If there’s one thing editors like writers to have, it’s access to the subject they’re pitching. For Alexis Adams, it was her experience living in a Greek village that helped her query about horta, an ingredient used in many Greek foods, transform into a 500-word piece for the travel pub Afar.

“She was pitching from first-hand experience and had already done significant research. And she laid out, in detail, the elements that would go into the story, whereas many writers simply pitch a concept,” said Derk Richardson, AFAR senior editor. “Moreover, there was an underlying sense of passion and curiosity, which is important when it comes to writing about food and essential when writing about anything for AFAR.”

To read the winning pitch and more comments from the editor, read Pitches that Worked: Afar. [subscription required]

– ANDREA HACKETT

If you’re a regular 10,000 Words reader, you know that multimedia skills can do wonders for your journalism career. Not only can you use your Twitter savvy to land a social media job, but if you can hip your bosses to the benefits of infographics or prove that page views increase with slideshows, you could get bumped up the masthead.

Marie Claire features director Lea Goldman didn’t go to J-school or take any workshops to learn how to create content for the iPad, for example. She hit the ground running.

“I am a big believer in just getting out there and doing. It’s thinking, ‘Oh, instead of an article, maybe we should do an interactive graphic or maybe a video would be great here.’ You really have to be willing to do more than just write and edit. If that’s all you’re interested in,” she added, “you’re probably in the wrong business.”

To find out how other magazine veterans got promoted, read How To Become an Editor-in-Chief.

This article is one of several mediabistro.com features exclusively available to AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, you can register for as little as $55 a year and get access to these articles, discounts on seminars and workshops, and more.

The editors of AARP The Magazine are set on featuring rich content that inspires, informs and entertains, but freelancers don’t need to have reached the second half of life to break into this widely-read publication. All it takes is a timely story that resonates with their 50-plus audience.

“We tend to green-light freelance queries that are innovative, forward-looking and indicate that the writer has carefully studied the magazine,” deputy editor Marilyn Milloy said. And, lucky for you, any section not penned by a regular columnist is wide open to pitches.

Get all the details in mediabistro.com’s How To Pitch: AARP The Magazine.

Does the approach of spring have you daydreaming about vacays and road trips? Well, if your story is an interesting one, it could net you $1/word at AAA’s  exclusive publication, Journey.

Because Journey is a regional publication, editor-in-chief Nicole Meoli‘s first priority is to hire local writers to offer an insider perspective on the mag’s home turf. “The main stable of writers I work with are from Washington [state],” she said. However, she’s not opposed to working with freelancers from further away, as long as they bring locally relevant ideas to the table.

For more on breaking into the magazine’s feature well, read How To Pitch: Journey. [sub req'd]

Although the entertainment and gossip site Young, Black and Fabulous is reeling in 15 million hits a month, it had its humble start as a simple site on Blogger.

Back in 2005, Natasha Eubanks noticed major online outlets weren’t discussing African-American celebrities, so the former law student decided to take matters into her own hands and launch her own site.

“I didn’t make a penny off of anything because I didn’t have any readers. I didn’t see any money until two years, and I only saw a few dollars even then,” the blogstress said in mediabistro.com’s So What Do You Do?. ”But I saw [Google AdSense], and I think that kind of sparked it in me. I was like, wait a minute. There’s an ad platform? What does that mean? You can make money just by writing what you think? That’s insanity.”

For more on how The YBF became the go-t0 source for Black Hollywood gossip, and Eubank’s personal advice for aspiring bloggers, read the full interview here.