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Topic: How much background work is too much for a pitch?
| Author | Message |
| EricTE | Posted – 2/21/2008 11:52:30 AM | show profile I have been working with an editor at a New York publication on a pitch, and she keeps asking me follow up questions and so far has not committed to the piece. (A 1-page trifle in a publication with lots of content.) I've had to do probably 4 or 5 hours of background work on the article, and have arranged interviews with sources, which is all fine except I'd like to know this editor won't change her mind after I've done all this work. I suspect it's because she doesn't trust me quite yet, which is understandable because I have great ideas but not a lot of clips. What I want to know is, does this get better? Is my hunch right that it's a trust issue, or is this editor just sadistic? |
| WritingEd | Posted – 2/21/2008 12:14:06 PM | show profile I once had 4 MONTHS of back-and-forth with an editor about a pitch, during which time I was asked for more and more information and had to conduct four interviews. And in the end I did not get the assignment (which varied drastically by that point from the original pitch and when they finally rejected me I was told it was because they just weren't envisioning it like I was). Frustrating. But I didn't have a lot of national clips at the time and really wanted to break into this particular magazine, so I was willing to do what I had to do. I think it was more about getting the story angle right for that pub rather than a test because I was new. |
| intraining | Posted – 2/21/2008 2:06:10 PM | show profile Until you are an established writer, you do what it takes to get your foot in the door. Besides, the more work you do upfront, the less you have to do should you get the assignment. Always look at the positive side. |
| HisGirlFriday | Posted – 2/21/2008 5:00:26 PM | show profile Agreed; Do it this time to get your foot in the door, but if/when you get the assignment - I wouldn't do all the work the second time without the contract. ... and writingED: ha! I love it! I just spend SIX months going back and forth with an editor about a pitch, revised it, expanded it and then was told "Oh, we already have a story like this planned ..." Gotta love it ..... |
| Canadiana | Posted – 2/21/2008 6:00:05 PM | show profile I'm in a similar boat -- doing research & revisions on a pitch for a national mag but it's only taken a few hours, not a few months. My question is this: why doesn't the editor just say "this is how we want you to write this"? It's great that some editors want to feel you out for tone/style of writing/angle, etc. but, if the editor likes your idea and you've got *some* clips, why in heaven's name don't they just assign you (me, whoever...) the piece with some parameters? I'm still somewhat new at this and find it interesting that editors can be so fickle. |
| WritingEd | Posted – 2/22/2008 11:50:52 AM | show profile HisGirlFriday, when I got over my annoyance I realized that the editor I was working with, while one of the main features editors, was new and I chalked it up to that. Her name disappeared from the masthead shortly after. Although, years later (and now having been published in that magazine), I still get peeved when I think about that experience! |
| mentat | Posted – 2/24/2008 9:16:08 AM | show profile I'd imagine that given all of the work put into a piece and the relative pittance most places pay, one's hourly rate must drop down to PENNIES for some assignments. Labor of love indeed. |
| ISR | Posted – 2/24/2008 10:19:16 AM | show profile The pitches editors take, in my case, are the ones I spend tons of time on. Last year, I spent months slowly doing research, here and there, on one company. I sold the piece for $4k, though it went through many revisions and doubled in size---in the end it was about having that kind of feature run, which was huge. For me it's not just about the word rate, it's about what I want to do/write about, and how I want to forward my career or cement relationships with editors. |
| Canadiana | Posted – 2/24/2008 2:11:33 PM | show profile I hear you, ISR (hope that's your username - I can't see the other comments on this reply page) but one has to make money, too. If pitches are going to take hours or weeks to research/revise and one doesn't land the assignment, that's hours of time lost. (I know you can pitch to other pubs but it's still no guarantee.) BTW, my MB teacher told me that she will only spend a 1/2 hour or less on her queries. |
| intraining | Posted – 2/25/2008 12:01:03 AM | show profile It's really relative. If you are spending 1/2 an hour on queries you may be able to get more out, but if they aren't good you've wasted your time too. It's better to spend time on a well-researched query that increases the selling potential than to spend little time on it just for the sake of getting it out quicker. You get out what you put in, and if someone is just starting out it's going to take a while to build momentum anyway so you may as well put extra effort into it. I am a firm believer in well-researched queries and can only see the benefits. Even if you don't get a bite right away, you have amassed a ton of research to use in the future, and it will be that much easier to write fresh queries in the future. |
| Mr Media | Posted – 2/25/2008 10:19:35 AM | show profile I think you should make multiple submissions and multiple pitches. Never wait around for an editor that hasn't made a commitment to publish your work. If one editor hasn't made a final decision on publishing your work another editor will. |
