| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Media Issues > Topic: Thanks but no thanks |
Topic: Thanks but no thanks
| Author | Message |
| Letterbox | Posted – 1/24/2008 7:33:24 PM | show profile I pitched a short feature a month ago to a trade magazine. The editor said he loved the idea, but the magazine usually handles that particular section in house. He then thanked me for alerting them to news item I pitched. Is this common or kosher? Obviously, ideas are ideas. But I feel like he just blatantly took mine, which will make it hard to pitch it elsewhere if they publish it. It's a pretty new item. They haven't yet. |
| HisGirlFriday | Posted – 1/24/2008 9:46:56 PM | show profile The way you word his reply (Thanks for alerting us to that news item) sounds like he's going to just assign it in-house as if you were a PR person pitching the idea. Which is not kosher. The fact that it's a trade mag doesn't prevent you from pitching elsewhere. But if you see the story in the pub in the next month or so, I'd send them a bill for, say, a "finder's fee." or something. I've seen other posts here about magazines paying a writer who pitches a story they want to assign in house. |
| Letterbox | Posted – 1/24/2008 11:32:29 PM | show profile It does seem pretty rude. The fact they were so open about using it kind of confused me. It's never happened to me before. |
| WritingEd | Posted – 1/24/2008 11:34:03 PM | show profile If you balk at this then you are very unlikely to get work at this trade magazine in the future (although maybe you don't want to). If they had a budget for ideas then the editor would have mentioned that already. I would just take it as good feedback and that the editor will be receptive to other pitches in the future. After all there are no truly new ideas. I've had writers suggest story ideas that are more suitable for news items than features, and since news items are written in house I have just told them that we might consider it for that. And then I'd be more likely to try to assign them a story that we could assign out in the future. How is it that you came to pitch an idea for a section that is handled in house? Are there no bylines on that section so you couldn't check it against the masthead? If unsure it's always a good idea to check with the editors before pitching. (I'm sure you know this already but I just thought I'd mention it just in case.) |
| Letterbox | Posted – 1/24/2008 11:45:05 PM | show profile Thanks for the replies. The item I proposed is similar to something freelancers ha ve handled in the past. Things might have changed. The sample issues I have are a few years old. Still, they most likely would not have reported on it. It's a bit obscure. |
