This is the 13th edition of The Essence.
If your freelance pitch is pitiful, you are killing your chances.
How you write your freelance pitch can determine whether an editor or prospect hires you.
One accepted pitch could lead to thousands of dollars in your bank account.
But sending bad pitches could end your freelance career before it even starts. And the sympathy freelance pitch is one of the most notorious types.
It is almost always a fast way to the spam folder. It will either get a generic rejection or… crickets. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what WritersWeekly’s managing editor, Brian Whiddon, had to write about this:
“If you want to count on sympathy to earn a profit, you’ll make more money by dressing up in ragged clothes, and holding a hand-written sign near a busy intersection.”
Publications and companies are businesses looking to make a profit. They need writers and freelancers. They aren’t giving money away to writers or copywriters.
Never communicate with them as if they’re doing charity. Never sell yourself short with a sympathy freelance pitch.
The sympathy freelance pitch makes you look desperate
I used to hang out on Facebook copywriting groups and job boards. I remember seeing many new writers embarrassing themselves. They were pitching themselves publicly with posts that screamed “needy!”
One post looked something like this:
It was for everyone in the group to see. Not good at all. The post had many comments. I was surprised. People didn’t usually comment on writers’ public pitches in this group. I, for a few seconds, thought being needy worked.
But when I saw the comments, my initial thoughts were confirmed. None were job offers.
The comments were from fellow writers. They told this new writer that she looked needy and that this wasn’t good. They were right. The post reeked of neediness.
It was like admitting her product sucks.
A sympathy freelance pitch makes you look desperate, as Brian explained. And desperate people rarely make good business decisions. They can also be hard to work with, which is a big turn-off for editors and prospects.
But many of us know we shouldn’t look desperate when pitching. Yet still, from time to time, it can happen. When you desperately need the opportunity or when you’ve been unsuccessfully job hunting for months — and when you feel desperate — it may appear in your pitch.
So be careful when pitching and make sure you’re not coming off as needy.
Read the pitch out loud and put yourself in the recipient’s shoes. Then look for words that show neediness and delete them. Read it more until you’re confident your pitch doesn’t stink of neediness.
Read it again until you’re sure your pitch sounds confident.
Brain pointed out that this is a business, and when you’re selling your words, you should have the mindset of a pro. Or what Cal Newport calls: The craftsman mindset.
“Craftsman mindset focuses on what you can offer the world. The passion mindset focuses instead on what the world can offer you. This mindset is how most people approach their working lives.” — Cal Newport
Put yourself in the editor or prospect’s shoes (would you hire yourself?)
Pretend you’re an editor and two writers pitched you. The first writer spits out his flaws — how he’s not good at researching, how he doesn’t know much about the topic, etc. — but he promises to get better.
The other one tells you that he is the freelance writer you’re looking for. He says whatever you want, I’ll deliver it. The way you want it to be delivered.
His pitch shows confidence, resilience, and humbleness.
Would you pick the first and risk wasting your time with someone who admits how bad he is at what he does? With all the risk to your publication’s reputation? Or would you choose the second one?
Always put yourself in the other person’s shoes before you send a freelance pitch. Then ask yourself: Would I hire myself? And be brutally honest about the answer.
Brian included real examples of ridiculous pitches he received in his piece. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was reading. I even found myself laughing at some of those pitches.
They even got many pitches from writers threatening that if they rejected their work, they would throw their manuscripts, and give up writing altogether.
Top tips for writing a good freelance pitch
Brian mentioned something I didn’t include in my freelance pitches early on: graceful humility.
Just like sympathy pitches, an overconfident one will get you nowhere.
When I first started, I sent out 300+ cold emails to launch my copywriting business. A company’s founder offered to let me write for them. But the pay was not so great. I was too arrogant to accept it. Although I had no experience, only a handful of cheap quality articles published, I asked for $0.20 per word.
Yeah, I did that. I didn’t find a client after that for a long time.
The pay wasn’t that bad for a complete beginner and I really needed the money and the experience back then. I tried to negotiate an in-between rate, around $0.12 per word.
But it was too late. The founder was already turned off by my unearned arrogance. He turned down the offer. He even replied that they have writers with Master’s degrees in creative writing, and they take much lower pay.
He jabbed me with his response. But I deserved it.
I’m not saying that you should agree to whatever rate a client offers you. But you have to earn your rates. If you’re offering your services for $0.20 per word, you’ve got to have the portfolio, the skills, and the know-how to back it up.
It’s unreasonable to ask for $0.20 per word when you have only ten articles published and none with reputable publications whatsoever.
And if you’re going to ask for high rates, do it without arrogance. Communicate, without arrogance, that the words you write are something they need.
Here are some of the top tips for writing a good freelance pitch:
Before you pitch anything, develop your skills until you’re at least worthy.
Read the guidelines and get the feel of the publication or the company’s website that you’re pitching.
Believe in what you’re offering and show confidence in your pitch.
Tailor each pitch to the specific company, publication, or editor. But make it short.
Niche down and don’t write about everything. Focus on what you have the most knowledge, experience, or interest in.
Leave personal stuff out.
Final Words
Research who you’re pitching well. Look for what they’re looking for and make sure you are a good fit.
Don’t overlook anything the publication or the magazine requests from writers. You would never fill a paper job application with half the requested information, as Brian wrote. So don’t do that with your freelance pitches.
Spend the time you need to modify each pitch before you send it. That’s much better than sending +200 generic pitches and hoping something sticks.
Remember that popular phrase, quality over quantity? Well, it applies here too.
This was an article I’ve written for Better Marketing in July, you can found the original here.
Thanks for reading and until next time,
Mohammed