How To Make The Most Of Your Business Lunch

About five years ago, after going back and forth over some story ideas, an editor from a national women’s magazine invited me out to lunch. I did a little happy dance, and then promptly freaked the eff out. Though mostly over what shoes I would wear.

Fast forward to our lunch date. After a bit of small talk, the editor asked me to pitch her some story ideas. I had come prepared with several. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t completely unprepared. Unfortunately, all of the ideas I’d written down were better fits for every section but hers.

Oops.

Tomorrow, I’m meeting up with another editor from another national magazine. And yes, I’m still worried about what shoes I’ll wear. But I’m also making a bigger effort to be prepared. How?

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Link Love: March 14, 2010

What a week! I announced the winners of my Career Coaching for Word Nerds contest, and have my very first appointment scheduled for this coming Wednesday. I’m way excited to start helping people find career fulfillment, and am also interested in seeing how the balance of editing, writing, and coaching shifts in my own life.

Not only that, but I managed to tear myself away from the computer twice this week in order grab drinky drinks with fellow entrepreneurs. On Monday, I met up with a former colleague who just resigned from her full-time job in order to throw herself into full-time freelance writing. As we’ve both been on the editing and writing sides of the table, I had a great time talking freelance strategy with her, and sharing on-the-job stories. And on Thursday, I headed to Ginger Man for happy hour with two fellow tweeps who had driven up from NC for a short vacation. So great to put faces to tweets!

I’m not sure yet whether this Sunday will be lazy or productive (I have an ebook to work on, and a new copywriting client) but, before I decide, let me give you some weekend reading:

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How To Pitch: The Basics

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I don’t typically write about writing here. Or at least I try not to. Not directly.

I try to keep my content inclusive to all freelancers, despite how obvious it is that I’m a total booktard, and a slave to producing content.

But this past Monday marked the beginning of the FLX Query Challenge, a friendly, biannual competition in which teams rack up points depending upon how many queries they send out each week, and how many assignments they land. I’ve been on a pitching hiatus for awhile now — due to my new job at YourTango, my career coaching certification program, and an ongoing copywriting project — but I’m excited to start putting out feelers again … especially since I’m a team leader this time around.

So for all those writers out there — writers who are trying to get back into the pitching rhythm, writers who have been pitching all along (show-offs), and writers who are just starting out — I thought I’d put up a refresher on the pitch process.

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Coffee Break: Selling Yourself

Between a last-second edit test, a quick trip to PA, and a full day holding poses for a portrait artist, I. am. wiped. So I hope you’ll forgive me for relying on an easy-as-pie Coffee Break post so early in the week.

This one was actually inspired by a conversation taking place over at the mediabistro bulletin boards, on how different pitching tactics have different success rates.

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Guest Posting: Pitch Like It’s the Glossiest Glossy Mag Out There

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Earlier today, my first guest post ever went live at Darren Rowse’s Twitip, on taking Twitter-based networking from online to in-the-flesh. (Welcome tweeple!)

I’ve already mentioned in the past why guest posting is a good idea, so we won’t go into that again. What I would like to touch upon is how guest posting at someone else’s blog should be treated as seriously as if you were writing an article for New York (or, um, Marie Claire). More specifically, I’d like to focus on how to approach pitching a blog editor.

You already know that I worry about the deterioration of professional decorum due to Web 2.0 practices. I find that bad business practices run especially rampant when it comes to online correspondence.

Show that blog editor your pitching the same respect you would any major magazine or newspaper editor. After the jump, how to go about pitching your guest post:

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Flip That Pitch

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While I’m always going on and on about this one class I took at New School, there’s another one I took before that — From Pitch to Publish, taught by Cris Beam — at which I learned a very important lesson: You must keep the momentum going.

So as I started receiving my very first rejection letters, I didn’t sulk. Instead, I became a master at not taking it personally, and quickly flipped the pitch.

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How To Write Your Way Into the Best Darn Jobs Ever

Back during my TCNJ days, I took this brilliant Advanced Writing class with the brilliant Burton Klein. The most important thing he taught me was that a unique and well-written cover letter could be my biggest asset. Since then, I’ve found myself called into interviews by people who were more intrigued by my cover letter than my credentials, and have had pitches given a second glance by mag editors who were intrigued by the tone of my pitch letter. Since then, I’ve tweaked my technique with the help of subsequent professors, but the lesson has remained the same: All resumes look alike. It’s the accompanying letter that will get you in the door.

Whether you’re applying to a staff job, pitching newspaper and magazine stories, or attempting to net new clients, the ability to write good letter is key. After the jump, all the building blocks of the perfect letter, plus all the eensy weensy details you should always double check:

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