Pitching a hot topic
How to find a new angle in widely reported issues
Being a successful freelance is partly about understanding where you fit in the journalism ecosystem. If publications already have staff in house filing news and features, what can you bring to the table? Won’t they have already covered everything you’re suggesting? What if they steal your ideas?
I think this is one of the hardest parts to get right about pitching. You’re in a difficult situation in that you may know a publication inside out but as a freelance you’re not party to the conversations the editorial team are having in meetings about what interests them and what they have already dismissed or decided to commission.
But that does not mean that you can only pitch incredibly specific, new and niche ideas that no one will have ever thought of. More often than not as a specialist health reporter I’m pitching angles on reports or debates or studies that are already out there. Everyone for the most part has access to the same information or people so I have to think carefully about what I’m offering. What can I bring that is a new insight or perspective? And why is now a good time to do it?
In this week’s newsletter, I’m going to talk through two pitches - that were more like conversations with editors I know well - on hot topics covered by lots of people but to which I was bringing a new angle for their specific readership.