The most popular FWT advice of 2025
It's been a rough year, but our community came together in huge ways.
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!
Beyond the pitch: How to get editors to come to *you*
Hi gang! Today we’re going to talk about how to get so good at freelancing that editors will come to you instead of the other way around. Really, this is the ultimate goal for a freelancer. Building working relationships with editors is key to longevity, that’s exactly what we’re covering today.
An editor's guide to reviewing your own pitches
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,
How to pitch an Opinion article or op-ed
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.
The 10 best things I did for my freelance career
Go directly to your editors for advice. "I stopped listening to advice from struggling writers, and I went directly to my editors for help instead. After pitching Time magazine daily for weeks and getting nowhere, I eventually sent the editor an email that said, 'I'm not sure I have a good enough handle on what kind of ideas would work for you. Would you mind if I called you or dropped by your office to discuss how we can make this work?' He said yes, and I ended up becoming a freelance correspondent for the publication for many years."
What editors are *really* looking for
Does your background, your bylines, or your ‘pedigree’ matter? Not nearly as much as you’d think!
What editors *really* mean when they reject your pitch
Hello friends! I hope your week has been off to a lovely start, and more importantly, that you’re finding space this summer to take some time for yourself. As freelancers and independent journalists we don’t have the luxury of PTO, but resting up is still crucial to our well-being
A guide to the essentials of freelance journalism
First things first: Build your foundation by getting in contact with editors. Start, or keep, contacting editors at publications you want to write for and introduce yourself. That’s it! Don’t overthink it, and definitely don’t send a pitch. This is just to say hi and let them know you exist and are open to work. I recommend Twitter or LinkedIn DMs, cuz no one likes email.
My clips were wiped from the internet. What now?
Hello friends! Welcome to another edition in our series of Q&A posts, in which I’ll pick a few reader-submitted questions and offer my take. Got something you need advice on? Email me at tim@freelancingwithtim.com or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
100+ pitching guides for NYT, Vox, NatGeo, Wired, Vulture, Politico, WaPo, Wirecutter, Slate, and more
Hello, and welcome to Freelancing With Tim! This newsletter is a weekly resource for journalists full of tips, advice, and guidance about making it in the industry. It covers everything from writing the perfect pitch and building a freelance business to crafting a longform narrative feature and generating story ideas.
Here's what nearly 450 publications have recently paid freelancers
This is an ongoing project to collect up-to-date freelance rates for hundreds of publications. These community-submitted rates range from tiny, niche blogs and trade magazines to national publications.
Upcoming Zoom workshops in January and February
• Jan. 15 @ 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.)
• Jan. 22 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: The art of structuring a longform feature. Come along as I lead a deconstruction exercise of a longform narrative story and give you tips on how to use those tools in your writing. This workshop will be structured like a grad school-level class, with participation encouraged (but, of course, not required). We will analyze a published longform narrative as a jumping-off point, and go into detail about what it takes to go long on a story. Bring any and all questions you have about building longform features, and be ready for a deep dive! (All registrants will receive a playback of the full session, whether they attend live or not, and paid Substack subscribers get 50% off admission.)
• Jan. 29 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: Everything to know about pitching Opinion articles and op-eds. Join me and Rachel Sonis, former opinion editor at TIME magazine, for an in-depth look of what goes into a fantastic Opinion or op-ed pitch. How do you structure it? What must be in it, and what should you leave out? How do I build an argument in the actual pitch? How can you head off the follow-up questions an editor will inevitably ask? 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.)
• Feb. 5 @ 4:30 p.m. Eastern: How to start and grow a newsletter. Join me and a special guest newsletter expert 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! (All registrants will receive a playback of the full session, whether they attend live or not, and paid Substack subscribers get 50% off admission.)