The 'One Big Thing' pitching theory

Why pitching just one 'strand' can help your story get published

A story will only ever say One Big Thing.

That’s the rule issued by the late Guardian science editor Tim Radford when he was giving media advice to scientists almost three decades ago. Since his death earlier this month, his list of 25 commandments for journalists has gone viral.

If you haven’t already read them, I highly recommend it. The advice has stood the test of time and is also really applicable for anyone doing PR.

One thing that really stood out for me from all of Tim’s advice was his brilliant way of describing how your story should only ever be about One Big Thing. He refers to a story concept being a big, messy plate of spaghetti, and how you need to pull one strand out of that spaghetti and make that clear for the reader.

Photo by Oktavisual Project on Unsplash

I couldn’t agree more with this concept when it comes to pitching.

So, so, many pitches I receive fall down because they’re presenting a broad and complex concept, instead of a single idea which forms a clear story for readers of the publications I write for.

So today, I thought I’d share my tips for turning your pitches from a plate of spaghetti into a beautifully clear strand - aka, a story that will get picked up in national publications.

I’ve also shared a real-life example below of how I recently used this process to successfully pitch this story - it’s for paid subscribers only, but if you subscribe today you can read your first post for free. 🙂