Workshop alert! Join me and Kaitlyn Arford of Freelance Opportunities on May 7 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern for an in-depth tutorial on how to use social media to find more freelance work and build a sustainable — and profitable! — business. There is SO much out there for those who know where to look, and Kaitlyn is the best in the biz at digging up those opportunities. Click here to register, and remember that paid subscribers get free access (for details on that, see the middle of this post). See you May 7!

Hello friends!

Today I want to give all of you a little gift: Below is a full video workshop on writing better personal essays. My guest is Matt Ortile, former executive editor of Catapult and one of the best editors — of personal essays or otherwise — I know. This is one of my absolute favorite conversations about writing I’ve ever had in a workshop.

Read more

Workshop alert! Join me and Kaitlyn Arford of Freelance Opportunities on May 7 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern for an in-depth tutorial on how to use social media to find more freelance work and build a sustainable — and profitable! — business. There is SO much out there for those who know exactly how to look, and Kaitlyn is the best in the biz at digging up those opportunities. Click here to register, and remember that paid subscribers get free access (for details on that, see the middle of this post). See you May 7!

One of the most common questions I get during the writing workshops I host is this: “What can I do to improve the first draft of stories I file?”

We all want to know the secret to turning in pristine, error-free copy. Sure, you could have three different friends offer notes before you file, or rewrite your story 20 times. But the truth is, your first drafts are never going to be perfect. Whenever you’re self-editing, you reach a point where you’re no longer making improvements, you’re just making things different.

And that’s fine! That’s part of the process! Your editor doesn’t expect a first draft to be perfect, and that’s why we editors exist. This is true of a student journalist working toward their first byline, and of veterans who have been in the industry for decades. Even Taffy Brodesser-Akner, one of the greatest working writers IMO, can take up to nine drafts for a story. Iteration is built into the process.

All that said: There is something you can do to ensure you’re filing the best version of a first draft you can. And it’s much easier than you might think.

The secret? No surprises.

Yes, it’s that simple. The best thing you can do to improve your first drafts is to meet expectations and make sure your editor isn’t surprised by anything in your copy.

Here’s what I mean.

More May workshops! All registrants will get a full playback of the workshop, whether or not they attend live, and paid subscribers get 50% off tickets!

• May 14 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to start and grow a newsletter. Join me and Parker Molloy of The Present Age for a workshop on how to launch and grow a successful newsletter. We’ll cover the best platforms for publishing your newsletter, how to find your target audience, how to promote your work, the ins and outs of developing your niche, and so much more!

Click here to register

• May 21 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: The art of structuring a longform narrative. Join me for a workshop on how to structure and organize a longform narrative feature. I’ll lead a deconstruction exercise of a published longform narrative story and give you tips and advice on how to use those tools in your writing. It’ll be structured like a grad school-level class, with participation encouraged (but, of course, not required)!

Click here to register

Ideally, when you work with an editor — though, admittedly, not always — you’ve agreed, at least in big-picture terms, on the structure, organization, framing, sourcing, and tone of your story. To file a strong first draft, just follow through on what you and your editor agreed on for how the story should look and feel. Go through your notes and emails with your editor from when you first started talking about how to build this story, and do a quick check of whether you’ve delivered on what you’ve discussed. 

Is your story structured the way you agreed it should be? Does your sourcing look how you said it would? Did you organize it the way you said you would? Are you in the right word count range? Revisiting all of this will save you and your editor time by covering the basics of your story, because you’ve agreed on the baseline of what the story needs. Once you’ve satisfied all of that, your editor can offer you notes on how to make your story sing.

The “no surprises” rule is a bedrock principle of journalism when it comes to stories in general: The subjects of your story should not be surprised by what’s in it, broadly speaking. “Fairness also means adhering to the ‘no surprises’ rule when writing critically of someone: affording the source the opportunity to answer allegations or criticisms before publishing the work,” according to the N.Y.U. Journalism Handbook for Students. Applying that same rule to your relationship with your editor is going to save you so much time in the long run — and make your first drafts so much stronger. (So don’t be surprised when it gets you on an editor’s regulars roster.)

Good luck out there!

Oh, a few other things …

• Got a question about freelancing or the wider world of journalism? Let’s hear it, and I may feature it in a future Q&A post! Drop any of your questions, comments, and thoughts about freelancing and journalism in general in a comment below, or email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com.

Leave a comment

• Sell a pitch recently? I want to see it! If you had a story picked up not long ago, I’d love to feature you and your story in our ongoing series highlighting pitches that sold. Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com and put “Pitches that sold” in the subject line. Can’t wait to see ’em!

Email me

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second set of eyes on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and/or building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with! (Paid subscribers get 33% off — email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com for details!)

Book a session

Free workshop alert! Join me and Kaitlyn Arford of Freelance Opportunities on May 7 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern for an in-depth tutorial on how to use social media to find more freelance work and build a sustainable — and profitable! — business. There is SO much out there for those who know exactly how to look, and Kaitlyn is the best in the biz at digging up those opportunities. Click here to register, and remember that paid subscribers get free access (for details on how to redeem that, see the middle of this post). See you May 7!

Hello friends! Today we have another entry in our ongoing series of #pitchesthatsold, in which we examine a successful, well-thought-out pitch that resulted in a great clip and a paycheck.

I’m thrilled to feature Foram Mehta (who wrote for me at The Times!) with a pitch she recently sold to Slate, which you’ll see below. She had spent nearly a year pitching it around to places and finally found it a perfect home with Slate.

Some data about the process:

Rate: $600
Time elapsed between pitching Slate and publication: 1 month
Rounds of editing: 2
Additional work outside of reporting and writing (if any): None
Read the story here: Moved Fast and Broke Things

Subject line: [PITCH] The golden days of tech are over. Will 1 million+ workers like me ever bounce back?

Read more

Workshop alert! Join me this Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern for an in-depth tutorial on writing the perfect pitch that editors will actually read — and commission. We’ll cover everything from how to structure a pitch for almost any story, to what you must include (and leave out!), to finding editors and best practices for following up. Click here to register, and remember that paid subs get free access (for details on that, see the middle of this post). See you Thursday!

Hello friends! I hope your week is off to a lovely start and you’re enjoying some beautiful spring weather and activities. I, um … watched TV and movies all weekend inside. Couldn’t have been better tbh.

Anyway! Today we’re going to cover an often-overlooked but absolutely key component of any successful freelance business: How we present ourselves and our work to potential editors.

I’ve invited freelance writer and former editor Liz Massey to share some insight and knowledge on the topic that she’s gained from her many years on both sides of the equation.

Take it away, Liz!

***

Getting on an editor’s “regulars” roster can be a tricky, mysterious affair, a process that is equal parts skill, reliability, being able to deliver the goods, and sometimes just plain luck. However, there are two things within your control that you can do to help your odds of getting that initial response, gain an editor’s trust, and put your best foot forward: (1) Construct your online portfolio thoughtfully and with intentionality, and (2) Be extremely mindful and methodical about how you portray your published work.

I’ve experienced the writer-editor relationship from both sides. I’ve worked for more than 30 years as a freelance writer and editor, and I was on staff as a magazine editor for more than 15 years. I have seen firsthand how improving your self-presentation to editors can take your career to the next level and remove obstacles to showcasing your talent.

What editors look for when they visit your portfolio

When I vetted writers as a magazine editor, this is what I paid attention to when I reviewed a writer’s published work:

• Each article’s relevance to the pitch or assignment under discussion

• How the writer selected sources and how they handled quotes (i.e., how they set them up and provided context)

• Evidence of good old-fashioned writing and reporting skills, like how they handled transitions and how clearly they framed the article’s purpose early on (like, say, in the nut graf!)

• My evaluation of their ability to deliver the story under consideration

Your focus when building your portfolio should be on the quality of your samples, but don’t forget to make it easy to use. A portfolio site that’s challenging to navigate puts a barrier between your work and the editor.

Portfolio hosting options

If your budget allows, your own personal, branded website, complete with a custom URL, is a wonderful option. However, you have to pay for a lot of moving parts, like design work, the domain name, and site hosting.

Using a free platform like wordpress.com to host your portfolio can be a much cheaper option, but it comes with the usual “freemium” limitations that other, similar, platforms have as well. Dedicated portfolio platforms, like clippings.me, Notion, or Authory, offer a decent compromise, providing a platform designed for portfolios with relatively low upkeep fees. I recently started using Authory’s paid platform, which allows unlimited clips to be posted and allows you to create an unlimited number of collections. Its free option could work for many, as it lets you host up to 10 work samples in a single collection.

More workshops! Next month I have two workshops that will go deep on finding freelance work using social media and launching and growing your own newsletter. (All registrants will get a full playback of the workshop, whether they attend live or not, and paid subscribers get 100% off tickets!)

• May 7 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to use social media to find work. Join me and freelance extraordinaire Kaitlyn Arford for a workshop on finding work using social media and how it can help you build a sustainable — and profitable! — business. There is SO much out there for those who know exactly how to look, and Kaitlyn is the best in the biz at digging up those opportunities.

Click here to register

• May 14 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to start and grow a newsletter. Join me and Parker Molloy of The Present Age for a workshop on how to launch and grow a successful newsletter. We’ll cover the best platforms for publishing your newsletter, how to find your target audience, how to promote your work, the ins and outs of developing your niche, and so much more!

Click here to register

Portfolio do’s and don’ts

Maintaining your portfolio is like brushing your teeth. It’s necessary, you’ll see results down the road, and you’ll be glad you made it a habit. Here are some quick tips that will help you make the most of whatever platform you choose.

Do’s

• Add clips to your portfolio as they’re published

• Save articles in multiple formats, including PDFs, in case the original online link goes dead

• Spend time planning how you’ll organize your clips. If you have more than five, say, do you need to organize them by subject? Do collections of clips need a separate page?

• Create custom collections to showcase specialties

• Keep your portfolio simple and easy to follow

Don’ts

• Exceed your budget for a portfolio site; remember, it’s just one part of developing your career and of your overall freelance business

• Post less-than-great work to your portfolio; you’re better represented by five outstanding articles than 15 mediocre ones

• Make editors hunt for a specific article you want them to read; send them a link from your portfolio to that story in the clips part of your pitch

• Use scanned or photographed images of print pages if you have other options

How to talk about past writing work

Framing your previous assignments in a positive, productive way is also essential to building an ongoing relationship with an editor, whether you’re talking casually on the phone or writing a pitch. One helpful mental model for discussing your work is the case study, which is a deep dive into a specific real-world example that you want to highlight. You can apply the case-study model when talking about your portfolio by focusing on:

• Challenges you overcame in a writing assignment

• Lessons you learned along the way

• How you partnered with the editor to make the final draft amazing

• How this assignment moved your freelance career forward

And, of course, this goes without saying, but don’t bad-mouth editors when talking about prior assignments. This shows prospective editors how you may speak of them.

Finally, a crucial point: Don’t worry about shameless self-promotion. No one else is going to do it for you.

Self-promotion is critical to developing your freelance career. You control how you present yourself, so curate your best work and your best stories about your work. Editors will appreciate you for presenting an honest portrait of yourself and what you have to offer, and that may even help to grease the wheels to more assignments!

Liz Massey is a freelance writer in Northern Maine who frequently shares insights on how to create better nonfiction. You can catch up on her professional writing activities (which include résumé writing and content strategy, in addition to freelance writing and editing) on LinkedIn. You can take a peek at her freelance portfolio on Authory.

Oh, a few other things …

• Got a question about freelancing or the wider world of journalism? Let’s hear it, and I may feature it in a future Q&A post! Drop any of your questions, comments, and thoughts about freelancing and journalism in general in a comment below, or email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com.

Leave a comment

• Sell a pitch recently? I want to see it! If you had a story picked up not long ago, I’d love to feature you and your story in our ongoing series highlighting pitches that sold. Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com and put “Pitches that sold” in the subject line. Can’t wait to see ’em!

Email me

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second set of eyes on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with! (Paid subscribers get 33% off — email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com for details!)

Book a session

How many organizations currently pay you?

Every freelancer knows not to put all of your eggs in one basket. Yes, it’s great to have a few anchor clients — those clients you work for regularly to have a dependable source of income — but building a successful freelance business can also mean building out different types of income.

Here’s something I learned very quickly when embarking on my own freelance journey: Journalistic writing — what I thought would be my default as a freelancer — is the least lucrative type of freelance writing by orders of magnitude. For example: One of my first freelance assignments I took when I went independent was a 1,000-word story for a very prominent national outlet. The rate? A flat $600 — or 60 cents a word. A month or so later, I took on a copywriting gig that worked out to roughly $6 per word. Did I get a fancy byline out of it? No. Did it offer me the freedom to skip a week of doing any work whatsoever just because I felt like it? Sure did.

I think a lot about the conversation I had a while back with a freelancer who made $27,000 in one month, and something they said to me still sticks out: “I’m also at a point in my career where I’ve come to terms with the reality that, for me, money is more important than prestige. I care more about paying off my loans and building savings than, say, writing for prestigious or ‘cool’ publications that may pay less.”

Read more

Hello friends!

I often hold workshops about writing better pitches, and many times the conversations veer into territory I talk about all the time but have never really put into writing: There are very few concrete, unbreakable rules in pitching.

Every piece of advice you’ve ever gotten about pitching — including from this very newsletter! — is just a guideline, a suggestion, or a subjective take on the process. It’s all very squishy! There are countless ways to pitch every story. Some are certainly better than others — like, ahem, those based on advice from this very newsletter 😇 — but none are necessarily wrong or right.

However …

When thinking about what components of a pitch are mandatory, I revisit these four things that I think should apply to every pitch, regardless of the story itself. That’s it! Four things! And they’re pretty simple! But, unlike every other piece of advice on pitching, they aren’t guidelines. These are the unbreakable rules of pitching.

Never send a full draft

This is one of the most common questions I talk about in pitching workshops — “Should I send a draft along with my pitch?” — and it’s the one issue I’m most absolute about. Never, ever, ever send a draft.

But why not?

Whether you intend to send this message or not, the message received by the editor when they get a full draft of a story is: “This story is done, take it or leave it.” And I promise you, it’s rare for an editor to take it at that point. Part of an editor’s job is to work with you on shaping the story for their publication and readership. When an editor gets a draft, that process is essentially finished, and, again, it doesn’t matter if you meant to tell the editor it’s finished; they will assume it is. Attaching a draft with a pitch actively costs you money.

(BIG caveat: If you’re pitching an opinion piece or a personal essay, generally editors want to see a draft. Opinion pieces build an argument, so you need to show what that argument is, and that’s difficult to do in a pitch. As for personal essays, some editors want to see the developed story, rather than a summary of it, so you’re mostly okay to include a draft.)

Workshop alert! I have three super useful sessions coming up over the next month, covering how to write the perfect story pitch, how to find freelance work using social media, and how to launch and grow your own newsletter. (All registrants will get a full playback of the workshop, whether they attend live or not, and paid subscribers get 50% off tickets to all events!)

• April 23 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to write story pitches editors will actually read — and commission. Join me for an in-depth examination of what goes into a fantastic story pitch. How do you structure it? What must be in it, and what should you leave out? How much pre-reporting should you do? How can you head off the follow-up questions an editor will inevitably ask? How do you even find editors to pitch or know what publication to shoot for? We’ll cover all that and much, much more in this session.

Click here to register

• May 7 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to use social media to find work. Join me and freelance extraordinaire Kaitlyn Arford for a workshop on finding work using social media, and how it can help you build a sustainable — and profitable! — business. There is SO much out there for those who know exactly how to look, and Kaitlyn is the best in the biz at digging up those opportunities.

Click here to register

• May 14 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to start and grow a newsletter. Join me and Parker Molloy of The Present Age for a workshop on how to launch and grow a successful newsletter. We’ll cover the best platforms for publishing your newsletter, how to find your target audience, how to promote your work, the ins and outs of developing your niche, and so much more!

Click here to register

Structure of your subject line

This is an easy one. Your subject line should always be:

Freelance pitch: [Proposed headline for your story]

I always advise writers to include “freelance” in the subject line, since PR people often use this same format, so it helps you differentiate your pitch from someone just looking for publicity for their client. Your very first job when pitching a story is just to get the editor to open your email, and a catchy subject line is the best way to do that.

The other major reason to include a proposed headline is that it serves as a kind of backstop to make sure you know what your story actually is. If you find yourself struggling for, say, 10 minutes to write a great headline/subject line, it might be an indication that you should go back and focus your idea a little more.

Quick anecdote: The best pitch I’ve ever gotten had a proposed headline as the subject line, and that headline happened to include the word “fuck.” Amazing! I’m certainly not advising you to swear in yours, but this writer knew I would respond to that, knew I wouldn’t be offended, and knew that that was my general vibe. Like we always say: Pitch the editor, not the publication.

Include clips and a brief bio (and a website if you have one, which you should)

This one is very simple, but often overlooked and forgotten (you wouldn’t believe how many people forget to include these!). This is just a few simple lines at the end of your email, that’s it. No more than three or four clips, and if you have a website, drop that link, too. Generally, I think it’s advantageous to have a website because it lets you guide what the editor reads of your work. The first thing an editor does when they get a cold pitch is Google you to see where you’ve written and to see what you’re all about, but if you send along your website you can answer all those questions while also putting your best foot forward.

For reference, here is the exact language I include at the end of every pitch I send (clips will vary, these were for a pitch in the same line of coverage):

About me: I helped launch Smarter Living at The New York Times then edited it for five years. Before that I was a reporter and social producer at The Washington Post. I’ve written in this area a ton — below are a few clips — and I think [publication] would be a perfect home for this. I’m hoping to get this placed sooner rather than later, so if I don’t hear back from you by [specific date] I’ll assume it’s a pass.

Thanks for your consideration!

-Tim

• Remember: What You Do Is Not Who You Are
• 7 Months Into the Pandemic and I’m Losing Motivation. Help!
• Thinking About a Job or Career Change? Read This
• I Hope This Email Finds You Well

Simple as that!

Don’t forget the small stuff that can add up

This is more of a category than a specific rule, but it matters. Here we’re talking about the list of things to do before sending your pitch:

• Check the publication’s archives to make sure they haven’t run anything similar to your story lately (which you should do at the very beginning of the story generation process, but it never hurts to check one last time)

• Triple-check for typos

• Make sure you’re addressing the correct publication and the correct editor (Really! Even if you’re sure, just check again! You’d be surprised!)

• Triple-check that all of your links go where you want them to go, then check them again (this one can be particularly embarrassing — lots of copy/paste errors end up here)

On their own, these things really don’t matter too much. No editor would ever decline a killer story because there is a typo or two in the pitch. But taken together, a handful of these tiny little slip-ups may make an editor think twice about commissioning your story.

Good luck out there, and if you have any other “unbreakable rules” of your own, please drop them in the comments, I’d love to hear!

Oh, a few other things …

• If you like what you’re reading, please consider subscribing to the paid version of this newsletter. Paid subs get an extra newsletter every week, access to all past and future paid-only posts, 50% off all Zoom workshops, a guide to avoiding the 7 most common mistakes in freelancing, a must-have checklist for getting your assignments right, the exact text of a pitch I sold to The Atlantic, practical tips for diversifying your freelance income, and much more.

  Subscribe now

• How much were you paid for your last assignment? Feel free to contribute to our ongoing freelance rate database here! And if you’d just like to see the regularly updated database, check it out here.

• Sell a pitch recently? I want to see it! If you had a story picked up not long ago, I’d love to feature you and your story in our ongoing series highlighting pitches that sold. Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com and put “Pitches that sold” in the subject line. Can’t wait to see ’em!

Email me

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second pair of eyes on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with!

Click here to book a session

The job market is in shambles, and it has been for quite some time. Everyone knows this, it’s nothing new, and we’re all suffering for it. Whether you’re looking for full-time work or want to add more clients to your freelance roster, no one is escaping the pain of looking for work right now, even those lucky enough to have a job. There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Things suck.

But! This isn’t a downer, we’re-all-doomed newsletter! (Well, not totally, anyway.) Last fall I listed a job with FWT that, within two days, pulled in more than 700 applications. I thoroughly read every single one, and I noticed a few commonalities among the best ones — and the less great ones.

So today, I’m sharing six takeaways from my weeks spent reading through those hundreds of résumés. Things to do, things to avoid, and just things to be aware of. And, if you’ve been lucky enough to land work, either FT or freelance, leave a comment below and share with us what worked for you. We’re in this together, y’all!

It’s not you, it’s them

Really, truly, I am being so serious about this. There were dozens of unbelievably qualified candidates I would have been thrilled to hire, but through no fault of their own, they didn’t make the cut, even though I am 100% confident they could have done the job and excelled at it!

The truth is, every open position right now will have hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants, and many, many of those applicants will be deeply qualified. I know we all generally know this, but seeing it firsthand was gobsmacking. It’s a tough pill to swallow for us all, because it’s frustrating going through a full application process for a job we know we’re qualified for and could do, nailing every part of the process, only to get an unexplained rejection — or, even worse, to get ghosted. “Where did I go wrong? What did I screw up? Am I not actually as good as I think I am?” we ask ourselves.

Read more

Hello friends, and happy (belated) start to spring! I hope you’ve all been eagerly coming out of your winter cocoons and enjoying a little more sun and nicer weather (if that’s the case where you live, anyway).

Today we’re going to talk about how to proceed when your story just ... isn’t working. Stories fall apart for a million reasons, but that doesn’t always mean the story is dead. A lot of the time, they’re totally salvageable with a little extra effort!

Pretty early on after I became an editor, I was working with a freelancer on a story about disintegrating familial relationships. We had a general perspective and outline, a plan of action, and a pretty direct route forward. We were both pumped about it!

A few weeks later, the freelancer emailed me: sources were disappearing, the background reporting wasn’t aligning with what we thought the story was, and the writer felt that our plan was caving in. We talked about a few ways to dig ourselves out, but, eventually, the writer just stopped responding.

This, of course, is an example of what not to do when your story is falling apart. What could have eventually become a helpful, relatable story about family and relationships turned into ... nothing. This freelancer had called the game too early and ghosted.

Don’t do that! Believe me when I say that editors genuinely want to work with you through the entire process, even when it gets ugly, and it’s quite literally their job to do so. (In this editor’s opinion, it’s one of the most rewarding experiences for an editor.)

Stories fall apart. It happens to freelancers fresh to the industry and to veteran staff reporters who have been on a beat for 15 years. It’s not unique, it didn’t just happen to you, it doesn’t reflect on your skills or temperament as a journalist, and it most certainly doesn’t mean it’s automatically time to throw in the towel. Sources disappear, the reporting is completely counter to what you thought the story was (literally happened to me this week on a story I’m writing for next month), you get into the weeds and realize there just isn’t anything there, the moment passes ... these things happen, and a lot of the time it’s simply out of your hands. It sucks, it’s stressful, it can feel like failure, but this is the life we signed up for as journalists. Your editor understands this, and you won’t be the first freelancer whose story fell out from under them.

Upcoming Zoom workshop, please join me!

• April 23 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to write story pitches editors will actually read — and commission. Join me for an in-depth examination of what goes into a fantastic story pitch. How do you structure it? What must be in it, and what should you leave out? How much pre-reporting should you do? How can you head off the follow-up questions an editor will inevitably ask? How do you even find editors to pitch or know what publication to shoot for? We’ll cover all that and much, much more in this workshop. (All registrants will receive a playback of the full session, whether they attend live or not, and paid Substack subscribers get 50% off admission.)

Click here to register

P.S. — I know a few folks had trouble accessing a previous one of these; if that’s you, email me directly and I’ll comp you into this one.

But! With some redirection, refocusing, and reframing — sometimes a little, often a lot — even the most hopeless of stories can turn into something beautiful. *insert awful, tired cliché about how pressure makes diamonds*

So we know what not to do — give up, ghost, abandon the idea, generally just write off the story — but what can you do to pull a story back from the brink?

Here are a few simple Dos and Don’ts to pull the body out of the trainwreck.

Do: Communicate

This is by far the most important part. Again, editors have been to this rodeo before. To a certain degree, it’s expected! But the moment you realize things aren’t shaping up as you thought they would, just reach out. A super simple email laying out exactly what’s going on is the best move here, and it doesn’t have to be complicated:

“Hey, can we hop on the phone when you have a minute? It’s starting to look like our story isn’t panning out how we thought it might. [X source pulled out, Y research showed something totally opposite, Z time peg has passed unexpectedly soon], so I’d love to chat through some ideas with you.”

That’s it! When things look shaky, communication is your ladder out of the hole. It might seem like an insurmountably uncomfortable conversation, but truly, honestly, it’s not.

Don’t: Keep the problems to yourself

The worst thing you can do here is never mention the problems and then file a story completely different from the version you talked about with your editor. No editor in the world will be upset when a writer tells them things aren’t looking great at the moment, but editors will be miffed if you file a 900-word explainer when the agreed-upon idea was a 2,000-word narrative feature. It’s perfectly fine that every single thing isn’t working out! They rarely do. But resist the impulse to try to fix everything on your own. You’re not on your own here.

Do: Bring ideas

I know, I know, we’ve all heard it before: Don’t bring problems without bringing solutions. That worn-out axiom certainly applies here. Even if you don’t have a fully formed idea, at least try to have a few rough thoughts about potential paths forward. It’s the editor’s job to work with you and help shape those thoughts into ways forward.

Similarly, it’s important to have some specifics about what’s not working with the story. The editor won’t have any clues on how to fix it if you don’t tell them what’s wrong, so be forthright (however awkward that might feel in the moment) about exactly what is falling apart.

Don’t: Expect your editor to completely fix everything

This is still your story, and as much as your editor can help you with it, they can do only so much; you still have to report and write it. A good editor will be there every step of the way, but at the end of the day, they can’t report your story for you. I know this seems self-evident and obvious, but you would be astounded how many times a writer will file what is essentially an outline and expect the editor to do the rest. (Like, for real, it happens way more than you think.) Your editor can, and should, help devise solutions, but the writer is still the one who has to execute.

Do: Establish a realistic revised timeline

If you bring up the issues early enough, an extended timeline will almost literally never be a problem. (But, of course, nothing is ever guaranteed in life, sigh.) If you think you’ll need an extra two weeks to iron things out, just ask for the full two weeks. If you realize — and communicate — the problems as soon as you encounter them, reworking a pub sked is generally not a major problem. (Bringing these up a week before your pub date, on the other hand ...)

Don’t: Force it if it’s not there

We’ve all had to deal with it, probably many times: The story just isn’t meant to be. It happens. Take the loss — and if you’re lucky, the kill fee! — and start on your next story. A few years ago I was unbelievably excited about a story idea I loved and successfully sold to GQ, but for a multitude of reasons it utterly unraveled and there just wasn’t a way to bring it back to life. This sucks in the moment, so give yourself a beat to be bummed, but don’t linger. It comes with the territory.

Do: Forget it and move on

Fail, recover, retry. That’s all we can do. (And if you’re doing things right, you should be failing a whoooole lot.)

Good luck out there!

Oh, a few other things …

• How much were you paid for your last assignment? Feel free to contribute to our ongoing freelance rate database here. And if you’d just like to see the regularly updated database, check it out here.

• Sell a pitch recently? I want to see it! If you had a story picked up not long ago, I’d love to feature you and your story in our ongoing series highlighting pitches that sold. Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com and put “Pitches that sold” in the subject line. Can’t wait to see ’em!

  Email me

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second pair of eyes on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with!

  Click here to book a session

Hello friends, happy holidays! The year is almost over! It’s officially winter now! It’s all happening!

In the time-honored tradition of publications rounding up their best work of the year, this week I’m pleased to present 2025’s most popular FWT posts. Below are the newsletters and stories that have most resonated with the FWT community, not only in terms of traffic, but also in the robust conversations that surrounded these topics. Some are super practical — like the nuts and bolts of getting started in freelance journalism — while others are more abstract, like how to get editors to come to you.

But more broadly speaking, what did we learn this year?

Not to get too ~down~ during the holiday season, but one of the overarching themes of many conversations I’ve had this year with freelancers is that ... well, it’s rough out here. Between budgets being slashed, opportunities disappearing, and competition being tougher than ever, so many of us have had a rough year in the industry.

Personally, I have found a weird sort of comfort in that. Despite all of us facing pretty rough headwinds, the freelance community has rallied around each other and supported one another in ways I haven’t seen since the worst days of the pandemic. The generosity of freelancers has been on display in a wonderfully heartening way this year, and though the bad times aren’t going to end any time soon (or ever?), the succor I’ve seen freelancers offer has been a beautiful example of lifting others up. No freelancer makes it without the support of fellow freelancers, and it’s a pleasure to be a part of it. (Sorry to get all sappy, but I really mean it!)

With that, below are the 10 best posts from FWT this year. I hope you’ve gotten as much out of them as I did researching them and putting them together, and I’m so excited for a ton of really great stuff coming in 2026. (And a quick programming note: I’ll be off this Thursday, but back in the saddle after that.)

Happy holidays!

Click here to register

Hello friends! 2025 is rapidly coming to a close (literally how, wasn’t it March last month?), so now is as good a time as any to reevaluate your client list. Let’s call it the Great EOY Purge.

Dropping clients?! In this economy?!?!

Just hear me out.

As freelancers, we put so much time and effort — both emotionally and practically — into finding new clients. After all, that is our livelihood, and it’s a sometimes grueling task that never gets easier. And, before we get too far, yes, I fully concede this does sound kind of insane: Why would we dump a paying client after spending hours, weeks, or even months landing them? But the calculus gets a little more complicated when we take a step back to think about what we’re sacrificing to get that paycheck. Sometimes it’s really just not worth it.

It can even be freeing to let go.

I was inspired to write this newsletter after I saw someone on LinkedIn a while back say, more or less, that a paycheck is a paycheck, and everything is so precarious that sometimes you just have to eat the shit sandwich and put up with whatever it takes to get paid. I understand the intention behind the idea — again, it can seem ludicrous to drop a paying client — but I fundamentally disagree with it. No paycheck is worth sacrificing your mental well-being.

To wit: One of my first gigs after I went independent was a copywriting position. It paid exceptionally well: about $5 per word. Wild, I remember thinking. I had discovered the key to the freelance kingdom! Nothing but fat paychecks for easy work from here on out! I’ve made it!

But I hated the work. It wasn’t rewarding, it was dull, I wasn’t proud of it, and it just wasn’t what I wanted to be doing. The people I was working with were wonderful, which made the decision that much more complicated, but I needed to make a decision nonetheless. It took some deep introspection — Come on snowflake, are you really gonna give up a $5/word gig because it’s not ~rewarding~ enough for you? — and ultimately I concluded that the psychic toll it was taking on me wasn’t worth those lovely paychecks.

How do I know when it’s time to cut ties?

Read more

Hi! I’m sure you usually skip past this, but please take a sec to read! I started FWT years ago to provide resources to help journalists thrive in our industry and to demystify the world of freelancing. I want to continue that mission and offer more and more resources, so if you like what you’re reading want to help this grow, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. A paid sub includes an extra newsletter every week, 50% off all Zoom events, access to all past and future paid-only posts, and much more. Subscriptions start at just $7/month or $70 /year. Either way, so thrilled you’re here!

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Hello friends, and happy holidays! First, I just want to apologize for not having been around much lately. The past few months have been extremely ... complicated ... for a few very significant reasons. But everything is evening out now, and I’m back in business.

So! Today we’re talking about a more subtle approach to landing more freelance work. We all know the obvious stuff: pitch more, network more, build a stronger brand presence, be shameless about self-promotion, etc. Of course, that stuff is necessary. But there’s something a little more subtle and nuanced that is just as important.

Let me explain.

Lots of freelancers I work with ask some version of the same question: How do I impress editors? How do I stand out? How do I sound smarter in my pitches? How do I make my work impossible to ignore?

It’s perfectly natural to fall down this rabbit hole! Freelancing can feel competitive, and when work is uneven, even a slight edge can make the difference between paying rent with a paycheck or dipping into savings (should we be lucky enough to even have savings). It’s normal to assume the solution is to be more impressive, more original, more insightful, more undeniable.

And to be clear, those things do help. It goes without saying that the best way to get more freelance work is to create truly impressive, original, and standout work. Be so good they can’t ignore you, and so on. But after years of editing freelancers, talking with other commissioning editors, and freelancing myself, I’ve come to believe that this line of thinking is slightly off. Or, at least, incomplete.

A better question is: How do I make myself an obvious, low-risk choice?

A great idea sells once. A great partner sells as much they want.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Editors absolutely would prefer to work with a dependable, reliable, consistent freelancer than a superstar. No question about it. The writers we come back to most are the writers with whom our last collaboration was smooth, calm, and predictable. When an editor is scanning their mental list of possible writers on a tight deadline, they’re not asking who impressed them the most. They’re asking who will make this assignment go the least sideways.

That’s the quiet truth most freelancers don’t hear early enough.

Generally speaking, most working freelancers are good writers and have good story ideas. And even if they’re not at that superstar status just yet, it’s our job as editors to get them there. It’s one of the great joys of being an editor! And the freelancers we love working with most are those who actively want edits and want to grow and learn.

So the differences that determine who editors go to in a pinch — or even just who we want to work with more regularly — tend to show up in much subtler places, like how easy (or not) it was to work together, or, again, how eager and receptive the writer is to take edits and improve. Were things manageable even if they got way off track? Or stressful and full of unnecessary surprises? Stability makes just as strong an impression as chaos.

Being impressive is memorable. Being low-risk is assignable.

Another bell I ring often is that clear, early communication is one of the simplest ways to become that low-risk choice. We editors notice when expectations are aligned early, when details are clarified instead of assumed, and when questions are asked before they become problems. A short email that says, “Just confirming scope and deadline so I’m aligned,” does more for your reputation than an extra clever turn of phrase in your copy. Clarity is crucial.

All the same can be said for reliability. You can file perfect, clever, insightful copy all day, but if an editor doesn’t know when they can actually expect you to file, you’re probably not the type of freelancer they’re going to actively assign to. Editors don’t need perfection; they need consistency. It’s literally our job to make your story the best possible version of itself that it can be! So a writer who hits deadlines most of the time and communicates early when issues arise is far more valuable than a writer who occasionally delivers something brilliant but unpredictably.

And, to be clear, predictable doesn’t mean boring. It just means an editor knows roughly what will happen when they work with you. They know how you communicate, how clean your drafts will be, how you handle edits, and how you respond under pressure. That predictability makes you an easy, and obvious, choice for assignments.

Is this the most glamorous way of working? Of course not; there’s no Pulitzer for “Most Dependable Freelancer.” But it is a surefire path to getting more consistent work, and to building a reputation as someone editors actively want to work with.

I’d say you can’t put a price on that, but the price is right there in your bank account.

Oh, a few other things …

• If you like what you’re reading, please consider subscribing to the paid version of this newsletter. Paid subs get an extra newsletter every week, access to all past and future paid-only posts, 50% off all Zoom workshops, a guide to avoiding the 7 most common mistakes in freelancing, a must-have checklist for getting your assignments right, the exact text of a pitch I sold to The Atlantic, practical tips for diversifying your freelance income, and much more.

  Subscribe now

• How much were you paid for last assignment? Feel free to contribute to our ongoing freelance rate database here.

• Sell a pitch recently? I want to see it! If you had a story picked up not long ago, I’d love to feature you and your story in our ongoing series highlighting pitches that sold. Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com and let’s talk!

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second eye on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with!

  Click here to book a session

We all know every pitch has the same goal: sell a story. But dig one level deeper, and the real point of a pitch is to remove reasons for an editor to say no. You want your pitch to be so good, tight, comprehensive, and compelling that the only thought an editor should have after reading it is, I’d be an idiot not to commission this.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. But there are a handful of self-checks and edits you can do for any pitch, regardless of the topic or focus, to strengthen your pitch and give it the best shot at being sold.

After a decade of commissioning, reviewing, editing, and shaping pitches, I’ve landed on these six concepts as the most common ones I help freelancers with when it comes pitches — they’re also the most common errors I see in submitted pitches. So before you send your next pitch — and every pitch after that — ask yourself these six questions. (And, as always, all pitching advice is just guidance, not a set of rules.)

Did I answer the question, ‘Who cares?’

If you’ve ever been to one of my pitching workshops this will sound familiar, as I always say that the “Who cares?” of it all is probably the most important and central idea you need to address in your pitch.

Read more

Hello friends, happy October! I’m so glad to be back this week after my (trickier-than-expected) move back to New York, so thanks for bearing with me while I was dealing with all that! (Also, if you’re in New York, say hi! Let’s get coffee!)

This week we’re coming back swinging and addressing one of the most frequently asked questions I get from writers — and one I have absolutely no idea how to answer: How do you pitch an Opinion piece?

To answer this, I had to bring in the big guns: Please welcome Rachel Sonis to the FWT gang! Rachel is the former editor of TIME magazine’s opinion section, and she recently went independent to open her own editorial consultancy. I’m thrilled to bring her on this week so we can finally get some guidance on landing opinion pieces.

Take it away, Rachel!

***

Opinions of all shapes and sizes are easy to come by. Famously, everyone has one — it’s human! But crafting a persuasive opinion pitch around an idea is no easy feat, and it’s an entirely different beast than simply having something to say about a topic.

Many of us think of pitching as an art form: a mix of enticing, narrative storytelling and precise facts that ultimately persuades an editor to work with you. But these days, I’ve been thinking about it more as a science. “Art form” feels too amorphous, too vibes-based, when the objective in question — especially when it comes to op-eds — often hinges on how effectively (and succinctly) you can persuade an audience and your editor to believe ... well, you.

Thinking of it more as a science or a formula doesn’t only help create clarity around how you would go about arguing your central thesis. It can make the process more accessible, too.

As someone who has been a book and digital media editor for a decade, most recently as the editor of TIME’s op-ed section, I can tell you that every effective op-ed pitch shares similar bones: it’s concise (two paragraphs, three at most), and it follows a clear formula with four essential components.

Consider your headline first

We’re often told to save titles of projects or headlines for the very end of the writing process. In the case of opinion pieces, though, it’s actually the thing you should consider first. For op-eds, the headline serves a crucial purpose: it is your argument in its sharpest, most concentrated form.

The reason you should consider doing this is twofold: If you’re pitching an editor, it saves them time (a precious resource for us all), and crafting a succinct, eye-grabbing headline instantly signals to an editor where you stand and from what direction you’re trying to enter the conversation. This can help them decide quickly if your argument is timely, persuasive, and ultimately worth publishing.

More importantly, though, a strong headline forces you to clarify your stance right away. The biggest piece of advice I give op-ed writers is to get off the proverbial fence. Pick your argument, understand the mechanics and nuances of it, and decide if, after all that, you can stick by it. Use your headline as your compass.

Underline your op-ed’s timeliness, but add an extra layer

Whether it’s a feature, an investigative piece, a profile, or a quick news hit, most journalism pitches consider the timeliness of the story you’re trying to tell. It asks the essential question, Why does this story matter right now? Given how fickle the news cycle can be, this also means that your timelines will be truncated when you’re pitching. For op-eds, my quick rule of thumb is this: if it’s a breaking news event (a government policy change, a Supreme Court decision, etc.), be prepared to turn around the full first draft piece in 24 hours. If it’s a news event that has long-standing resonance (a death, a climate event, etc.), be prepared to submit the draft in two to three days. If it’s more of an op-ed based around a trend, or something that could be planned for in advance, consider giving an editor a concrete, reasonable timeline for when you’d be able to turn the piece in.

That said, with op-eds, the question of timeliness often takes on an even bigger meaning: you’re being asked not only what events make this story worth telling right now, but also how they fit into larger discourses our culture is having. Being able to zoom out and articulate what your argument reveals about society, politics, or the way we live will strengthen your piece. Expanding on these points at the top of your pitch after stating your central thesis also underscores its urgency and establishes your narrative framework early.

Walk through your evidence

After you establish a narrative framework — which we’ll be covering in a newsletter later this month — it’s important to explain both your evidence and why you are the right person to write on this topic. Ask yourself: What makes me the right person to weigh in here? Be direct and concise, and lay out your expertise, perspective, or lived experience, and show why that gives you credibility on the subject.

Answering this question would also help you show your supporting arguments (three to four is the sweet spot!), and tailor them to the topic at hand. They might bring in cultural evidence, data and recent studies, personal anecdotes, or a mix of all three! What matters here is showing your editor how you plan to prove your case. This demonstrates that your argument has legs and also proves to the editor that you can carry it through with authority.

Another thing an editor might ask, especially if you haven’t worked with each other before, is whether you have a draft of the piece already written. If you do, I would just say in your pitch email that you do have a draft, ask if they’d like to take a look, and give them the approximate word count. This helps keep the process as efficient as possible and gives your editor all of the options.

As for whether you should have a draft written when you send the pitch? Ask 10 editors and you’ll get 10 different answers, so I’ll just say: your call.

Know the publication’s audience

Some op-ed sections cover more political news. Others focus on more cultural, lifestyle, and societal topics. Some are okay with more jargony language. Others want something that can appeal to a more general audience.

You know where I’m going with this: It’s important to read the op-ed sections of the publications you want to pitch. Figure out what you think is working in them, but just as important, what is not. Because once you get a sense of the topics your preferred publication is interested in covering, you will not only be more efficient with your pitching process. Your pitches will be all the stronger for it, too. [Ed. note from Tim: Big, big co-sign!]

Taking all of these components in will help your brain slowly begin to rewire to think like an opinion writer — and have a surefire formula to change people’s minds.

Rachel Sonis is a journalist and editor with over 10 years of experience developing content for print and digital media. Most recently, she was the editor of TIME magazine’s opinion section, TIME Ideas, and was an acquiring and developmental book editor at Penguin Random House before that. Now, she runs her own editorial consultancy, which you could learn more about here: https://www.rachelsonis.com/

Oh, a few other things …

• If you like what you’re reading, please consider subscribing to the paid version of this newsletter. Paid subs get an extra newsletter every week, access to all past and future paid-only posts, 50% off all Zoom workshops, a guide to avoiding the 7 most common mistakes in freelancing, a must-have checklist for getting your assignments right, the exact text of a pitch I sold to The Atlantic, practical tips for diversifying your freelance income, and much more.

  Subscribe now

• Sell a pitch recently? I want to see it! If you had a story picked up not long ago, I’d love to feature you and your story in our ongoing series highlighting pitches that sold. Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com and let’s talk!

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second eye on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with!

  Click here to book a session

There was a time, many internets ago, when Twitter was the end-all, be-all network for journalists. In some (decreasing) ways, it still kind of is, but I think we’ve all come to the conclusion that ... it just kind of sucks now. What used to be a fun place to meet other journalists, find work, network, and just goof around has become something very different. 

But what you probably don’t know — or have written off — is that LinkedIn has become the new hot spot. It has everything: jobs, gigs, networking, weird personal life posts that feel oddly intimate, life and career updates from people you actually know, and a place to make genuine connections with others in the industry. This is a tune I’ve been singing for years, but I really mean it. (Also hi let’s connect, here’s mine!)

This sounds weird! I realize that. LinkedIn still hasn’t fully shed its 2013-era reputation of being a lame place where middle-aged guys post motivational quotes and self-righteous soliloquies. But I promise it’s not that. On top of being an absolute gold mine of full-time positions and freelance work, it’s a place to find news in real time, make connections that actually pay off in ways that Twitter never did, promote your work, and, practically speaking, drive real traffic to a story. I worked in audience dev for years, and my secret weapon was always LinkedIn.

So how can you use it to your advantage? Here are four things I always advise:

Update your profile

If you’re like most journalists, you probably set up a profile years ago and haven’t changed it much since. It’s time to fix that! A current, engaging profile is one of the most important things you can do to get yourself out there and find work.

A few things: Your profile pic and header. Friend of FWT Kaitlyn Arford has a fantastic pic/header combo — check it out here. Her profile has a specific visual identity that aligns with her personality, and it fits well into her other online profiles, including her website. On top of that, her header image says right away what she does and that she’s open for work. Having a consistent visual identity screams professionalism, and it’s worth the effort. (If it’s in your budget to hire an illustrator for a few images, go for it.) I do the same on mine.

Aside from visuals, update your profile with your skills, recent experience, clips you want to show off, and services you offer. This not only helps anyone who finds your profile, but it will also help you surface in more searches that people conduct around your areas of expertise. Updating all of this is super easy: Just click View Profile from the top-right dropdown menu, and explore everything you can. Be sure to drop in a bunch of keywords that align with your business anywhere you can. (Also, make sure you update your Basic Info section with some keywords, too.)

Don’t be shy about advertising what you can do

A few times a year, I’ll use this exact text in a standalone post: “Hello friends! Reminder than I am available for copywriting, editing, consulting, and any other media needs. DM me! :)” It’s literally one sentence, and from that post I get at least seven or eight DMs from people interested in hiring me for those services. It really is that simple. It can feel weird, but the only way people will know that you’re available is if you tell them. No one is paying attention to your career as much as you are, so let them in on your skills.

Network network network!

Something I always say: Networking is only weird if you make it weird. Just think of it as making friends with other folks in your industry. It’s perfectly fine to request someone you admire, want to work with, or just want to be industry friends with. Those connections may end up leading to more and more work. Include a little note with your request if you want, too, but no more than a sentence, otherwise it feels like an email.

Engage with your peers

Conversations on LinkedIn are, while often corny, exponentially kinder and more civilized than anything you can find on Twitter these days. People are actually sincere! Imagine that! Those in your network want to hear from you, and they can be a great resource of feedback or just general discussion for you, so take advantage of that. It’ll never be as silly as Golden Age Twitter, but it can be just as fulfilling.

See you on LinkedIn!

Oh, a few other things …

• Sell a pitch recently? I want to see it! If you had a story picked up not long ago, I’d love to feature you and your story in our ongoing series highlighting pitches that sold. Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com and let’s talk!

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second eye on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with!

  Click here to book a session

Hello friends! I hope your fall is off to a lovely start and you’re as excited as I am for ~spooky season~ (cue millennial cringe comment).

This week we’re talk about what can be a sometimes contentious topic among freelancers: kill fees. Some folks like them, some don’t, but they’re always a factor.

I’ve invited veteran freelancer Lola Mendez to make her case for trying to get them out of contracts or negotiate them up to 100%. Take it away, Lola!

***

Contracts can sometimes subject writers to terrible terms, like one-sided indemnification clauses, net-90 payment schedules, and the dreaded kill fees. Some freelancers hate them, some find them a lifeline in situations gone awry, but they’re worth reconsidering. (And yes, you can fight to have them removed. As with most things in life, everything is negotiable.)

As a veteran journalist and a consultant on the Business of Freelance Writing with clips all over the internet, I usually try to negotiate kill fees out of contracts. I’m running a small business and a key to my success is trying to eliminate them whenever possible.

What is a kill fee?

The “kill fee” is a clause in a contract that typically states that if the publication doesn’t publish the commissioned article, it will only pay a fraction of the agreed-upon rate. Generally, this is less than half of the fee. Writers create work for a set fee, but do so without a guarantee of full payment. Every freelancer runs a small business and carries a significantly larger financial risk than a multimillion-dollar publisher.

Many kill fee clauses are onerous for journalists with language stating that if the publisher, in its sole discretion, decides not to accept a complete and reasonably acceptable work, the writer shall be subject to a kill fee. I’ve had articles killed because a publication decided the piece posed a legal risk to publish, or the piece never ran because of editor layoffs and it got lost in the shuffle, or because the section the piece was commissioned for was no longer in publication. They were completed pieces that met the brief, were within the scope of work, and had been edited. In none of those scenarios was it my fault the piece was killed, yet I was expected to bear the financial burden. All of these instances happened with major, multimillion-dollar publishers.

I’ve never had a piece killed because the draft wasn’t up to par, which should be the sole purpose of paying out a kill fee. But kill fees tend to protect the publication, ensuring that if a writer submits a poorly written draft and fails to address comments and edits, the publication can pay a partial fee.

Want to learn how to write pitches editors will actually read — and commission? Join me this Thursday for an in-depth pitching workshop that will cover everything from structure and what to include in a pitch to how much pre-reporting you should do and how to find editors to pitch, and much, much more. All registrants will receive a full playback of the event, and paid subscribers get 50% off admission.

Click here to register

To kill or not to kill (a kill fee)

Still, some writers do feel that kill fees protect them from not receiving any payment, since sometimes it’s better than nothing.

“I turned down an assignment because they wouldn’t include a kill fee,” said Joni Sweet, a freelance writer. “Instead, the language of the contract basically said that if they didn’t want this story after I submitted it, they had no obligation to publish it or pay me for it.”

Pris Blossom, a freelance journalist, agrees. “I’m usually pretty happy if there’s a kill fee mentioned in the contract, so at least I have something to fall back on even if it’s not the full rate,” she said.

But Kaitlyn Rosati, a freelance writer, added that the onus for situations in which a kill fee could be implemented should fall on publishers, not freelancers.

“As long as there’s no breach of contract, journalists shouldn’t be penalized with a kill fee for decisions out of their control,” she said. “When taking on assignments, there’s often thorough communication on factors like deadlines, word count, rates, and whether sourcing photos is necessary. If the journalist meets all of these requirements, and the publication subsequently decides to kill the story, we deserve to be paid the agreed-upon rate."

Negotiating kill fees out of contracts

Here’s the language I use that’s worked for me: “I can only agree to a 100% kill fee as I cannot agree to work for only a guarantee of partial payment” and “I cannot sign a contract that doesn’t guarantee full payment for completed work. Can you please drop the kill fee or make it a 100% kill fee?”

You have the right to advocate for your business and request amendments to a contract before signing. When requesting to amend a business contract, use direct, clear, affirmative language. By being courteous yet firm, I’ve successfully negotiated kill fees out of contracts or changed them to a 100% kill fee. Of course, it doesn’t always work, but I’d say about 75% of the time I’ve requested to amend the kill fee clause the publication has agreed. For my business, it’s always worth a shot.

Lola Méndez is a queer Uruguayan-American freelance journalist who writes about sustainability, travel, culture, and wellness for CNN, USA Today, NatGeo, ArchDigest, Refinery29, and more. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, and Substack.

Oh, a few other things …

• A brief programming note: I’m in the process of moving, so I’ll be taking the week of Sept. 22 off and I’ll be back the following week. I’m heading back to New York for a while, see y’all soon!

• Sell a pitch recently? I want to see it! If you had a story picked up not long ago, I’d love to feature you and your story in our ongoing series highlighting pitches that sold. Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com and let’s talk!

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second eye on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with!

  Click here to book a session

• How much were you paid for last assignment? Feel free to contribute to our ongoing freelance rate database here!

• If you like what you’re reading, please consider subscribing to the paid version of this newsletter. Paid subs get an extra newsletter every week, access to all past and future paid-only posts, 50% off all Zoom workshops, a guide to avoiding the 7 most common mistakes in freelancing, a must-have checklist for getting your assignments right, the exact text of a pitch I sold to The Atlantic, practical tips for diversifying your freelance income, and much more.

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We’ve all sent a pitch that had some version of one of these:

“I’d like to write about this topic/trend/idea …”

“I see on Twitter a lot …”

“I feel like this topic is interesting …”

Pause! This is such an easy trap to fall into. But when you’re making unspecific, open-ended statements and using huge generalities in a pitch, you’re not pitching a story; you’re pitching an idea. And editors buy stories.

This may sound like a difference in semantics, but I promise you it’s not.

So. What is the difference?

An idea is abstract, while stories are concrete.

It really is that simple. And once you master that difference, you’ll never pitch an idea again.

Read more

Hello friends! Welcome to the first in an ongoing series in which we’ll highlight successful pitches that led to published stories.

This week we’ve got two from Alyssa Wiens, a freelancer who recently sold two personal essays, one to Business Insider — I share a house with strangers; has surprising benefits, few downsides — and one to Oh Reader (print only! Imagine!).

Both of these pitches were made via submission forms, which is worth noting for two reasons: 1. Yes, those pitches do get read and really can lead to commissions! And 2. The format for those is very different from the one I recommend for most pitches, which once again proves that the best story pitch is the one that best serves the story. There’s no “right” or “wrong” way to pitch any given story. Always remember that all freelance advice is based around guidance and not rules.

Now, on to the pitches!

Business Insider

Alyssa told me that this pitch was in response to a callout from an editor looking for ideas around “interesting living situations,” and she thought hers would fit the bill. The story came in around 700 words, which netted Alyssa $230.

Here’s her pitch:

Subject: I moved in with five roommates in my 30s. My mental and physical health has never been better.

I moved into a shared house with five strangers 8 months ago so I could live in the city. I'm extroverted, so I thought it would be okay, but I didn't expect the other positive effects on my physical and mental health: less isolation, more activity, less TV, and healthy conflict resolution. I've been impacted by the healthy habits of my roommates and grown personally through the interpersonal dynamics of living in a household of six 30s+ people.

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Oh Reader

Alyssa said that Oh Reader had been on her radar of possible outlets to pitch for a while (though she couldn’t specifically recall where she found out they were looking — who among us!). This idea came from a list of story ideas she keeps and adds to “when inspiration strikes,” adding that she keeps “a running list of ideas then matches them up to potential publications.” Maintaining those story idea lists is a fantastic practice, both strategically and editorially, that we’ve covered before in this newsletter. This story ended up around 1,300 words and paid out $200.

Here’s her pitch, as sent via the submissions form:

Name: Alyssa Wiens
Website: http://alyssawiens.substack.com/

Tell us why you'd make a great writer for Oh Reader: I've fallen back in love with reading as a 30-something. I read all. the. time as a kid/teenager, and after a decade-plus-long hiatus that I blame on my smartphone addiction, I'm returning home to who I once was: a reader.

What will your article/story/poem be about? "Reading more has singlehandedly made me a better person." I want to reflect on how falling back in love with reading and making it a priority in my life over the last few years has made a bigger and better impact than other self-care or self-development activities. We all want to be "better" versions of ourselves, pursuing healthy eating, exercise, sleep, drinking water (all good things). But reading? It's made me more creative. I slow down now. I have new ideas and topics to discuss. I don't sit and scroll every second of the day. I've made friends through book club. It's a long list of benefits! This would be a personal essay on the transformational power of reading.

Have you been published anywhere else? www.alyssawiens.com/portfolio

***

Do you have a pitch that recently sold? I’d love to feature it! Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com and let’s talk.

Have a wonderful week!

Oh, a few other things …

• If you like what you’re reading, please consider subscribing to the paid version of this newsletter. Paid subs get an extra newsletter every week, access to all past and future paid-only posts, 50% off all Zoom workshops, a guide to avoiding the 7 most common mistakes in freelancing, a must-have checklist for getting your assignments right, the exact text of a pitch I sold to The Atlantic, practical tips for diversifying your freelance income, and much more.

  Subscribe now

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second eye on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with!

  Click here to book a session

• How much were you paid for last assignment? Feel free to contribute to our ongoing freelance rate database here!

Hello friends! Today we’re going to talk about what is probably the second most common question I’ve gotten over the years from freelancers when it comes to pitching: “When should I send my pitches?”

Here’s the simplest answer: Don’t worry about it!

Being a freelancer is stressful enough, and worrying about timing your pitches is a lot like trying to time the stock market: You might get lucky every once in a while, but on the whole, it’s not worth the stress of worrying about it and it will rarely pay off. It’s true that some editors do have a specific day of the week they tackle the pitches in their inbox, but trying to nail down that little window won’t be the difference between your pitch getting accepted or rejected. Editors will read your email when they read it, and, frankly, it’s not your job to make sure editors do theirs.

The timing question speaks to a much larger issue that essentially boils down to: What are the tiny things I can do to improve my chances of selling a story?

Here’s a truth I hope you will take some relief in: You should stop worrying about most of that stuff. It’s causing you far more anxiety than it’s worth. And, as I always say: If you get the big stuff right, the little stuff — like timing your pitch — doesn’t really matter.

Still, I know these things can weigh on freelancers. So with the hope of easing your stress a little, here are a few things that most editors generally don’t think about when it comes to pitches.

Read more

Want to learn how to write pitches editors will actually read — and commission? Join me September 18 for an in-depth pitching workshop that will cover everything from structure and what to include in a pitch to how much pre-reporting you should do and how to find editors to pitch, and much, much more. Click here to register. (All registrants will receive a full playback of the event, and paid subscribers get 50% off tickets.)

Hello team! I hope you all had a lovely Labor Day and are gliding smoothly back into real life this week.

A while back I talked a little about pre-reporting, but today let’s elaborate on it and look at what it really means to do the “right” amount of pre-reporting for a pitch. (As always, remember there are no “right” answers to any question in freelancing or writing in general, so these are just guidelines and suggestions!)

In that newsletter, I wrote,

As a rule of thumb for pitching, I always say that you should do the absolute minimum amount of pre-reporting required for you to understand the shape, complexities, and nuances of your story, and be able to explain them in the pitch to the editor. Why do more work than is necessary, especially when you have no idea whether it’ll pay off?

Frankly, we could stop right here — that’s pretty much the gist of it. Stop doing unnecessary unpaid labor! (I’m just gonna plaster that sentence in every newsletter at some point.) 

Kidding aside, there’s a lot of variation and many tricky questions that come into play when you’re pre-reporting a story in order to write a pitch for it, and no real “correct” answer. So let’s dive in.

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First things first: What’s the difference between knowing what my story is and being able to explain it to someone else?

So glad you asked!

Regulars to my workshops will recognize this phrase; I use it quite often, since it really applies to every step of the pre-reporting process. 

What I mean by it is this: The best way to fully comprehend and understand a subject is to teach it to someone else (it’s called the Protégé Effect). So while you may think you fully get everything that’s going on with your story — the themes, big-picture ideas, narrative, driving forces, characters, ideal structure, and so on — do you have a strong enough grasp on all of that to explain it to someone coming in completely blind to the topic? In most cases, probably not! 

That’s totally fine and normal for every pitch, but it is an issue you need to resolve before sending it along. There are two super simple and helpful ways to practice this:

1. Try to explain everything about your story to a friend in your freelance network. If you can talk for, say, five straight, uninterrupted minutes about your story and explain everything an outsider would want to know at this point in the process, you’re probably in good shape. (And yes, you can do this in front of a mirror if you’d prefer — I literally have done that.)

2. Put on your editor hat and try to anticipate what questions an editor would ask you after reading your pitch. You can’t predict what they’ll really ask, of course, but know the context and surrounding information about your story that doesn’t necessarily fit in the pitch itself, but that an editor could potentially ask about.

Okay, so just level with me now: How much pre-reporting do I really need to do?

As with all things freelance, the answer is: it depends. So let’s break it down into a few general categories. And again, just to be clear: These are not rules, they are general guidelines, and they do not apply to every story every time.

Say you’re pitching something in the range of 800 to 1,200 words — a range I think most stories should shoot for in a cold pitch, unless there’s a reason not to. (I like this range because it’s not so long and overwhelming the editor will rule it out; there’s a ton of wiggle room to give you some freedom in putting it together; it’s a very common range for many publications; and it often can be negotiated in either direction.) 

For something in this range that isn’t a deep dive, an in-depth explanatory piece, or a source-dependent feature, I would say the baseline is to read absolutely everything published in the recent past around your idea that you can get your hands on. This will help you build up your general knowledge around the topic, and it’ll show you what’s been done before so you can avoid going those routes, which only helps your chances of selling your idea. (Be unique! Come with something fresh and original!) 

Beyond that, start scoping out the types of sources you’ll want to include in your story. At this point, you don’t necessarily have to have reached out to specific people, but you should have a good sense of the type of expert you want to talk with, or the type of data you’ll cite. Below is some example pitch language I like to point people to, which I’ve cobbled together from a story about salary negotiations (steal this format and phrasing if it works for you!):

I’m pitching a 1,200-word reported service story about salary negotiations and how to stop being scared of them — and how to get better at them. I plan to talk to an economics professor, an executive of an advocacy group, a law professor, and an author who’s an expert on the topic, and I’ll cite data and advice from the American Association of University Women and the National Labor Relations Board.

At this point in the process, I have no clue who I’m actually going to reach out to; I just know I want those types of people in the story. (Ditto for the data.)

Freelancing With Tim

The exact text of a pitch I sold to The Atlantic

Hi friends! Let’s keep it nice and simple today: Here is the exact pitch I sent to The Atlantic, which resulted in a commission…

Read more

2 years ago · 17 likes · 6 comments · Freelancing With Tim

Sure, but what about pre-interviews? Do I need to do those?

Maybe! It depends!

If you’re writing in an area or on a topic you’re not terribly familiar with, sometimes a pre-interview can be really helpful to get you in the right mindset and help you sharpen up your thinking around the story. Sometimes you go into a story with very limited knowledge, so a pre-interview can establish a foundation for you before you formally reach out to sources. (Plus, it gives you the chance to ask all the dumb questions you have before talking to the experts — though, another rule of thumb, you should still be asking those dumb questions any time you have them, with any source. Don’t be scared of sounding ignorant or uninformed, that’s the whole reason you’re talking to the experts!)

Typically these shouldn’t last more than 10 or 15 minutes for most stories. Go in with a list of things you want to talk about, but give the source enough space and time to tell you what you should be asking and thinking about. Remember to include these three magic questions at some point in your pre-interview (and every interview thereafter).

As far as setting up a pre-interview, just send an email and say something like this:

Hi, I’m researching a story around X topic, and I’m wondering if you might be up for an off-the-record, 10-minute phone chat to help me shape my thinking around this topic.”

Keep it simple, and keep the stakes low.

What else?

Just to close the loop here: If you are pitching a deep dive, an in-depth explanatory piece, a source-dependent feature, or really anything you’re very unfamiliar with, pre-interviews become kind of mandatory. Again, there’s no rule for when you need to do them. Just keep in mind the guideline that always applies: Know your story, and know how to explain it to an outsider.

Yeah, yeah, I get it already. Are there times I need to secure access to a source or sources before pitching my idea?

Yep! This one is a little more clear-cut than other situations; the rare circumstance in which “it depends” doesn’t really apply. That’s when your story cannot exist without the participation of this one source or these sources. So here are your profiles, niche topics that hinge on access to one specific person (or a few specific people), features about something or someone in which you simply can’t get the necessary information otherwise, and any other story that falls into the general category of, “I need this person or these people, otherwise I don’t have a story.”

In those situations, it’s kind of the same rule as before, but with one additional requirement: Set up the pre-interview, but tell that source or those sources that you’ll come back to them once the story is sold so you can conduct your formal, on-the-record interview. Or, for say, profiles, say you want to profile them and you want to do a pre-interview before you formally start interviewing them just to get a little background and, of course, make sure they want to participate. (Though even that isn’t always necessary.) Repeat as necessary.

Final thoughts?

Don’t do more work on pre-reporting than is absolutely necessary! Yes I will shout this from the rooftops until I retire!

Good luck out there friends!

Oh, a few other things …

• If you like what you’re reading, please consider subscribing to the paid version of this newsletter. Paid subs get an extra newsletter every week, access to all past and future paid-only posts, 50% off all Zoom workshops, a guide to avoiding the 7 most common mistakes in freelancing, a must-have checklist for getting your assignments right, the exact text of a pitch I sold to The Atlantic, practical tips for diversifying your freelance income, and much more.

  Subscribe now

• I offer one-on-one coaching! Is your story falling apart and you need a second eye on it? Want a seasoned perspective on a pitch you’re kicking around? Interested in talking about careers and building your freelance business? Maybe just want an edit on a story draft? I’ve got you covered! Click below to book a one-on-one coaching session to talk about pitches, story ideas and development, editing, careers, or anything else you might need help with!

  Click here to book a session

• Get a pitch commissioned recently? I want to see it! I’d love to feature you and your #pitchesthatsold in an upcoming series examining great pitches that resulted in stories. Let’s see ’em!

  Email me

For all of August, take 25% off a yearly subscription to FWT! With a paid sub, you’ll get an additional newsletter every week, 50% off all workshops and Zoom events, access to the all previous paid posts, invitations to subscriber-only events, and more. Click here to get your discount!

Hello friends! Welcome to the final newsletter of Intro to Freelancin…

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