This is for anyone who wants to make a living as a freelance writers, but isn’t sure how often to pitch. Take this freelance pitch challenge to keep your pitching game fresh as well as create a constant flow of articles to write and money in your bank account as you build your freelance writing business
You may already have questions. Here are a few links to answer your questions before we jump into the challenge.
What’s the difference between a pitch, a query and a submission?
How do you write a compelling pitch?
What is the 13 Pitch Challenge?
C Hope Clark of Funds for Writers recommends keeping 13 pitches in play at all times. That means you’ve sent 13 freelance pitches to editors and you’re still waiting for a reply.
When an editor writes back and says no, rework the pitch and send it to another publication. Once you’ve resent the pitch, it still counts to your 13 pitch challenge.
When you receive a yes? Congratulate yourself, celebrate a bit and then write the article. But then this article is no longer part of your 13 pitches. It’s time to write a new pitch.
Simple right?
What if you send a pitch and the editor never replies at all?
This happens. And it sucks when it happens because you’re left in limbo.
The first thing you do is check the publication’s pitching guidelines to see if they specify how long to wait until you’ll hear from them. Some will tell you to follow up after a couple of weeks. Others will say if you don’t hear from them by a certain amount of time, assume the answer is no and repitch elsewhere.
If there are no written guidelines included in the submission guidelines, send a follow-up e-mail to the editor in the same e-mail chain as your original pitch. You can ask them if they’re interested and keep waiting. Or you can let the editor know if they’re interested in the pitch to let you know and let them know if you don’t hear from them in [set your own time limit] you’ll assume they’re not interested.
How-to Implement Your Own 13-Pitch Challenge?
- Decide where to pitch.
- Decide what to pitch.
- Write the pitch.
- Rinse and repeat until you reach 13.
To begin, let’s answer a few more questions.
What do you want to write?
Fiction or non-fiction. Do you want to write for magazines, blogs, websites? Do you prefer technical writing or creative writing? Do you want to write a book? Memoir?
Create clear goals for your writing based on your interests and your expertise.
What are your favorite blogs, websites and publications?
Which do you read regularly? Where have you always dreamed of publishing? These are an excellent place to begin pitching your articles.
You can also check out these newsletters for ideas of where to pitch and stay up to date with upcoming pitching deadlines.
What ideas do you have for freelance stories you can pitch?
Perhaps you’ve already written something in a journal or on your blog? If not, it’s time to free write. Sit down for 10 minutes — time it with a timer — and brainstorm any and all ideas for stories. Remember, though, no judgments. This is creative, mind opening writing. You never know where and when and from what the best ideas will arise.
Pro:Tip: You don’t have to develop thirteen separate pitches on thirteen different topics with thirteen different sets of research. You can pitch different story ideas within the same topic.
For example: Your expertise is in parenting and you’ve had a bad experience with bullying at your child’s school. You can pitch a personal essay on your experience. You can write a list article sharing ideas to help your child cope with bullying. You could write a how-to article helping parents know how to address the bullying with the school and other parents.
It’s not easy, but you can do it.
Freelance writing can be frustrating. It can feel like you’re forever sending out pitches, following up and still, you keep getting rejected. Often, editors won’t respond at all, and while many people out there don’t take it personally, most of us begin to feel there’s something wrong with us and our writing.
It’s not you. It’s the nature of the life of a freelance writer. But the more you pitch, the more you write, the more you build your idea writing life. It takes perseverance, but as long as you keep writing and improving those pitches, you will create the writing life of your dreams.
