What makes a good pitch?

It’s probably the single hardest question in freelance journalism. Before we can report a story, before we can meet people or analyze data or ask questions or find answers, first there is the pitch. Without it there is no story.

So in this post I’m going to talk about writing a good one.

What is a pitch?

A pitch is the proposal that you, the freelancer, send an editor when you’d like to write a story.

In it you tell the editor what you would like to write about, why it is relevant and/or timely, and why you’re the person to write it. The details will vary depending on the story and your relationship with the editor, but the message is always the same:

“You should spare some of your precious space and budget on this piece because it’s going to be great.”

Elevator vs. extended

The first question is, how long should you make your pitch?

The answer depends on how long you’d like the article to be and how well the editor knows you.

If the editor knows you, then a piece on the order of 800 words rarely needs more than an elevator pitch. Write approximately two or three sentences summing up the story and why it’s relevant right now. A longer piece will require more. For this you will want an extended pitch that basically answers your six questions: who, what, why, when, how and where. More about that below.

An editor who doesn’t know you will pretty much always require an extended pitch. You can’t just cold-call someone with two sentences. Remember, if the editor doesn’t know you then you are both pitching a story and introducing yourself. They need to understand your work as well as your idea.

Elements of a pitch

So let’s break down an extended pitch.

You need to answer a few questions quickly and clearly in this e-mail: What is the story? What makes it unique or interesting? What makes it relevant? And why should you be the one to write it?

There are a number of ways to do this, but here is the format I personally favor:

  • Connection: How do you know this outlet or editor? Remember, you’re reaching out to another person. Everyone responds better to someone who makes a personal connection.

 

  • Elevator Pitch: Sum up your story in one or two sentences. This is the hook, so make it great. It’s also a good exercise. If you can’t do this then you probably need to spend a little more time thinking about your story anyway.

 

  • Expanded Pitch: In roughly a paragraph tell your story. If the elevator pitch convinces them to keep reading, this is the part that convinces them to buy. Summarize the story entirely and emphasize the key details. Keep it brief. Basically, in 5 – 7 sentences capture what makes this piece stand out.

 

  • Graf: I only sometimes include this, but many other writers recommend it. “Graf” is just journalism shorthand for paragraph. In this context, it means the first paragraph of your proposed story. Personally, I think it makes your pitch too long. However other writers argue that it gives the editor a chance to see those critical first sentences that will catch an audience.

 

  • Author: What makes you particularly qualified to write this piece? Don’t spend too long here. Like the elevator statement, take just a couple of sentences to summarize what makes you great.

Example

Here’s an example of a pitch I recently wrote so we can see this in practice:

Connection: I didn’t have any here. This was a piece written to sports outlets, for whom I’ve never written. Instead I emphasized my background as an attorney, which is relevant to the subject matter.

Elevator Pitch: Ohio State shouldn’t fire Urban Meyer. It would set off a storm of unintended consequences that have nothing to do with football.

Two sentences to set the hook. Here, I outline an unusual position that the piece would take and how I’ll defend it. Basic communication: This piece will say something new, and then will back that up.

Expanded Pitch: Ohio State University has placed celebrated football coach Urban Meyer on administrative leave pending an investigation into his knowledge of domestic abuse by a member of staff. Yet, while understandable from a standpoint of justice and public relations, punishing Meyer for a staff member’s conduct unrelated to university business and not involving students would create sweeping unintended consequences.

The university would establish a precedent that its employees owe an enforceable duty of reporting to people who have no relationship with the university. Ohio State would need to establish what level of knowledge triggers enforcement, which crimes it will police and against whom. This standard would be all but impossible for the university to define and equally difficult for employees to follow, establishing the potential for future press and liability issues. Even with extraordinary care it is difficult to see how Ohio State can punish Urban Meyer without putting the university in an impossible situation tomorrow, even if not doing so would put the university in an difficult situation today.

The full story, with supporting detail. This article will make the legal case against firing Urban Meyer. It will do so on the grounds that decisions like this set future precedent, and this particular precedent would create far more problems than it solves. Note that this is heavy on analysis and light on facts, because this is a piece of analytical journalism. A reported piece would use those sentences to establish details of the intended reporting.

Notice here that each sentence serves a purpose: 1 – Information on the context of the story. 2 – Thesis statement of the piece, that this would have unintended consequences. 3 – What would cause those consequences. 4 – How the university would have to respond. 5 – Why that wouldn’t work. 6 – Summary statement.

Now, rereading this pitch, I would criticize it for being data-light. In my efforts to make this pitch concise, I ended up cutting specific citations of law and legal issues. Those did make for a much more cluttered pitch, but also a more abstract one that relies heavily on making an interesting argument over presenting expertise.

Graf: By the end of their first year most law students have learned the maxim “bad cases make bad law.”

It serves as a reminder to law students that often an issue can be far more complicated than it seems. In a “bad case” judges and juries see a wrong and want to make matters right, but the facts are messy. When future courts try to apply this decision they’re stuck with an opinion that only made sense in that one, idiosyncratic case. Applying that same reasoning again, as courts are generally supposed to do under the doctrine of stare decisis, makes more problems than the case originally solved.

Imagine a judge who desperately wants to lock away an obviously guilty man and so waives away obvious flaws in the evidence. Future courts will need to follow those same rules… with potentially disastrous results. Or recall Bush v. Gore, a such a bad case that the Supreme Court actually tried to say it was never to be used as precedent. This is bad law.

This is the problem facing Ohio State University. As bad as football coach Urban Meyer’s tacit acceptance of domestic abuse may have been, it’s still nothing compared to the Pandora’s Box the university will open by letting the embattled coach go. The real problem isn’t Meyer’s situation. It’s the next case, and that one will be a doozy.

Introductory paragraphs. Here I use a few, because I’ve broken them up for ease of reading. I introduce the abstract concept we’re going to discuss, the importance of precedent, then quickly segue to our central claim, firing Meyer would create a precedent that does more harm than good.

Author: I am a freelance journalist and attorney with a degree from the University of Michigan Law School. I specialize in policy and legal issues, and as a lawyer maintain a specialty in human trafficking law. I have written on issues involving law, politics and economic policy for more than six years.

Short and to the point. Note that since this is an article analyzing a legal issue I emphasize my legal credentials.

Final Note

Pitching is a contradictory business.

On the one hand, this is essentially your cover letter. You need it to be as sharp and well written as possible otherwise you’ll never get any business. That takes time and attention to detail.

On the other hand, you can’t afford to spend too much time on it. Most pitches will get rejected, so you need to send out a lot of them. No single pitch can ever occupy too much of your day.

Finding the balance between efficiency and sloppiness is one of the keys to this business. When you’ve reached the point where you can send about one per day without sacrificing your writing, you’ll really be in business.

Latest posts by Eric (see all)