In September, attendees on the month-to-month Lunch and Study mentioned how one can use social media to search out editors who’re calling for pitches. AHCJ freelance committee member, board member and Lunch and Study co-organizer Tammy Price requested freelance author and editor Kaitlyn Arford to sit down in. Arford writes a weekly e-newsletter of alternatives for freelancers, and he or she shared many helpful suggestions. Different individuals chimed in with their very own experiences and questions.
Lunch and Learns are by no means recorded in order that individuals can be happy to share ideas that they don’t wish to transcend the group. As an alternative, AHCJ posts a basic abstract every time. Listed here are among the key takeaways from this session.
First, make your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles informative.
- Preserve up-to-date profiles and phone info on each platforms.
- Present a hyperlink to your skilled web site.
- Embody related key phrases in your bios and titles reminiscent of “freelance author” or “healthcare journalist” in order that editors can discover you in a search.
- In case you write in numerous niches — for instance public well being, palliative care and caregiving — put all of those key phrases in your LinkedIn headline to broaden your attraction.
- On X [formerly Twitter], have a pinned tweet introducing your self, stating your availability for work and linking to your portfolio or web site.
- Submit examples of your greatest work on LinkedIn with a observe that you’re out there for freelance alternatives. Thank your editors and tag them in your posts.
Discovering Alternatives:
- Comply with editors you wish to work with on LinkedIn and Twitter.
- Use hashtags like #CallForPitches, #PitchCall, and #JournoRequest on X [formerly Twitter] to search out pitch alternatives.
- Use the search bars on both platform. For instance, in LinkedIn, kind: “In search of freelancers”, click on on “posts” and browse editors who’ve freelance alternatives.
- Seek for editor titles like “information editor” or “options editor” on LinkedIn and join with editors of curiosity.
- Keep away from direct messaging editors with pitches; most don’t prefer it.
- As an alternative, set up informal relationships with editors on social media and later request their work e mail for pitching.
- Or attempt the free service hunter.io to find e mail kinds for publications and determine an editor’s probably e mail.
Different Platforms:
- Requires pitches are much less frequent on platforms like Blue Sky and Threads in comparison with X [formerly Twitter].
Newsletters and Communities:
- Subscribe to newsletters that record freelance alternatives. Don’t neglect that subscription charges could be thought of a enterprise expense.
- On Fb, be part of specialised “binder” teams. There are binder teams for medical writers, well being writers, journey writers, you identify it. They’re principally for ladies. These might embody editors actively searching for pitches. You should be invited to affix.
Further Assets:
- An Arford article about X [formerly Twitter] accounts that share requires pitches.
- An Arford article itemizing newsletters that compile requires pitches.
- The Open Pocket book’s database has greater than 200 profitable pitches together with articles about pitching, together with a well-liked one on how not to pitch.
- AHCJ’s market guides for pitching to dozens of publications.
