pitching etiquette

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i've been meaning to for a long time and am finally putting some serious effort into freelance writing, but pitching story ideas to editors so far feels like an uphill struggle, not least because i don't really know the best way to go about it.

i figure persistence is key, but it's the stupid details i'm unsure of. should i interpret lack of reponse to email queries as "not interested" or "too busy"? would a follow-up phone call after, say, a week in these cases be acceptable or too pushy? i'm pretty diffident when it comes to this kind of thing, so perhaps i should err on the side of assertiveness, but i don't want to come across as agressive.

any suggestions, stories, etc. most welcome.

― xtof, Thursday, 9 March 2006 19:30 (twenty years ago)

i, like everyone else, thought this said "pinching etiquette."

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 9 March 2006 19:33 (twenty years ago)

bring on the parody threads!

― xtof, Thursday, 9 March 2006 19:34 (twenty years ago)

I think a reach-around is usually considered good etiqutte when pitching.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 9 March 2006 19:34 (twenty years ago)

follow-up, follow-up, follow-up, and always have a bunch of other ideas ready to go. Cuz some editors, just to be dicks, I think, will reject yr first pitch and then say, "What else do you have?"

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 9 March 2006 19:45 (twenty years ago)

Try not to shake off too many of your catcher's signals. He may become a wise-ass and tip off your batters ala Kevin Costner in Bull Durham.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:04 (twenty years ago)

up and in, down and away

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:06 (twenty years ago)

this thread is about anal sex (you just don't know it yet)

― elmo, patron saint of nausea (allocryptic), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:09 (twenty years ago)

Pitching is simple--cheese for the kitchen and a yakker for the kudo.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:10 (twenty years ago)

Didn't Billy Brag write that?

― stu (stu), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

Didn't Billy Bragg write that?

― stu (stu), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

Ahem...

― stu (stu), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

Don't throw fastballs at your kid's head.

― Rotgutt (Rotgutt), Friday, 10 March 2006 00:21 (twenty years ago)

thanks, huk.

new non-anal/baseball answers?

― xtof, Friday, 10 March 2006 16:41 (twenty years ago)

sixteen years pass...

I've been a freelancer for 20 years, and recently I've gotten really bad about coming up with decent article ideas and pairing them up with the right publication ... sometimes even composing a pitch email! ... and then *never sending the pitch*.

I assume it's a combination of fear of rejection / impostor syndrome and general exhaustion that's causing this.

Any other writers deal with this sort of thing? Any thoughts on how to overcome it?

Would probably be better if this was on ILM and not ILE.

― alpine static, Monday, 20 February 2023 23:26 (three years ago)

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