Hello friends! Today we’ve got another entry in our ongoing series of #pitchesthatsold, in which we look at a successful, well-thought-out pitch that resulted in a great clip and a paycheck.
In this edition, we’re featuring new friend of FWT Ashley Milne-Tyte with a text and audio story she placed with NPR, which is linked below. Ashley sold the idea to an editor she had worked with before, and the whole process from pitch to publication took about two months.
Some data about the process
Rate: $1,150 for the combined radio and online stories. Digital stories can be significantly longer than the radio piece, so extra reporting is included in that version of the story. You have to rework the radio script and turn it into a piece for the eye rather than the ear.
Time elapsed between pitching NPR and publication: Just shy of two months.
Rounds of editing: One edit for the radio story, which happened live over the phone. The digital story involved a lot of back-and-forth via email and one phone call, but it mostly happened in one day. …
Additional work outside of reporting and writing: I had to record the audio for the radio version, listen back, edit a bit, and upload those tracks to NPR. I chased each source in the story for a photo, though ultimately the submitted photos weren’t used in the digital piece.
Link to the story: Shingles can hit younger than you think. The vaccine can prevent the painful illness …
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