This year has been my craziest to date. I experienced the stress of having to write an entire book in about three months, followed by fact checks and photo sourcing. I didn’t handle it all that well but ultimately got through it. I had some of my best success in terms of pitching outlets and placing stories that paid well, including some “big” outlets.
I started to pitch my services as a writer to companies and organizations as well to fill in the financial gaps. I, thankfully, only had one outlet that gave me trouble in terms of getting my payment. I have a lot of big things to start paying for this coming year, so let’s hope for even more success! As with previous years, these posts were inspired by those of Lola Akinmade, especially the pie charts.
Where My Work Went
Firstly, I am proud to say that I’ve sold beyond the number of books I needed to earn more than my advance. The number was thankfully low so now I can focus on hitting my next few benchmarks. If you’re interested, you can purchase it here!
I was assigned work with a few existing clients, including a few stories for the Discover Dekalb visitor’s guide and continued monthly work for Explore Georgia. I also added to my work for them when they overhauled their website. I pitched new work with the ATL Airport District and Discover Atlanta for their blogs.
In addition to work for these tourism boards, I picked up some content work for companies. I wrote about places to live in Atlanta for Owners.com, created copy for Google’s travel apps on Chattanooga, Atlanta, and Pigeon Forge, covered Atlanta’s international dining scene for CIBC, and wrote about packing and travels for Eagle Creek. I also wrote a few pieces of marketing copy for a travel PR firm and edited a guide for a moving company.
In the travel realm, I successfully wrote stories for Marriott Traveler, Fodor’s (three, in fact!), London’s Evening Standard, Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, and Frommer’s. Locally, I wrote two stories for 17 South, two for Atlanta Magazine, one for Where, and one for Jezebel. I also wrote my first stories for Sprudge, a coffee publication, and FoodieTravelUSA, a new outlet about gas station eateries. And another personal essay on Ravishly, a favorite outlet.
See almost all of my work on my Contently page and follow along on my professional website.
Also see my writing goals for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
My Pitching Process
Before I go any further, I’ve got to point out that I wrote, pitched, or was assigned 188 stories this year. Some were projects rather than stories, but I think it counts. Of these, 80 were assigned, 23 were accepted, and 33 were rejected, and 32 had no response. Another five are still in limbo, including one I wrote on spec, something I never do. But the outlet was one I wanted to aim for.
When it comes to how I found outlets to pitch, it varied. Of all my assigned stories, the large majority are ones I already worked with or had some sort of relationship with. Others came from membership with content websites. For example, my work with Owners came from Skyword and my work with Marriott Traveler, CIBC, and Hilton came through Contently.
If you’re not a member, I recommend signing up for both. Editors look at profiles and recruit you based on your expertise. For new outlets that I was both rejected by and accepted by, I found the majority of the editorial contacts through Twitter and through fellow writers.
One of the issues I dealt with last year was going on trips and then struggling to find the best outlets for the stories. This year, I’ve tried to go less places and instead focusing on really unique stories and angles closer to home. I still have trouble with finding outlets for the specific ideas I have, but that’s something to work on.
Shooting for the Stars
So what does this mean? I had more pitches denied than ever, and more that I didn’t get responses from, but I sent more pitches than in previous years, another 60 stories this year. I had the same number accepted, but had less assigned work, even though it seemed like more.
I also pitched the outlets I was previously intimidated by, even if it didn’t turn into a story. I received positive feedback from pitches from BBC Travel, Cosmopolitan, The Establishment, Narratively, and Racked (RIP) and had the nerve to pitch the New York Times, Travel and Leisure, The Cut, Architectural Digest, and Playboy.
I would say the story I’m proudest of was a short but sweet piece with the Evening Standard, which was small but crossed the pond, my first for an overseas publication. I also was able to re-focus a pitch to lead to its acceptance, for Frommer’s. My highest paid gig was $675 and my lowest was $50 (or $0 if one of these checks never
Goals for the Next Year
For my focus word of the year, I’m going with shrewd. It’s usually viewed as a negative term, but I am looking at it as a way to be discerning in what decisions I make for my career. I also want to pursue fair payment without worrying that I’m being unreasonable.
Make at least $3,500-4,000 per month. I’ll be paying a mortgage, so in addition to my regular monthly work, I’ll need to pitch high enough paying outlets to earn a couple thousand.
Negotiate a raise. I am terrible at asking for more money, but it never hurts to ask. This is especially important if it’s a tight turnaround or requires extra photos or research.
Sell 1,000 copies of my book by the end of the year. I have a long way to go before earning a higher percentage, but I’m setting my own benchmarks in terms of book sales.
Get more involved with professional organizations. I’ve said this one before, but I recently joined the Author’s Guild, a prestigious group with great resources for members.
Write a long-form story. After listening to the Longform website’s podcast, I’m interested in writing stories for outlets that cover longer stories. I’m especially interested in Atlanta Magazine, the Washington Post, Airbnb Magazine, and an in-flight magazine.
Find multiple angles for stories. I tend to focus on one idea, but each trip or concept should have at least a few possible angles and outlets. I also need to be better at re-pitching outlets I’ve had success with.
Get feedback. I’d like to find out why stories weren’t accepted and receive tips for next time so that I can either focus my pitches or get a better sense of what they’re looking for.
Finish my memoir. It doesn’t even matter if it ever gets published at this point, I just need to get through it. I obviously had another big project to focus on this year, but after talking to my friend Angie about her book and taking a class from Torre DeRoche, I felt re-motivated.
Complete daily morning minutes. I forgot where I heard about this, but there’s a concept that involves starting your day with freewriting about whatever you’re thinking about, not necessarily what you have to work on, in order to get the creative juices flowing. I’ve written a bit of fiction to get myself started.
Sarah says
I really love this look into your year of pitching. In 2018 I got into freelance writing. It took me nearly the whole year to get the hang of it, how to pitch, and how to actually get jobs. Now I’m learning about how to manage actually having pitches accepted! I am definitely going to go back and read your other yearly posts on writing, and any you have upcoming!!