Are you hoping to break into arts journalism but aren't sure how to pitch your ideas without sounding like a philistine? Alana Newhouse, the arts and culture editor at the Forward newspaper talks about how to create a nifty pitch for an arts publication:

The best pitches include the first three paragraphs of the story - the lede, sublede and nut graf. The goal here is to show an editor that you know how to choose a colorful, relevant anecdote for your opening, that you understand what the real story is here and that you can write well. Also, include one or two lines of significant biographical information (i.e., other publication credits, not that you're good with cats). You might also note that you've been in touch with the publicity person handling the subject and could have ready access to whatever interviews, screeners, photos, etc. might be necessary.

Dear Mr. Man:

My name is Alana Newhouse and I am the Arts & Culture Editor at the Forward newspaper. I received your contact information from MY FRIEND AND YOURS, IF YOU HAVE A CONTACT.

As you probably know, this July marks Isaac Bashevis Singer's centennial. In celebration, the Library of America is publishing a three-volume edition of his work, along with an album of collected photographs; numerous publications are preparing retrospectives (including the New Yorker and the Forward, which will publish a special section devoted to Singer's life and work), and more than 20 events have been scheduled nationwide -- all aimed at honoring the most famous Yiddish writer of the 20th century.

It will be, in short, Inna Grade's private hell. At even the most superficial mention of Singer, the widow of the famed Yiddish writer Chaim Grade becomes unhinged. She barrages writers and editors with innumerable phone calls and letters-to-the-editor that are often longer than the offending articles, and which are aimed at correcting a historical record that elevated this "pornographer" over writers, like her husband and the poet Jacob Glatstein, who had both talent and loyalty to their first language. (It is has been suggested that she was the model for Baumzweig's wife in "Envy, or Yiddish in America," Cynthia Ozick's peerlessly evocative 1969 short story.) At a time when most publications will be focusing on Singer and his achievements, this piece could do the same while also evoking the darker story of the Yiddish writers left in the dust by his overwhelming success.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. I am reachable via e-mail at this address, or by telephone HERE. I look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

Alana Newhouse

If you want to learn more about breaking into arts journalism, sign up for Alana's course called, appropriately enough, "How to Become an Arts Journalist."