Hello friends! Today we’ve got another entry in our ongoing series of #pitchesthatsold, in which we take a look at a successful, well-thought-out pitch that resulted in a great clip and a paycheck.
In this edition, we’re featuring a July story by food and beverage writer Emily Hunt published in Food & Wine. I caught Emily’s celebration post on LinkedIn about landing the story, which I only mention for two reasons: 1. Celebrate those wins! 2. Don’t be shy about posting about your work and successes — if you don’t promote yourself, no one will. (And as we all know, you can’t be a freelancer without being a marketer.)
For this story, Emily was pitching a fresh(ish) editor; they both knew of each other, but had never worked together.
“This was the first formal pitch I ever sent her, and it led to my first commissioned piece at the outlet,” Emily said. “My barista experience definitely helped, as did seriously narrowing down the scope of the article (I think using the keyword ‘microfoam’ made this stand out).” Smart positioning, if you ask me!
(Do you have a pitch that sold recently? I’d love to feature it in a future edition of FWT’s #pitchesthatsold series! Email me at [email protected] and put “#pitchesthatsold” in the subject line. Can’t wait to see ’em!)
Some data about the pitch process
Rate: $350
Time elapsed between pitching and publication: About six weeks.
Did you pitch it elsewhere before Food & Wine? I did not.
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