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Published: November 17th 2011
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Me bald!
It was getting stupidly wispy, so I had Alexis shave the hair off. I'm liberated! I've been getting frustrated with how little traction I'm getting with all my freelance pitches. I know that it's hard to get commissioned - even well known, well established journalists with big prizes under their belt tell me most of their pitches are ignored - but I had hoped that my experience as an editor, receiving all manner of pitches and making all manner of commissions, would sharpen my ability to get noticed and know how to approach other editors. It hasn't yet.
I've put about 5-6 pitches out there, all to new titles (as in, ones I've never written for and that I have no pre-existing relationships with) - I've only pitched to titles I like to read myself and only pitched articles I myself would read and enjoy. Which means I've been aiming quite high, from the New Statesman to Guardian Travel. I've emailed brief pitches, waited a week or so, chased, waited a week again, chased, but then heard nothing. I don't want to come across like a stalker if my pitch has not fitted the bill, so I've decided not to be harassing them 3-4 weeks later. Plus those stories could go to other magazines. Fine if none of my pitches are wanted: I would be surprised if nothing fits anyone's bill, but I had hoped I might at least receive a one line email saying 'thanks but no thanks' from editors who want me to stop being part of the overflowing inbox problem, something I continually wrestled with over my editorship. I know I always did. But nothing.
As an editor I had endless pitches from journalists I knew and commissioned, as well as newbies I had never heard of. Most were unsuitable, a few were just crap and sent out to as many takers as possible rather than having been tailored to my publication. But a handful were good, or at least, poorly written pitches but containing the kernel of a good article. Those that were not, I usually found a minute to write back to let them know - 'thanks but not for us, best of luck' - nothing fancy, but it meant that I kept that writer sweet should they ever have a story I could use, and it stopped them filling up my voicemail (which was always full to the point of not being able to receive any more messages) and my inbox (three times expanded by IT but still, always full), which caused my great stress. It also stopped them wasting their own time.
What is so hard for other editors in setting aside ten minutes twice a week to go through all pitches and writing that single line to all those who are no use this time? I used to drag all pitching emails into a separate folder to be checked over when I had time. And what are editorial assistants and deputy editors for if not to assist?
Anyway, I did get a nice pat on the back this week with the publication of my interview with John Gimlette, a barrister with a great parallel career in travel journalism. It is my first piece for any legal publication and signals my branching out beyond business and finance, both into legal stuff and travel journalism. I really enjoyed meeting and chatting with John - a thoroughly nice man and a fellow curious type - and writing the piece for Legal Week was great fun too. I'm feeling quite proud that it has gone live (and of the title I coined for him - 'the wandering wig'😉 and it comes at a good time as I'm feeling a bit down in the mouth about aforementioned lack of traction with other pitches.
My article on John came about from my research on Latin America in preparation for my Master's course in 2012. I attended a lecture he was giving at Canning House about his new book, 'Wild Coast', about his travels round the Guianas. Having a half-Guyanese boyfriend he took an interest as well so we went along together. It was an interesting talk but I came away wondering how he balanced being a practising barrister and travelling to far-flung locales then writing books about it - how did he find the time? It was my curiosity about how he did that that made me think someone out there would want to read about that; I thought about where I could pitch it and I remembered that I sort of knew the guys at Legal Week, and so I pitched it to them. I hope it makes good reading. The published piece is at this link: please have a look and if you like it, give it a retweet or a comment!
http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week/analysis/2125415/wandering-wig-combining-career-bar-passion-travel-writing
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