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...And I'll let you in on a secret
Welcome to Get Featured I’m Rosie Taylor, an award-winning freelance journalist with well over a decade’s experience successfully pitching stories to the national news media - this newsletter will help you get your stories featured in these publications too. (You can read a bit more about how this works here).
Let’s be honest, pitching sucks
Whether you work in PR or communications, are independently promoting your own product/company or are a freelance journalist, having to pitch your ideas to news publications is probably one of the most painful parts of your job. It certainly is one of mine.
Taking ideas that you’ve lovingly created, carefully crafting them into a well-worded email and then putting them out there for the world to judge - only to get radio silence or a curt: “Not one for me”…? Ouch.
I’ve been pitching for nearly 15 years and that “no” is still hard to take.
But - and bear with me on this because this is not the awful brag that it sounds - I actually usually get a “yes”. Any freelancer who tells you their pitching success rate is 100% is lying and I’m very happy to admit there are some ideas that ultimately have to go in the bin. But to be honest that’s pretty rare. I’d say at least 9 out of 10 of my pitches eventually get accepted by one national publication or another.
Let me let you in on a secret: I’m not special. The reason editors so often say “yes” to my ideas isn’t because I have astonishing writing talent or top-notch schmoozing skills (I passionately hate networking). It’s because I’ve learnt the rules of the game - and you can too.
So what’s the Big Secret?
The ‘Big Secret’ to pitching success is… there is no secret. Well, sort of. The real secret to success is simply making sure you understand what the basic rules of pitching are and, most importantly, how to apply them to your pitches.
Anyone can get their stories into the media, even if you’ve never pitched to a mainstream national publication before. You do not have to have had specialist training. You do not have to have journalism or PR qualifications. But your chances of success are much, much higher if you understand the rules - and are even greater if you have some inside knowledge about some of the weird quirks of the archaic and clunky system that is the British press.
(For example, did you know there is at least one major national newspaper which employs five editors with almost identical job titles, who all have totally different jobs, commissioning different types of articles for different sections of the publication? Madness.)
God knows I don’t always get it right, but after 15 years of commissioning and pitching stories, I like to think I’ve got enough experience to understand what editors need - and how to make sure my pitches tick all their boxes.
Join the Club
And this is what Get Featured is all about. Through these newsletters, I’ll be sharing with you everything I know about how to pitch successfully - and guest journalists and editors will share their knowledge too. I’ll also be sharing real life examples of great pitches and toolkits you can use to help maximise your success.
Think of this as a ‘secret’ club - that is, a club that’s actually open to anyone who wants to learn the secrets to pitching successfully.
If you’re a free subscriber that’s great, you’ll get around one of these posts every month. Or for just £5 per month - that’s roughly the price of a posh coffee - you can sign up to paid and get access to everything, including the editor Q&As, pitch examples and the full archive of tips.
I also strongly believe everyone deserves to have their story heard - and access to the media shouldn’t be limited to big corporates who can afford pricey media training. So, if you’d like access to a full subscription but can’t pay for whatever reason then please message me.
It’s so great to have you on board - I can’t wait to get started.