Asking an editor to give you a commission is like being a travelling salesman. You'd better give a good presentation or the door will be quickly be closed.
The Pitch
A pitch is a sales letter. Instead of writing an entire article that might not be bought, send a pitch proposing your idea to the editor. Your goal is to get a commitment to purchase, or at least a strong expression of interest.
By drumming up sufficient interest in advance, you spare yourself the grief of researching and writing articles that you may not be able to sell. More importantly, by determining which publication is going to use the completed article you can more clearly see who your readers will be and write with them in mind.
After you have chosen the best magazine or newspaper for your purpose and done your market research, put together your pitch.
How to Deal With the Editor
Never address the editor as Dear Editor or anything else other than his or her proper name. It is amateurish and shows you haven't read a recent issue of the magazine. If you have researched the magazine properly you will know the editor's name.
- Ask bluntly if she/he would be interested in an article on .......
- State any way in which you are qualified to write such an article.
- Never make a firm offer of something which you may not be able to deliver.
- If the editor doesn't want your piece, find another market and repeat your pitch.
After you send your pitch one of four things will happen:
1. Nothing. This doesn’t always mean the editor is not interested, it could be that he is very busy and has a pile of other proposals to look at. If you have not had a reply in 10-14 days send your proposal to the next publication on your list.
2. Rejection. Not much you can do about this if you receive a standard rejection note. It means your idea is not right for this particular publication. So keep trying with other publications. However, if the editor has written a few words, for example, “This is not quite right for us but try again with more ideas”. Take this as a very positive sign and come up with more ideas for them.
3. A go-ahead on spec. (Speculation). Because he does not have examples of published work the editor wants to make sure you can produce a well written, interesting article.You should always take up this offer - if your article is good enough it will be accepted. You already have an expression of interest via your proposal.
4. A firm commission. Eureka! This is what everyone wants. It doesn’t often happen if you don’t have some kind of track record, but it is possible that your pitch was so unusual and convincing that editor couldn’t resist. Go ahead and write your article and make sure it is relevant to the readers of the publication.
It is important for new writers TO WRITE, so you don't want to be pitching ideas all the time. The best way is to send out some articles on spec and at the same time pitch ideas.
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