February 21, 2024
One of the ways freelancers find freelance writing jobs is that they send an “article pitch” or article idea to an editor. When you’re wondering how to write a pitch for an article or how to pitch an article to a magazine, know that a freelance article pitch is basically an idea you send to one editor at a particular publication that you think would be a good fit for their audience.
But it’s important to make sure your idea includes a few components so an editor knows you’ve done your research on the pitch and publication so they’re more likely to assign it to you. That’s where these article pitch tips come in.
I’ve been writing freelance pitches to editors and marketing managers for brands since 2006 when I first started my freelance side hustle. As a staff magazine editor at Prevention magazine, Weight Watchers, and Muscle & Fitness magazines, I’ve also received many pitches from writers. (Get my guide on how to write email pitches that get sold, with article pitch examples for magazines like Real Simple, SHAPE, Reader’s Digest and more.)
Some of those article pitches I received when I was an editor were great and turned into paid freelance assignments and repeat freelance work with a writer. Those freelance writers knew how to write pitch for an article!
Other pitches were duds and probably got ignored for a few weeks or turned down. BTW, If you’re curious about freelance writing websites where you can find freelance writing jobs, I’ve got you covered.
That’s why I wanted to cover an important aspect of types of freelance writing–like how do you write a pitch–in this blog post and share how to write a pitch for an article.
Heed these free article pitch tips:
Whether you’re a beginner freelance writer and just getting your feet wet with writing freelance article pitches, or you’ve been writing for decades and want to compare your email pitch to another freelance writer’s to see if yours could be improved, this freelance pitching guide on how to write a pitch can help.
For those curious about ‘how do you write a pitch’ (in particular “how do you write a good pitch”) the following article pitching tips
will help you write better freelance article pitches so you get paid writing gigs in one of these most profitable freelance writing niches. (After you press send, you’ll want to start reading over these freelance writing tips that will help you with how to pitch an article over and over again so you get repeat work from clients with less effort.)
I often get asked, should a freelancer come up with a freelance article pitch first or decide on a publication or niche to write for? How should a freelancer spend their time?
I think a good use of a freelancer’s time is spent getting to know the magazine sections or website channels before submitting a written pitch. This will help you have a better understanding of the/ types of articles they feature, word counts (so you’ll know how much to charge for a 500-word article), and whether they use research, expert interviews, first-person essays, infographics, and more.
It’s usually advised to try to read the last three issues of a print magazine before sending your freelance pitch email over to an editor. Here’s how much time I spend researching articles for assignments. When it comes to applying skills on how to pitch an article to a website, I recommend freelancers sign up for that publication’s newsletters, follow their social media feeds, and read their website daily or weekly to learn more about the types of topics they are covering, their tone, and the articles they are assigning.
It can even be helpful to follow their LinkedIn page. Gathering all of this info about their audience will give you a leg up on the freelance writer competition and help you send the best article pitch.
Get freelance writing tips delivered to your inbox each week when you subscribe to my freelance newsletter. You’ll even get a FREE PDF with freelance advice as a thank you for subscribing!
When creating great content, the magazine article pitch or website article pitch should align with the client’s core values, be something their ideal audience wants to ‘like’ and share on social, be original and fresh, and could be a thought-provoking piece, like a thought leadership article on LinkedIn or an op-ed or personal essay.
Get more tips on creating good content here.
Brainstorming great ideas for a client takes time. Before you work on how to write a pitch email and think you have the perfect article pitch for a magazine and quickly try to write it up and send it over, identify “how do you write a pitch.”
Do your homework and make sure you’ve researched the publication as well as your pitch so you know it’ll be the right fit before you work on how to write a good pitch.
Sometimes, you have a great idea for a client–but they already covered it! It’s so frustrating when you’re working on how to write a pitch for an article and following article pitching tips to the letter but the topic has been done by the publication already!
Still, you should pat yourself on the back for knowing what resonates with their audience and having an understanding of the types of freelance articles they publish on their website or in their magazine.
This task can be tricky because it isn’t always easy to find out if a magazine has covered that specific topic or idea before unless they’ve uploaded all of their articles to their website.
Do a site search to see if they have similar articles before you spend much time thinking about how to write an article pitch for this freelance client.
(Example: To do a site search on the idea you would type in “keto dinners” site:dianakelly.com in a search bar like Google if you wanted to see if that topic was on my site before you pitched it.)
Learn more about where to find freelance article ideas to pitch here. If you’re a veteran freelancer who’s been pitching for a long time and feel “stuck” when it comes to finding new pitches for an existing client or you just want help brainstorming fresh article ideas, try this freelance writing exercise.
Make sure your written pitch for a freelance article includes the section of the magazine you see the article being published in, or, the section of the website it could be a fit for.
It’s important for the editor to know that you have done your research before sending this article pitch.
This is an important step when learning how to pitch an article to a website and following best practices for article pitching for freelancers. For example, you wouldn’t pitch a personal essay for the “front of book” section of the magazine if they don’t have essays there.
This is the type of info you need to have before exploring how to write a freelance article pitch or an article at this publication. Or, you could tell the editor something like, “I see this article living in the Health section of your site” if it’s a health pitch. This lets the editor know you’ve familiarized yourself with their outlet and the sections of their website or magazine when writing an article pitch. You can even suggest a potential word count range as well. Here’s an example of how much to charge for a 500-word article.
When you’re sending an article pitch, you have to set yourself apart from the publicists who are sending pitches to editors about their clients, new products, upcoming books, and event invites. My PDF of freelance article pitches has examples of email subject lines I used that got high open rates.
Model your subject lines after the ones I used when pitching editors to get them to respond to your article pitch.
I suggest your subject line say “Article Pitch:__” and then include a possible headline for the article. You could also say “Story Pitch” or “Freelance Article Pitch:___.”
This will let the editor know you understand how to write headlines as well as make sure they know you’re pitching a freelance article idea and not a product, service or person that you want them to write about.
If you’re struggling with how to pitch an article to a website, think of shorter deadlines and lead times. You could probably pitch Easter-related food ideas in late February or March to a recipes website.
After addressing the editor, do the following in your freelance article pitch to get you published:
Some successful freelance writers like to launch right into the pitch and explain their background and experience at the end of the email. Others prefer to write a strong, succinct paragraph in the beginning to grab the editor’s attention.
It’s always a good idea to include a few (two to three) potential headline examples for your article pitch. This helps the editor see how the article will be “packaged.” If we are using the “keto dinners” example from above, a few pitch headlines to suggest might be:
Chances are, the final article assignment and headline will differ a little bit from your pitch but this shows the editor you know how to succinctly summarize your idea and draw the reader in with a strong headline. Spend time looking at the headlines the website or magazine uses and make sure your headline looks similar to theirs in voice and tone.
Need help writing headlines or want me to look over a pitch? Learn more about my freelance coaching services here.
Not only should you write possible freelance article headlines, but you should also include potential research studies that support your idea and name some potential sources you would interview for the piece.
When I was an assigning editor, I usually didn’t need to know exactly who the writer was interviewing for a story, but I wanted to make sure we were on the same page with the type of expert they’d talk to for the piece in their introductory email.
As a freelance writer, my suggestion on how to write a pitch is to include in the pitch, “I’ll interview relationship experts like psychologists or psychiatrists” or, “I’ll reach out to a certified personal trainer for these abs exercises,” or, “I’d like to interview the author of this [specific book that just came out] or someone similar.”
Tell the editor about any research or interviews you have done already. If you’re pitching an idea and already talked to a doctor or therapist or someone who will provide quotes, let the editor know that. This could be the part of how to write a pitch that makes the editor want to give you an assignment.
That lets the editor know that you don’t think you are the expert (unless you are writing an essay) but that you’ll interview sources to get the best material for the article. Learn more tips on how do you write a pitch in my freelance writing course.
Whether you’re sending an introductory email pitch to a potential new client, or, you’re sending your best article pitch to an editor, I think that midweek is the best time to send an article pitch. When I was a full-time editor, Mondays were usually spent catching up on work I didn’t finish the week before and chatting with colleagues about their weekends.
By Tuesday afternoon, most editors have probably trudged through their Monday to-dos and may have more time to read your pitch email and consider it for their outlet. I think Wednesdays and Thursdays can also be good days to send a freelance article pitch if you’re thinking about how do you write a pitch. By Friday, your email might get bypassed for more pressing issues an editor has to address before leaving for the weekend.
Remember, don’t be discouraged if you don’t hear back on your pitch. It still happens to me and I keep working on how to write a pitch for an article!
The most important step a freelancer often forgets to do? Follow up on their freelance article pitch. Check out these practices for following up with editors once you’ve emailed them your pitch.
Tags: freelance, freelance pitches that worked, freelance writer, freelance writing advice, freelance writing course, freelance writing tips, freelancer, how to make more money, magazine editors, pitches, pitching, writing tips
Leave a Reply