area — particularly with overseas or international coverage — that we don’t have the funding to commission at the time.”

Understanding these vagaries, most industrious freelancers shrug off rejection. And if they feel a story is timely, they quickly repackage the pitch and get it to the next outlet, filing the rejection under out-of-my-control.

SIDEBAR: For fun, Freelance Files posed this multiple-choice question to the editors above and here shares two of their responses. 1. What emotion is most likely to characterize your initial moment of interest in a pitch: A. Surprise B. Intrigue C. Curiosity D. Delight E. Other True: “All of the above, if it’s a good pitch!” Platt: “E. Other: Dread. If your story can make my chest ache and the pit of my stomach drop to the floor, I just might have an assignment for you. (That said, I like happy, funny, success stories, too. So do our readers.)”

 

Don’t shortchange the research

On the other hand, our very industriousness can sometimes backfire, particularly when our sense of urgency drives us to save time.

Who hasn’t cut back on pitch research in their haste to keep a timely pitch in circulation? This decision is under our control.

And the editors interviewed for this Freelance Files were pretty forthcoming in pointing out that we freelancers aren’t doing enough pitch research. For example, we should know whether a publication is a news outlet or a topical magazine.

 

“To be honest, we don’t see

enough pitches from people

who have read our guidelines.”

                     — John R. Platt

                       The Revelator

 

“To be honest, we don’t see enough pitches from people who have read our guidelines or our site,” said Platt (see those guidelines here). “We’re not a daily news site and don’t run stories that have been actively promoted by press releases or gotten a lot of coverage in other media.”

True concurs. “The single biggest piece of advice I can give a new writer: Read at least three months’ worth of stories for any publication you’re pitching. Get to know not just the kinds of topics they publish, but the tone of the publication; try to learn what kind of audience you should be writing for.”

According to True, Civil Eats is in the process of reworking its pitch guidelines, not only to keep up with its current needs but also to better inform new writers.

“The biggest turnoff is pitches from people who haven’t read our site,” agreed Kodas. “It’s free, so there’s no reason a freelancer can’t research our previous coverage of a topic.”

Kodas said he is always looking for something new or some new angle that relates to a line of reporting the outlet has been publishing. He and ICN’s other in-house reporters have very specialized beats — a fossil fuels beat or a clean energy beat, for example.

“We see so much on our beats and topics that a surprise is refreshing,” he added.

We can’t know what editors might find surprising if we aren’t reading the publication’s articles. At the same time, targeted reading can save us from glaring pitch mistakes, the ones editors find annoying.

“We don’t run op-eds, so the hundreds of pitches I get to write an op-ed show me that those writers don’t know our outlet and the work we produce,” noted Kodas.

 

When editors put out calls

For freelancers sitting on multiple stories, a call for pitches can seem like a godsend. And according to the four editors we spoke to, some do put out calls when a need arises.

Platt said The Revelator has done it a few times: “Most recently, we issued a call for stories on how authoritarian governments affect the environment. That generated hundreds of pitches for about 6-8 slots. I wish I could have accepted a dozen more.”

Kodas, on the other hand, does not put out many calls. He points to an “underwhelming” response to a call for climate coverage for Wyoming. “I’ve learned that, if I’m having to put out more than one call for pitches, it’s an area or topic that just doesn’t have many freelancers working it,” he said.

True also said she doesn’t often put out a general call given the large number of pitches Civil Eats receives.

But Botts said he puts out a call “on an individual basis” at least weekly, although more general email blasts or a Slack announcement are more likely to be quarterly. The drive to call for pitches, he explained, comes when “needing new web stories, soliciting pitches for specific ideas, or trying to fill a hole in one of our print issues.”

Over time, Botts said, he has learned that providing more specific descriptions of a Sierra story and including Sierra’s pay scale in the call has led to more rewarding responses.

 

Catching your pitch mistakes

No freelancer is going to nail the pitch every time, especially since our pitches are burdened with the reflexive conundrum of writing to sell writing. In other words, sometimes our writing, not the story, is being judged.

Also, according to Kodas, too many freelancers pitch topics rather than stories, and to him that spells work.

 

“Overly general pitches generally hint

to me that I’ll have to provide a lot of

reporting guidance that I may not

have time to provide.”

                              — Michael Kodas

                         Inside Climate News

 

“I’ve tried to stop working too hard to help reporters get from topic to story,” he explained. “Overly general pitches generally hint to me that I’ll have to provide a lot of reporting guidance that I may not have time to provide.”

Perhaps one misperception behind our pitch mistakes is conditioned by the media ethos around us. We spend much of our private lives skittering across rapid-fire, visually oriented social media feeds.

This may almost subconsciously condition us to equate the story pitch with the film trailer: Just draw the reader in, we think, string a few punchy highlights together with a cliff-hanger finale.

And yet pitch guidelines will generally ask for supportive material far beyond a few obvious questions — why me, why this story, why now?

True noted that it helps to organize pitches by including bullet points with the proposed title, main angle, background and potential sources.

Editors may also ask to see our credits, plus the story summary, plus a lede graf (or two!), plus a list of interviews, plus a layout of the story structure.

 

Editors do read pitches for depth

We wonder if busy editors really have time for all that. Do they actually read — much less need — all that? Of course they scan — but what are they looking for?

However, it seems editors do set out blocks of time and a specific (surprisingly positive) head space for reading pitches.

While our four editors expressed different ways of approaching a pitch, they did mostly agree that, yes, they want to see everything the guidelines mention. It’s especially likely when their media outlet has a team decision-making process.

If there’s close competition between two stories, elements in the depths of a comprehensive pitch could provide the tiebreaker.

 

“We generally like well thought out pitches

that include framing and structure

and really give us a sense of

the writer's writing style.”

                                        — Lindsey Botts

                                        Sierra Magazine

 

“At Sierra, we generally like well thought out pitches that include framing and structure and really give us a sense of the writer's writing style,” said Botts. “A good pitch is generally 300-500 words. And we read these thoroughly. We have a consensus-based model for acquiring new stories, so generally speaking, everyone has to be on board.”

True said that for writers new to the outlet, they expect at least a paragraph that lays out the narrative arc of the story, who the characters will be and why it’s a superb story for Civil Eats (along with clips and a CV). “We’d also want to know why that writer is the one to write the story — what about their background/previous writing qualifies them to cover the topic?” she added.

 

Knowing the editor, knowing the publication

But no amount of guideline analysis or pitch research trumps a relationship with an editor. So as we consider approaching a new editor, we should include relationship-building as part of the pitch’s goal.

A good question we can ask ourselves, in terms of relationship building, is one that gets us out of our own heads. For example, we might ask, “How can I help this editor? How can my story help fill their needs?”

Reading the publication and any guidelines brings us closer to answering that question.

 

True suggested that prioritizing the

relationship as we prepare a thorough,

outlet-specific pitch is sure to pay off

in our pitch writing down the line.

 

Even if our first pitch to an editor is rejected, True suggested that prioritizing the relationship as we prepare a thorough, outlet-specific pitch is sure to pay off in our pitch writing down the line.

“For writers we know, a couple of teaser lines is fine; we’ll follow up to express our interest or politely decline. If we want to know more, we’ll still request an overview of the idea, who the writer plans to talk to, and why it’s a compelling story,” she said.

From the willingness of our four editors to spend time offering these helpful responses, we might safely summarize that editors are generous people — no matter how pressed for time.

They do not typically approach the “slush pile” as a nagging chore. Rather, they seem to approach a pitch as if opening a mystery gift, hoping, against the odds, it might be just what they always wanted.

Freelance Files co-editor Marianne Messina is a freelance, solutions-oriented journalist covering conservation and sustainability. A 2022 Kiplinger Climate Journalism Fellow, Messina has written stories on everything from seafood traceability to methane monitoring by satellite. She's written for many outlets focusing on sustainable problems, including Mongabay and Civil Eats, and currently writes for Sierra Magazine while contemplating a book.

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* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 10, No. 13. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.