Successful pitching examples
A cold pitch to The Guardian and a pitch via a networking opportunity
Getting a pitch to land can often be a question of timing, with a big dollop of luck. Is a commissioning editor checking their emails the moment you press send, do they have any budget left and have they recently received a similar idea?
But there are ways you can grab an editor’s attention and boost your chances of success whether it’s a cold pitch to someone you don’t know or sending a list of editors to an editor you regularly work with.
I personally love pitching, which many people find hard to believe. For me it is an opportunity to get the creative juices flowing, shaping my ideas into an appetising product.
Some of my pitches are finely tuned whilst others are a quick fire email when an idea strikes. So this month I’d like to share two very different pitches.
The first pitch is my first ever cold pitch to The Guardian, which kickstarted my freelance career. I was in a full time job at the time so I had nothing to lose and I thought to myself ‘who do I want to write for the most?’ I decided to aim high and the fortunately the stars aligned.
The second pitch came about when I met an editor of a new running magazine at a running show. I wanted to move into writing about running, and away from writing about money, and so I introduced myself and said I would send him some ideas. I sent two ideas on the Monday morning and he commissioned one.
Read on to see what was in the pitches (which were both commissioned), how much I was paid and why the time was right.