What editors really think about your pitches
Practical takeaways straight from the editors you're pitching to.
Missed the latest newsletters?
This week I’ve shared nearly 150 new opportunities, with tons of fresh pitch calls, freelance and remote writing opportunities to check out.
Many of these opportunities are still open—but not for long. Check them out before they close!
What editors really think about your pitches
For today’s post, I’ve spoken to editors at various print and digital publications about the pitches they have received recently. All of their comments have been anonymised in return for their candour, but all this input comes directly from editors who are commissioning writers like you.
This isn’t a list of complaints, but rather a reflection of why they’re turning down potentially good work. It’s not always for one of the reasons below, either. Sometimes an idea just isn’t right for that publication at that exact time, and you should never take a rejection personally.
Let this be the guide to help you before you send your next pitch.
Stop using AI
“We’re getting multiple pitches a week with the exact same headline and structure. It’s clearly AI-generated, often it hasn’t even been edited first.”
Many editors are now great at spotting AI content. Since it seems to have filtered through everywhere, most people are getting better at that. The structure always looks the same. The ideas are surface level. The pitch lacks a voice, personality, perspective or even a basic understanding of their audience.
If you use AI as an early soundboard for your ideas, or to give you some feedback, that’s one thing. But the final pitch needs to be written and proofread by a real human.
Ideas are the real kicker. Because there are so many freelancers feeding pitch calls into Chat GPT, it repeatedly churns out the same ideas. They’re rarely insightful, and never unique. And often they regurgitate ideas that have already been published… Because all AI does is recycle ideas that already exist.
To get commissioned, you need to be doing something different. Innovative. And that means using your brain, reading, playing around with ideas and angles.
Every single editor I spoke to for this piece mentioned AI among their biggest issues when receiving pitches.
Follow their pitch guidelines properly
“I can always tell when someone hasn’t read the pitch guide. That usually results in an automatic no.”