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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Christmas Link Love

Merry Christmas from me and the fam! (We’re all so excited, we’re doing jazz hands for you.)

I am, at this moment, probably exchanging gifts with my husband (I totally bought him a stress ball shaped like a boob from the Museum of Sex! Among other things…). But I still wanted to give those of you still hooked up to your computers something to read today. After the jump, this week’s link love:

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Link Love: November 21

What a week! It started out on a somber note, with an overnight trip down to MD for a cousin’s funeral, but quickly turned around, with a job offer, my very first career coaching teleclass, and some exciting new projects. Excitement!

While I go do my happy dance (again), I’ll leave you to read this week’s link love:

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Link Love: October 9

Last night, I watched my CNN segment air on the local news and — as I sat there cringing while the camera zoomed in on the framed engagement photo hanging on the wall — it hit me: Not only am I potentially embarrassing myself, but I’m also potentially embarrassing my family. Who wants to be associated with the slightly overweight shopaholic who lied to her husband about her purchases, eventually racking up thousands of dollars in debt!? Luckily, my family is understanding, and excited about the media attention I’ve received. My mother half-jokingly told me she thought I did well…but was glad I was identified by my married name. Thank god because, as a writer (and especially as a sex writer), almost everything I do revolves around self-disclosure.

Aside from that bit of excitement, the week wasn’t incredibly productive. I’ve been sick, and have felt less than motivated. But I did squeeze some reading in:

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Are You Scared, Too?

me and magazines

I’ve always had a thing for glossy magazines.

It started with Highlights and, since then, I’ve subscribed to maybe 30 or 40 different titles (seven of which I’m still subscribed to now). And while they’ve never held the same allure for me as those thick paperbacks I’m constantly losing myself in, they provided me with something even better: a vision of my future as a writer.

I was going to write up a different post today. One on the benefits of online education. But then I was blindsided by the news that Conde Nast is folding Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride, and Elegant Bride, and I felt a sharp pang of sadness, followed by a little shiver of fear.

Have you guys felt it, too?

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Product Placement: Magazine Filing

[$21.95, Crate & Barrel]

On December 31, I posted a New Year’s resolution over at Modern Materialist, wherein I vowed to start pitching again. At the moment, my goal is to have 10 pitches out at any given moment (setting a specific goal is so helpful; Rachel Rose over at Notes on a Whim is doing the same thing).

I’m already up to five, so I’m feeling good about things. But I have to admit, my collection of magazine back issues has dwindled considerably, mostly because my filing system for them was crap, so I had to recycle, recycle, recycle.

I’d like to set up a new system for keeping the back issues I so often refer to when pitching. After the jump, some pretty-as-heck magazine files:

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