The big sendoff
You’ve got the best pitch in the universe and you’ve found the perfect publication for it. Now how are you going to get it to the editor? We all fear the pitch getting trapped in the spam filter or getting lost in the piles of email in an editor’s inbox. On the other hand…does anybody actually do snail mail anymore? I asked a few editors what they prefer:
Clay Risen, assistant editor at the New Republic, says “Email, definitely. Pitches have to be the beginning point of a discussion, and it’s simply much easier to to that by email.”
“Email, email, email. no clutter that way–I hate clutter on my desk–and it’s easier to hit reply than to respond by mail or type in your email. We editors are L.A.Z.Y.,” says Melissa Walker, senior editor at ElleGirl.
I definitely prefer email,” says Maria Mooshil, assistant editor in features at the Chicago Tribune. “It allows you to assess quickly whether a pitch can wait; it gives you the information so you don’t have to jot anything down on paper that’s sure to get buried in five minutes; and it allows you to return to the pitch and consider it more carefully when you have time. It also shows me whether a writer can write. Good to know when you’re considering a pitch from a newcomer.”
So editors prefer that you communicate in the twenty-first century. To set your email apart and let editors know what you’re up to before they even open the email, it can’t hurt to put “Article Pitch” and the title of your proposed piece in the subject line, so they can access it more easily. And don’t overwhelm the poor editor either with a laundry list of possible topics: send just a few well-crafted ideas: your pitches will seem more interesting and the email less trashable.
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