{"id":985,"date":"2018-04-03T18:17:41","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T18:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/?page_id=985"},"modified":"2023-02-11T16:10:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T16:10:14","slug":"freelance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/freelance\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitch a freelance story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vut4gPPzEac\" width=\"480\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" align=\"right\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Freelance writing is one of the best ways to keep working while you look for full time employment.\u00a0 And it helps a lot to introduce yourself to editors. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>The\u00a0 &#8220;pitch&#8221;<\/strong> (a short proposal to an assignment editor) <span class=\"s1\">explains why your story idea is important, who you will interview, and what photo \/ video \/ interactive content you will\u00a0develop for the story.\u00a0 Think of stories that have strong visual elements \u2014 a hydro dam, an abandoned arsenic mine, a haunted coal company store\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t write,<\/strong> \u201cHi, my name is Mary and Im a journalism student and I\u2019d like to write a story for you.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>Start your pitch<\/strong> with a strong lead to get the editor&#8217;s attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wcb-button cb-common check-button\">\n<li><strong>Write something like this: <\/strong><span class=\"s1\">\u201cJoy Lynn talks of the Whipple Coal Company Store as if it were haunted.\u00a0 Which it is, of course, she tells the tour groups wandering through rooms of artifacts in the hundred-year-old building in Scarbro, West Virginia.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Or this:\u00a0<\/strong><span class=\"s1\">\u201cArsenic used to be found in everything from pesticides to wallpaper, but these days, scientists are trying to keep the poisonous element out of water supplies.\u00a0 Radford University\u00a0 professor Jean Rockford is one of those scientists, and her approach is unique. \u201c\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Or this:\u00a0 <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s not Virginia\u2019s smallest dam, and its only one of four municipally owned dams,\u00a0 but as the city of Radford struggles with re-licensing its hydroelectric dam on the Little River, engineers and officials have run into problems that are typical of small dams throughout the country.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>And then:\u00a0<\/strong> F<\/span><span class=\"s1\">ollow up with more information: &#8216;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What others have written, and how long ago\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">How you will get the story \u2014 Who you\u2019ll interview, what locations you will video or photograph, and what sources of information are out there.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>How soon you can have the story to the editor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>And then:\u00a0<\/strong> F<\/span><span class=\"s1\">ollow up with a brief paragraph of information about yourself and links to your work online.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>ONE ARTS MAGAZINE gives the editor&#8217;s email and says;\u00a0 <\/strong><em>\u00a0For pitches, please include a detailed description of your story idea and why it\u2019s right for our magazine&#8217;s\u00a0audience. If you are\u00a0pitching the idea as a\u00a0freelance\u00a0writer, include 2\u20133 links to your previously published\u00a0work.\u00a0If we choose to move forward with your pitch, a member of our editorial team will be in touch.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>RU Online :\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/radforduniversity.on.worldcat.org\/search?databaseList=283&amp;queryString=ti%3AWriter%27s+Market#\/oclc\/894544134\">Writers Market<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0Robert L. Brewer, lists magazines and news services<\/li>\n<li><strong>E<a href=\"https:\/\/radforduniversity.on.worldcat.org\/search?databaseList=283&amp;queryString=Freelance+writer&amp;clusterResults=true#\/oclc\/925524682\">ssential Guide to Freelance Writin<\/a>g<\/strong>,\u00a0 \u00a0Zachary Petit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Open access:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.freelancewriting.com\/\">Freelance Writing dot com<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Craigslist writing jobs <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtondc.craigslist.org\/search\/wri?sort=rel&amp;query=Washington+DC\">Washington DC<\/a>\u00a0 and other jobs too<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfp-dc.org\/cfpdc\/index.php\">Greater Washington DC Catalog for Philanthropy<\/a>\u00a0 &#8212; Lists hundreds of non-profits. Possible sources for freelance work.<\/li>\n<li>F<a href=\"https:\/\/www.freelancewritinggigs.com\/freelance-writing-job-ads\/\">reelance writing gigs<\/a> &#8212; Lots of freelance opportunities<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.journalismjobs.com\/index.php\">Journalism Jobs dot com<\/a> &#8212;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Meta sources\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/libguides.unomaha.edu\/c.php?g=765908&amp;p=5496846\">Guide to freelance writing resources<\/a> &#8211; University of Nebraska<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5VQGIuHesxo\" width=\"480\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" align=\"right\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff Freelance writing is one of the best ways to keep working while you look for full time employment.\u00a0 And it helps a lot to introduce yourself to editors. The\u00a0 &#8220;pitch&#8221; (a short proposal to an assignment editor) explains why &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/freelance\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-985","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2027,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/985\/revisions\/2027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}