How to pitch to a tabloid

Four things you need to know if you want to get featured

Tabloid news publications are read by far more people than their more serious broadsheet cousins - which means if you want your idea to be seen by as many people as possible, you need to be pitching to tabloids.

I wrote a few months ago about how to tweak your pitch if you’re targeting broadsheet publications, so I thought it was only fair to share how to tailor your pitch to tabloids too.

Over the years that I’ve been writing for British tabloids and “mid market” publications (which most people also consider tabloids), like The Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail and Daily Express, one thing I’ve really noticed is that when these publications cover an issue, it can have a BIG impact.

In my experience, stories which get prominently featured in tabloids are so much more likely to be picked up by TV shows, followed-up elsewhere (yes, including by the broadsheets) and cause massive traffic spikes to the websites of any brands mentioned.

Photo by NIR HIMI on Unsplash

And if you’re pitching as a freelance journalist, some (although not all) tabloids are among the best payers on Fleet Street - and are often easy and quick to work with.

So how can you tailor your pitch to make it tabloid-perfect? Here are a few things I do to help ensure my tabloid pitches get a “yes” from the editor: