60+ pitching guides for Vox, NatGeo, Wired, Vulture, WaPo, Wirecutter, Slate, and more
60+ pitching guides for Vox, NatGeo, Wired, Vulture, WaPo, Wirecutter, Slate, and more
Go forth and pitch!
(Illustration by Matt Lubchansky)
Hello and welcome to Freelancing With Tim! This newsletter is a weekly resource for journalists full of tips, advice, and guidance about making it in the industry. It covers everything from writing the perfect pitch and building a freelance business to crafting a longform narrative feature and generating story ideas.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider a paid subscription. For $6/month or $60/year, you’ll get an extra newsletter every week, access to the full archive of Zoom panels and workshops, invites to subscriber-only events, early registration for Zoom workshops, 50% off every paid event, and so much more. Click here to see options for subscribing.
Now let’s get to the goods: all those excellent pitching guides. Good luck!
(Updated 1/19/23)
The Guardian (Jessica Reed, Head of Narrative)
Catapult (first-person essays)
The Washington Post, Inspired Life
The Atlantic (General advice)
Deadspin (R.I.P., but it’s an excellent guide)
The Outline (also R.I.P., but another useful guide)
Oh, a few other things …
• I am happy to announce I am resuming one-on-one pitch reviews and coaching sessions! Schedule a time to go over a pitch, work on story development, talk about career development, get advice on building a successful freelance business, get edits on a story, or anything else you need help with. Book a timeslot on my Calendly here.
• Friendly reminder to take 15 minutes right now and email that editor who has owed you money for an assignment for months. It works!
• For paid subscribers: There are very few concrete, unbreakable rules in pitching. However … I wrote about the only four mandatory components that need to be in every pitch, regardless of the story. Read them all here.
If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, click here to see options for subscribing to get access to past paid-only posts, including the full archive of recorded Zoom panels; a round up of what a bunch of publications pay freelance writers; the dos and don’ts of writing the perfect pitch; and much more. (Subscribers also get a 50% discount to every paid workshop!)
• Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!
Okay bye ily!
-Tim ❤️