Today mb rolls out Pitches That Worked, a new feature for AG members that takes an actual query letter that landed its writer an assignment, and breaks down just what made it successful. Consider it your guide to the nuts and bolts of assignment-worthy pitches, complete with comments from the author of the pitch and the editor who fielded it about what made it work.

In this first installment, we illustrate (with numbered, hyperlinked comments) how freelancer Betsy Noxon's pitch to Parents magazine has the ingredients essential to a convincing query. Plus, she and Parents' articles editor, Mary Hickey, describe in their own words how Noxon's pitch led to a published piece.

Key Components of the Pitch

(1) Correct address information for the outlet's assigning editor, formatted properly for a business letter, is essential -- including the properly spelled name and title of the person to whom the pitch is addressed.

(2) Noxon addresses her pitch directly to Hickey, avoiding the impersonal "To whom it may concern."

(3) Noxon jumps right in without any distracting preamble. Her tone is clear and authoritative from the start, implying that she knows their subject.

Read all of it, including the pitch itself, here.