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Topic: Pitch ideas?
| Author | Message |
| tarathorne | Posted – 7/23/2008 1:14:08 AM | show profile | email poster I've been trying to pave my way as a freelance writer for the past year. I've scored some pretty good gigs thus far, however in the past couple of months I have been pitching to various magazines with - what I believe to be - pretty good ideas but I've received no bites. I've shown these ideas to friends and colleagues who also agree they're worthy of a read. I am becoming so disheartened. I won't give up, but I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Maybe my ideas just aren't unique enough, but I keep seeing similar articles pop up in magazines, (much to my frustration). Is anyone willing to offer up some advice about where to find pitch ideas? I read magazines, newspapers, online publications, international publications... I'm not a fantastic ideas generator, but I know my ideas aren't terrible because - as I said - they keep showing up! Any advice on ideas - how to find them and what constitutes a print-worthy one - would be very much appreciated. Thanks so much. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 7/23/2008 2:36:50 AM | show profile I've been freelancing for decades, and I've always found pitching to be difficult. It's very arbitrary. I am frequently assigned article ideas by editors that would have been turned down if I had pitched them. |
| MMB | Posted – 7/26/2008 2:36:17 PM | show profile | email poster getting gigs! It's nice to hear you are actually getting gigs though. I've been sending pitches and have gotten emails back with, sorry not in our editorial calendar response, but no gigs. Did you have access to their editorial calendar or were you just pitching great ideas?? |
| Linda F | Posted – 7/26/2008 5:46:48 PM | show profile If your ideas keep showing up in magazines, it may be that you're not being "outside the box" enough, to use a cliché I hate. ;-> A lot of times, those evergreen ideas are generated in-house and then assigned to writers already in the editor's stable. For example, last year an editor approached me to write an article on summer health mishaps such as sunburn, bugbites, etc. If someone had pitched that, they probably would have been turned down and then seen it later in the magazine and wondered why. Try turning ideas on their heads. For example, if magazines are talking about health risks of a certain food, you pitch an article on the benefits. Also, try reading magazines you don't typically read to get yourself out of an idea rut: Ferret World, High Times, whatever. See if you can make ideas you find in THOSE magazines fit your target market. By the way, this is the 25th anniversary of the Whack in the Side of the Head creative thinking classic, and it still has great tricks for generating unique ideas. Good luck! Linda -- http://www.lindaformichelli.com Blog: http://www.therenegadewriter.com |
| tarathorne | Posted – 7/27/2008 9:10:28 PM | show profile Thanks so much for your replies. I must admit, I haven't made use of editorial calendars as much as I should. And Linda I think you're right; my ideas might be publishable, well - they obviously are - but I probably do have to be more creative and unique. Thank you thank you thank you for all your advice guys! I'm off to try to generate some more 'outside the box' ideas! |
| testing123 | Posted – 7/27/2008 11:13:34 PM | show profile Don't laugh, well, do, because what you'll read is funny. Go read a copy of George Carlin's best book - 'Brain Droppings'. It's the type of book you can pick up in Barnes & Noble and read 40% of over a coffee and put it back and split. Just open it to any page and read. And laugh. The master of language, ideas and inverted thinking will get your mind geared up. Try it. If nothing else, it will make you smile at least and laugh so hard at best people will look at you funny. Towards the front of the book - my favorite section: George Carlin on restaurants, menus and having fun with waiters. Priceless! |
