It is an understatement to say it has been a hard several months around the world. In the face of this pandemic, many of our readers here at WITS are dragging. Many of us behind the scenes are dragging. All of us are working hard to keep our spirits up to write another day.
The Oprah quote above resonates particularly this year. We've all struggled, and we've all found unexpected strength in our struggles.
Here in the US, with COVID case counts spiking, things are feeling particularly hard. The usual Independence Day rules do not apply this year. There are no parties, no fireworks, no parades. Health officials are universal in their message: “The most patriotic thing Americans can do this year is to stay at home.” Everyone does not agree.
But this isn't a political post, this is a "how are you doing, really" post. We truly want to know.
Today we choose to celebrate YOU, our writing family online. We are blessed that you choose to spend time with us every week, every month, every year. We want to know how you are doing.
Some writers have told me they do pretty much the same thing they did before the pandemic - stay home and write. Other writers have told me their world has changed and they are fighting to make a living. Still more have told me the state of the world has plummeted them into despair.
We hear you. We see you. We absolutely believe in you, and your ability to dig deep to find your story.
But we do want to know...How are you doing? How are you really doing? Are you peaceful, worried, coping, struggling, writing, blocked, crazy, or something else? We would love to know if you are willing to share.
What are you struggling with? And what unexpected strengths have you found?
Big Hugs to YOU, from Your Team at Writers In the Storm
So you want to write for magazines and websites…great!
Writing articles can be an excellent way for authors to promote their work,
build a platform, hone their skills, and get paid. How do you start? With
a pitch, of course. But how do you make sure your pitches will land the way you
want them to? Allow me to share with you some of the wisdom I have gleaned from
over twenty years working in media and publishing, most recently as
Editor-in-Chief of Writer’s Digest magazine.
After so much time on both sides of the editor’s desk—as a full-time freelancer, and as an acquiring editor – I’m confident I’ve seen the best pitches, and the worst ones. I’ve sentout both kinds of pitches in my own career too!
Here’s a list of some of the biggest OOFs! I’ve seen
writers make (myself included). This list isn’t intended to shame anyone—I’m
giving it to you so you can avoid making these mistakes in your career.
Know Who You’re Pitching
This one may seem obvious, but believe me, it is not. If I
had a nickel for every pitch I’ve gotten addressed to “Dear Sir” or “Dear Mrs.
McIntyre,” I could pay someone (well) to write this blog for me. It’s the
twenty-first century and dated forms of address make you look behind the times,
and possibly even sexist. Even if you mean it respectfully, it lands with a
thud. Don’t assume an editor’s gender or marital status.
Do your homework.
Most publications have submission guidelines on their websites. Find them and follow them. If for some reason the editor’s information is not in these, it is simple to discover. Most of us live on Twitter and many of us give you our pronouns in our bios. Ninety seconds of Googling will usually make it clear how and to whom you should address your pitch, regardless of whether the outlet is big or small, national or local, print or digital. If you have found an editor’s email or postal address, go the extra three inches and figure out how best to address them. Those three inches can carry you miles.
Know what the outlet has published recently
This dovetails with my first point. If you have sent a pitch
addressed to “Dear Sir” and it is also clear that you have no idea the kind of
content an outlet publishes, the editor is going to make an assumption about
you, and it is very likely going to be correct: You’re spaghetting it.
What’s “spaghetting it”? The term I made up for
writers who are throwing out pitches everywhere at random to see what sticks.
Don’t do this. It’s the fast track to the slush pile.
Editors want to know that you have taken the time to find out who they are, and
what their publication is all about.
For print publications, read at least six months’ worth of issues. Better still, read a year’s worth, or be a subscriber.
For online, read at least a month’s worth of posts. Three months is even better.
When you pitch an editor something they’ve recently done a
piece on, or something that they seem never to cover at all, it proves that you’re
not a regular reader of the outlet you’re pitching. Before I query a website, I
go out to the site’s search bar and type in the topic I am thinking of—usually
in seconds I know if they’ve done a piece recently, and if my angle is unique
enough to pitch. Or, if my topic is the right one to pitch at all.
Editors sometimes field dozens of pitches per day so
it is critical that you pitch correctly. Editors don’t have time to spend more
than a few minutes assessing your pitch -- why it’s good, and why you
should write it. They just don’t. It’s not personal.
Make it as easy as possible for them to pick up what you’re
putting down. In my freelance life, I have one cardinal rule for myself: Never
make my editor’s job harder than it needs to be. It has served me well over a
decade of freelancing.
Know WHEN to pitch, especially with print outlets.
For websites, content calendars are generally set only a
month or so out. For print? Whoa. It can be up to a year. I would get great
pitches at WD, only to have to email a writer, “I’m so sorry, but print is full
for months. This would have been great for July, but July has been full since
October.”
Print publications work far in advance, and with limited space. A print magazine needs to allot a significant portion of page count to advertising and regular columns, leaving sometimes only twenty or so pages for freelancers’ work. Last-minute pitches are typically not accepted.
Here’s a good rule of thumb for pitching print: Pitch at least six months out. If it’s July, pitch for February. Many print pubs actually provide their editorial calendars online, or, will let you know what they are if you ask (nicely). Do that quick web search again, and you can set yourself ahead of your competition.
It’s also important to note that while websites generally
have shorter lead times than print, and more space, they still have methods for
publishing, and for good reasons. If a site only does two posts per day, don’t
pitch them a third. If they only post short pieces (because they know their
readers don’t have the attention span for more than 500 words), don’t pitch
them a 2,000-word deep dive on a topic.
Following up on a pitch (Dos and DON’TS )
So you’ve sent a great pitch—it’s addressed to the right
person, the right way; it’s the right topic with the right angle; and you’ve
sent it at the right time. Great! But then, you don’t hear anything back from
the editor. For a week. For two weeks. For a month. Sigh.
When and how do you best follow up?
Keep in mind how many pitches editors get, and that most
in-house editorial staffs these days are thinner than a sheet of paper, and know
this: The editor probably very much wants to get back to you quickly, but is
simply too buried to do so.
I advise waiting two to four weeks before following up on most
pitches (six weeks for print). Then send a very calm, friendly, easy-going
follow up. If an editor wants your piece, they’ll say so.
I do not recommend doing what I have seen some
writers do: call every day; email every day; send increasingly aggressive
follow-up emails; tag editors on social media (repeatedly); go down the
masthead and call the sales director wanting to know why the editor hasn’t
responded (seriously: DO NOT do this). An already overloaded editor will not
appreciate this. At all.
Is it frustrating to put all the hard work and effort into crafting a pitch, and not even get the common courtesy of a “thanks, but no thanks,” in return? Yes, it is. Which is why, when I was in the editor’s chair, I tried to give this courtesy to everyone. But at some publications, that line about “due to the volume of requests we receive, we cannot respond to each one” is not bogus—it is completely legit. Don’t take it personally.
Do what Sinatra sang: “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off,
and start all over again.” To be successful in this business, patience and
resilience are key. Make sure you hone yours.
4 Tips for a Great Pitch
Now that I’ve shared what not to do, here are four tips that
will help you deliver a winning pitch:
1. If your pitch is similar to
something recently done, but you feel strongly that it should still be
considered, clearly delineate WHY your pitch is different. Share what sets it
apart from the rest. Do you have access to experts that other writers may not?
Do you have a truly unique angle on an oft-covered topic? Say so.
2. Refer to a recently-published piece you enjoyed, and tell them WHY you enjoyed it. Give specifics.
3. If you are pitching this piece
to multiple outlets, say so. (Note: You increase your chances of acquisition if
you are pitching exclusively.) Keep in mind, many publications will not accept
simultaneous submissions. Do your homework and check the submission guidelines.
Always.
4. Break your pitch down clearly
for the editor. Give a headline/title, summary graph, bullet points. Give the
reasons why you’re the best writer for the topic. (Are you an expert in
this field? Do you write regularly on this subject?)
Further Reading
This blog really can only scratch the surface of the art of
and science that is pitching. I recommend two resources for good advice on how
to pitch specific outlets: Mediabistro’s “How
to Pitch,” and Writer’s Digest’s “Market
Spotlight.”
Do you have pitching experiences to share, from either side of the table? Are there questions you’d like to ask Ericka? Share them with us in the comments below!
About
Ericka
Ericka McIntyre is a freelance writer and editor. She has over twenty years of experience working in media and publishing, for a wide array of employers and clients. She is also currently Editor-at-Large of Writer’s Digest, a 100-year-old brand serving the writing community. In her current work, she focuses on writing for a handful of regular clients, with a heavy emphasis on editing and book coaching for independent authors. She works on fiction and nonfiction, across multiple genres. She development edits, copyedits, and proofreads. Learn more about her and her work at www.erickamcintyre.com.
Ever ended a rough week by killing off one of your characters? Yeah, me too. No matter what people say, it can be cathartic. Even therapeutic. But, for authors with little to no drug knowledge, plot twists involving an overdose (accidental or otherwise) can seem complicated. To maintain credibility with readers, authors should make sure to get at least a few crucial drug-related facts right.
Written well, an overdose scene is a page-turner.
But if your character instantly drops dead from an insulin
overdose, the thud you hear won’t be from the body dropping to the ground.
It will be from readers closing your book in utter disappointed.
It’s fiction. Why not just make up facts?
I hear this argument quite often. As authors, we spend an
inordinate amount of time researching historical data, geographic facts,
magical lore, and so much more, to craft well-developed stories. Drug scenes
should be no different.
Our readers may be one of the millions of healthcare workers, from paramedics to doctors. Some may be diabetics or cancer survivors. Some may be struggling with alcohol or opioid addiction. Today’s readers are savvier than ever before about drugs.
Writing blatantly inaccurate drug scenes can ruin a story for these readers, risking negative reviews. For example, the recent movie Knives Out relies on a flawed drug-related plot twist that ruins an otherwise fun, well-plotted (and mostly well-acted) story. Numerous online reviews were quick with grievances.
How to write drug-related scenes well (without medical knowledge)
Before writing these scenes, whether they involve smoking pot
at a frat party or spies using lethal injections, I recommend researching the
following key points:
Historic validity
Verify that the drug, and the way you depict it being given, existed in the historical time period of the story. For example, an early 1800’s historical fiction with an insulin-using diabetic character would be grossly inaccurate. Neither insulin nor injections were discovered until the 1900’s.
Societal trends
The socioeconomic circumstances of your characters will impact the drugs used and abused. A character living on the street might smoke crack cocaine, while a high-society hostess may serve an Ecstasy-laced cheese platter.
In addition, many drug use trends, and their prescribing habits, change over time. It was no accident that Agatha Christie’s pivotal scene in Murder on the Orient Express revolved around barbital, a popular sedative during the story’s time period.
Accurate Side effects
Consider these two important questions:
What are typical side effects for the drug? A character should have a few realistic side effects. Hallucinations of paint dripping down walls are obviously more likely with an LSD trip, while a heart attack might end an energy drink chugging contest.
How long do the effects take to develop? While instant effects are tempting, almost no drug works instantly. But this is actually wonderful for dramatic writing! For murder and overdose scenes, this fact gives authors a built-in real timeline to evolve the danger, creating a page-turner.
Putting it all together
Once you’ve gathered some basic clear facts, you can create a
believable three-dimensional scene the reader won’t soon forget.
That insulin scene? It’s now set in the 1990’s. A woman
measures insulin from a vial into a syringe, and gives herself a dose. The anticipation
grows, as the reader watches helplessly, knowing the woman’s husband secretly
switched the insulin concentration. As the woman sits back to watch an evening
movie, the danger slowly evolves. She starts to feel dizzy, examines the
insulin bottle, confused. The dose seemed right. Slowly, she realizes what has
happened, knows she needs to find help. But she can’t think clearly. She tries
to get up, stumbles, falls, her breathing strained. Does help arrive in time? The
reader has no choice but to turn the page to find out.
Happy Plotting!
Note: Miffie has agreed to share her pharmaceutical know-how with us as an ongoing feature! If you have questions and scenarios you'd like her to explore for future posts, please share them in the comments.
Feel like you're killing your readers with unrealistic drug scenes? I’d love to hear your comments and questions!
About Miffie
Miffie Seideman has been a pharmacist for over 30 years, with a passion for helping others. She’s a published non-fiction author, with another peer-reviewed journal article coming out this month. An avid triathlete, she spends countless hours training in the deserts of Arizona, devising drug-related plot twists. She can be found hanging around onwemerrilystumble.com and on Twitter @MiffieSeideman.
