Pitching Freelancers:
Best Practices from New York Times Contributor

Matt Villano, a freelance writer who pens the twice-monthly "Career Couch" column for The New York Times Sunday Business section, offers the following short list of peeves and best practices to help ensure that you're helping—and not hindering—the freelancers you pitch so you can boost your hits at leading magazines and dailies:

1. Research freelancers online first. "My number one peeve is when a PR person calls and knows nothing about me or my clients," says Villano. "These things are easy to find out. Just type my name into Google and you'll have an entire website to review. Mine has everything from information about my wedding to more professional items. It's not short on information, who I write for and what I write about—and neither are most freelancers' sites."

Similarly: "Before you make any pitch to a freelancer, do your research online," Villano stresses. "That will go a long way toward making sure your call or email is a good fit. Find out what we're doing and what we've written about. For example, don't pitch me a story about architecture for The New York Times. If that happens, I'll respond at first—but if it happens again, you're not going to get through. I get between twenty and thirty pitches a week that are way off the mark in one way or another. That could be eliminated if you'd just search online first."

2. Check freelance contact information twice. "Equally important is to make sure you have the right contact information," Villano says. "This is one of the first things journalists learn —check your facts twice. I don't know why it doesn't translate to PR. We often get calls or emails for the wrong people," he explains. "I don't get it. Whenever I have a free moment, I call media directories to make sure they have my correct contact information. I would expect that PR people could at least make sure they're pitching the right person or find out if the person they want is still there."

3. Don't rely solely on print media directories. "There are five messages on my home voice mail right now from PR people who got the wrong number from Bacon's. Instead of my work number, they're calling my house. I have three numbers—this is getting crazy," says Villano. His point: "Freelancers deal with this more than beat reporters, but try to confirm that you're calling the right number. And don't just go by what your print directory says. They're often wrong when it comes to freelancers."

4. Don't re-pitch stories you've already seen. "Archives on The New York Times site are available to everybody for 'Career Couch,'" Villano shares. "But they're not used often enough. I can't stand it when I get two queries for a story I already wrote about this month. I got two great ideas this morning—they're so good that I already wrote those two stories," he jokes. "I try to write PR people back when things like that happen because I can't stand journalists with attitude problems. But I can't write back on every idea I've already covered. Sure, you might have to pay $3.95 to see a story on the site if it sounds like something you're [pitching now] but it's probably already paid for if you're an agency. So take the time to read what's already out there."

5. Personalize pitches as much as possible. "Every journalist faces this, but I might as well mention it. We don't like impersonal pitches," Villano says. "I'll get pitches with no sign of targeting that include no mention of my name or specific publication. These email pitches will say something like, 'For your publication.' I will respond to everything. But please make it seem as if you spent more then ten seconds on pitching me. Make it seem like you're personally emailing me," he advises.

6. Write concisely and exhibit attention to detail. "A guy who represents a staffing agency pesters me about the 'Career Couch' column," Villano shares. "He insists on sending me pitches with incomplete sentences. That offends me because I'm busy. I write everybody back in complete sentences because I respect them so why doesn't he do the same?" His point: "Make it seem like you care about this and build relationships with us instead of making it seem like you're just trying to get ink for your client. This guy, he didn't build the relationships. He tore it down."

7. Show you understand the freelance experience. "My favorite PR person is Jennifer Olson at Atomic Public Relations," says Villano. "What makes her such a good PR person is that she pitches me with queries and asks what I'm after. My tip is to know the freelance experience. All I need to do when I get her pitches is make a few tweaks and send them on to my editor. She's that good. She knows who and what she is pitching so well that she makes my life easy. In fact, eighty percent of what she has sent has gotten published."

Villano adds that Olsen's pitches typically include:

•	Headline-oriented subject lines: "The subject line will read, 'Article query'—and will include just five or six pithy words. It's basic headline writing and it really grabs your attention."
•	Concise nut grafs: "The entire pitch is usually about three graphs long," relates Villano. "She gets to the nut of the story very quickly."
•	Proof that the story is targeted: "In addition, she sells me on why I'm the right writer for this story and why my market is the right target for it."
•	Contacts and calls to action: "Finally, she quickly outlines who she can get on the phone," he says. "This usually includes an overview of the person's credentials. She also points out how quickly she can make it all happen for me. If it's for the Friday section, she'll send the query on Monday and I'll usually get the guy by Tuesday so I can pass it all along to the editor right away."

8. Respond to ProfNet queries when it's a fit. "My last tip is to use ProfNet," Villano shares. "I sent out a query on Sunday night and navigated over 100 replies on Monday morning. That's a great way to reach out. We have to do due diligence so we don't end up with bad sources—but it's fantastic for putting us in touch with experts or authors on obscure topics."

More specifically: "Don't have a uniform query or form you send out to everybody when you respond," Villano suggests. "Make sure it's a fit first. And never call—even if the number is listed. Email is better. Finally, don't tell me where your source has been covered. If your source has been in the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Time—that might actually deter me from responding. We all want to look like we're leading instead of following. Better is to send the bio and list of [media hits] only upon request."

Reprinted with permission from The Daily Dog.