Rae Witte thinks you should stop beating yourself up
You just get in your own way more than anything
Hi hi hi, happy holidays! Hope you’re all staying cozy and well-fed.
This week I’m featuring one of my favorite freelancers/coaches, Rae Witte, in another installment in our series, “8 Questions With …”!
Rae is a generalist freelance journalist and pitching coach. She has written for over 30 media outlets and content sites in her eight years on her own, and she often keeps a variety of random side gigs from consulting PR companies to pitching and working with freelancers to SEO writing and flipping vintage homewares. Yes, flipping vintage homewares. Check out her website here, her fantastic pitching advice newsletter here, and her Twitter here.
Take it away, Rae!
1. How did you find one of your anchor gigs?
Interestingly, my main anchor gig came from reaching out to an old boss of mine from about a decade ago to tap his network for sources for a story I was working on. Someone he connected me to ended up asking if I’d do SEO writing for him. My name isn’t on any of it, but it’s pretty low life fun stuff to write. They pay sufficiently and weekly, so I usually get it within days of filing my work.
2. What’s a favorite recent story of yours, and how did you land it? What was your pitch process like?
I have two, but one isn’t published yet. :(
The unpublished one is a travel story for Dwell’s One Night In series. I’m excited about it because I rarely write first person stories, and it was a fun new challenge to write a first person travel story about a place that’s probably one of the best (and most aligned with my personal interests) I’ve been to.
My pitch was very voice-y, and I linked to a published story from the site as an example of what I thought the format should be. My editor agreed, and it’ll be part of that series.
I typically write very service-oriented stories. So for the other, I pitched “A user’s guide to AI dating tools” to GQ, because I’m so concerned about people relying too heavily on AI to connect with humans. (I cannot make it make sense, and none of the writing is good.) My editor took one of the apps I suggested in the pitch and asked if I’d be interested in writing a story about if the AI Rizz, which is for composing opening messages on dating apps and is supposed to aid in how to respond to texts, actually has game. I was THRILLED, because the app is so painfully cringe. I took it upon myself to upload my old dating bio to see if it could run game on me. Writing this was so fun, and it was so validating to get an all caps “THIS IS SO GOOD” from my editor. (Here it is if anyone wants to read.)
3. When was the last time you negotiated a rate, and were you successful?
I just negotiated two rates with editors I’ve had long working relationships with in the last month, and both gave me more. Just up $50 and $100, respectively. It all adds up, especially if you’re going to continue working together.
4. Where do you find work?
Somehow, I’m still on Twitter/X keeping track of calls for pitches and editors. I also always use Write JOBS+ Patreon and Sonia Weiser’s Opps of The Week newsletters. But for my non-journalism work, it’s really about letting my network know what I do. I pretty routinely pitch myself and my services back to PR and comms teams, and I often pick up small writing or strategy projects by just telling people what I can do for them.
5. Can you talk about your process of generating story ideas?
I think there are two distinct ways. The stories I feel passionately about largely come from talking to people, keeping up with my community, and being out in the world. Yes, I go to PR events and keep up with publicists, and it’s very helpful to see cultural trends and get ideas. It’s also a great way to see how people respond to your work within the industry. It always feels nice to run into someone and have them tell you they read something you recently wrote.
The other is much more utilitarian and looks more like asking myself what the sites I work with regularly are covering, and what’s a knock-you-over-the-head easy headline. For example, I just handed in a story to Mashable — where my editor publishes a lot of dating app stories — a list of dating app icks, ranked. To me, it’s a great, evergreen, SEO gold, click-worthy headline and story. Do I feel like it’s groundbreaking journalism? No, lol. But, it’s a fun and easy story and paycheck, and we love those too.
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6. What are the different types of freelance writing you do, and what portion does each make up? (E.g., X% news writing, Y% technical writing, Z% copywriting.)
I’d say just over 40 percent is SEO writing for my main anchor client, 10 percent is from my newsletters and another small social copywriting gig I’ve had on and off for years, 35ish percent is from journalism, and the remaining is from fewer and further between consulting gigs, like professional development pitching sessions for PR teams, short-term feature editing, media strategy consulting, and one-on-one pitch coaching. Outside of the pitch coaching, these typically pay more for less time, and I’d LOVE to find more of them. I’m really focused on expanding this part of my income for next year.
7. How can people new to freelancing develop working relationships with editors?
PITCH!! Obviously, don’t inundate anyone’s inbox, but constantly cold pitching really helps start and build relationships. There have been plenty of times where I’ve pitched someone and they rejected my first pitch but encouraged me to continue pitching them. Eventually, we usually work it out and get some stories lined up. It’s a long game.
8. What’s one or two things you wish you had known at the start of your freelance career?
I wish I knew more avenues to get solid anchor clients or how heavily people depended on them. Candidly, I still feel like I need to know more about where to pick these up beyond leveraging my network, but I really struggled with it early, and I was CONSTANTLY hustling.
Any last words?
It’s been crucial for my self-esteem and morale not to get stuck in a rut during slow times by backing out remembering it comes in cycles. February, March, October, and November are always busy for me. January and July are usually slow. December is a toss up because of the holidays and end-of-year things that in-house teams have to get done. You have to be able to keep the big picture in mind. Pitching and writing from a place of scarcity will undoubtedly affect your ability to work. It’s tough when the late checks compound, or editors let your stories sit in their inbox eternally, but it’s just part of the business at this point.
Accepting that every week and month can never look the same will make it so you don’t feel like a failure when you’re just not placing the stories you need to. And, the cause of this is so much larger than whether you are “good enough.” There are constant layoffs, ever-changing editorial strategies, and a growing pool of freelance writers. Beating yourself up ultimately just ends up with you being more in your own way than anything else.
Thank you Rae! -Tim
Oh, a few other things …
• I offer one-on-one coaching! Need help developing an idea or sharpening one you already have? Or want to talk about careers and building your freelance business? I gotchu! Book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitch reviews, story development, editing, and anything else you might need help with.
• I’m going to start doing Q&A posts in the newsletter to answer all of your questions, comments, and thoughts about freelancing and journalism in general. Drop any and all questions in the comments section below this post or email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com, and I may feature it in a future newsletter. Let’s hear it!
• Friend of FWT Mandy Hofmockel offers one of my favorite journalism newsletters around: Journalism jobs and a photo of my dog. It’s a wonderfully comprehensive — and hand-built — listing of journalism jobs all over the country. If you’re in the market and looking, read and subscribe here!
• Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!
Bye ily!
Tim❤️
Hello Tim,
Good morning from India! I'm Bhavik Sarkhedi, a passionate writer and a happy subscriber of yours. I am really fascinated by her skill in blending three different writing verticals, something many writers, including myself, strive to achieve. I'd like to discuss the idea of not needing to stick to one 'niche' in writing, as diversifying seems essential for continuous work. However, as someone from India with no insider connections in the US/UK, I'm concerned about the challenges I might face in breaking into those markets. How can writers like me navigate this?