How to Write a Freelance Pitch That Sells
Featuring our successful query letters!
Ah, pitching. It can be exhausting, nerve-wracking, and oh so time-consuming to get an idea you’re excited about published. We’re here to help demystify the process!
Below, you’ll find four successful pitch emails we sent out that resulted in publication. Any questions about pitching, approaching editors or getting your ideas published, ask away in the comments section!
Pitching an idea tied to your upcoming book
Kirthana: Authors are often called upon to write "off-the-book" pieces, which are articles, essays and op-eds that can be published in media outlets as part of promotion for when your book comes out.
My second novel, Advika and the Hollywood Wives (2023), was inspired by a binge-watch of RHOBH, and the novel has a major character who stars on a Real Housewives-type show. So I knew I definitely wanted to write an article of some kind about the franchise. It was my longtime comfort watch, especially during the pandemic.
As I was brainstorming pitches, I thought about how recent seasons of the Housewives shows were changing in ways I found less enjoyable to watch. I channeled my feelings about this shift into a pitch to Elle.com.
The article is here—you'll notice that my novel is directly referenced in the novel, and the title in the subhead, which is great promo! And here is the pitch letter I wrote:
Dear [Editor’s Name],
Real Housewives is becoming too much like Survivor—and it's ruining the franchise.
Originally, the Real Housewives was about offering a voyeuristic glimpse inside the glamorous lives of affluent women. But as the franchise gained popularity and made them famous, it has become less about following a group of women as they lead their lives, and more about them playing to the cameras to win fan support and lucrative opportunities outside the series.
In recent years, this has meant Survivor-esque strategizing and alliances with the goal of shoring up their own fanbases, usually at the expense of their co-stars. For example, several RHOBH stars—they are even known as the "Fox Force Five''—have been accused of banding together with the sole mission of maintaining their roles on the show by pushing out cast members who they fear are overshadowing them. All of this constant maneuvering both on camera and behind the scenes has led to episodes teeming with arguments and accusations, screaming matches and exposing scandals. (Most recently, RHOP's Robyn Dixon has been accused of hiding her husband's infidelity scandal while accusing her co-star Karen Huger of cheating.)
Conflict and drama has always been one of the hallmarks of this Bravo franchise. But now it's the only thing that viewers can expect to see, as the escapism and camaraderie that it once offered is becoming increasingly rare. Even as the Real Housewives are more popular than ever, at the same time, many fans are also complaining that the shows are starting to become too dark and hard to watch. As a result, the once-mighty franchise has started to see a slip in the ratings. And it will continue to do so, if it can't recapture the magic that made people first want to tune in.
[NOTE: Usually, I'd conclude the pitch with a sentence such as “I'd like to pitch a 750-1,000-word essay on why Real Housewives needs to return to what made the shows so great, and my thoughts on how to save the franchise.” But my publicist sent the above write-up on my behalf to the Elle.com editor, which she accepted.]
Saul pitched an article to Truthdig in conjunction with the publication of his book, Kind of a Big Deal: How Anchorman Stayed Classy and Became the Most Iconic Comedy of the Twenty-First Century. You can find his published piece here.
Hi [Editor’s Name],
How are you? I hope you're doing well.
I am a writer in New York. I write primarily about popular culture and comedy, and my work has been published in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Slate, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and other publications. I am also the author of six books, including "Generation Friends," which was selected by New York magazine as one of the best comedy books of 2019.
I have a new book called "Kind of a Big Deal: How Anchorman Stayed Classy and Became the Most Iconic Comedy of the Twenty-First Century," about the making of the movie "Anchorman," which comes out in August from Dutton (Penguin Random House). In it, I tell the story of how Adam McKay and Will Ferrell revitalized the big-screen comedy with a dash of improv and a pinch of “Saturday Night Live”-style sketch comedy.
I came across the news a week or two ago that the actor Jay Johnston, familiar to people as one of the voices on "Bob's Burgers" and elsewhere, and a supporting character in "Anchorman," was arrested and charged with felony obstruction of a police officer as part of his involvement in the events of Jan. 6:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/07/us/politics/jay-johnston-actor-january-6.html
I actually wrote about Johnston and Jan. 6 in my book, and have an extended version of the segment, which touches on Johnston's involvement, the sound of a disembodied voice in the New York Times documentary on Jan. 6 who can be heard quoting Will Ferrell in "Old School" before storming the Capitol, and the complex relationship between comedy, MAGA authoritarianism, and our unsteady democracy that I'd love to share with you if you're interested.
In the aftermath of January 6, the crux of the question that so many people were asking each other was “Who are these people?” Who were these fellow Americans so enthralled by Trump’s lies they were willing to drop everything, travel hundreds or thousands of miles, and be part of an unruly mob protesting an election? Who were these mysterious and deeply familiar others who were willing to destroy democracy in order to protect the ego of one thin-skinned man? Answers were not immediately forthcoming, and so for people of a certain pop-cultural bent, the presence of Jay Johnston was a helpful peg on which to hang our feelings.
I found that I could not stop thinking about Johnston, a man I did not know, and after a time, his face began to merge with the unseen face of the voice shouting “We’re going streaking!” in the New York Times video.
If Ron Burgundy could say crude things about women while making us laugh, it was only a short step to others hijacking his brand of japery and transforming it into a just-joking-unless-you-like-what-I-said brand of ideology-as-entertainment. I thought about that unknown man summoning the spirit of "Old School" to commit a crime against the American body politic, and my anger and frustration at the ways in which jokes could be turned into tools to hurt others boiled over. Bad fans were out there, and they were not just spoiling my enjoyment of comedy; they were spoiling America itself.
We laugh at movies like "Anchorman" because it encourages us to find amusement in Ron Burgundy’s excesses, which were not to be taken seriously or literally. Trump had similarly provided permission to act out in a fashion that polite society eschewed, and the difference was that instead of chuckling softly to themselves on their couches, these men and women were smashing windows, attacking police officers, and threatening the murder of elected officials. January 6 was the anti-comedy, a tragedy of the ongoing dissolution of our collective democratic bonds acted out by people who might have thought that storming the Capitol was like a slightly more adult version of a drunken streak through campus. The horror of January 6 stemmed from the creeping belief that, for many of the participants in the chaos at the Capitol, sedition could be a hoot.
I’d be happy to send you a fuller draft of my piece if this might interest you. I'm also sharing some links to recent stories of mine here.
"When 'Homicide' Hit Its Stride"- New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/11/arts/television/homicide-life-on-the-street.html
"Alan Alda on MASH: 'Everybody Had Something Taken From Them'"- New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/arts/television/alan-alda-mash-anniversary.html
Thanks so much!
Saul
Pitching from an editor’s call-out
Jennifer responded to a pitch call for the coffee table book, Chappell Roan: The Rise of a Midwest Princess, publishing in October 2025. Jennifer is one of several writers featured in the book, and here is her pitch:
Dear [Editor’s Name],
I've written a lot about female pop stars, for Billboard and in my book Pop Star Goddesses, and Chappell Roan is the most exciting act I've seen emerge in a very long time. I'm not a queer woman, though I am thrilled to see her openness and the ways it has been so accepted, especially when I think about how female pop stars have been all but required to be acceptable to men first and foremost (why? which men were buying Britney Spears albums?). I would love to write something specifically about how her music foregrounds the ways that patriarchy has been detrimental to straight women (“when you wake up next to him, in the middle of the night ...”), which I have a lot of thoughts about as a woman who cancelled a wedding to a man out of concern about housewifery. Everything from her explicit words to her drag queen aesthetic communicates this, and I think it's particularly interesting in light of the complicated relations between cis men and women in our current political climate (which one could get into more or less, depending on the editorial needs).
I'm including a few links below to my work on this subject. I'm a longtime pop culture reporter and historian who worked at Entertainment Weekly for ten years and has freelanced for New York Magazine, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and all the usual suspects. I'm currently working on my ninth book about pop culture history. You can learn more about me here.
Thanks,
Jennifer
How Nearly 200 Years of Fandom History Culminated in Taylor Swift's Dominance
How Did Leonard Cohen Become a Punchiline for Young, Female Singers?
Is Karma a Bitch, My Boyfriend, or You Dying Your Hair?
Chappell Roan Is Our Most Revolutionary Pop Star in Years
Pitching a story tied to an anniversary
Thea: When The Office’s fifteen-year anniversary was coming up, I knew I wanted to pitch a piece about the making of the beloved Dunder Mifflin set. I did some research and discovered Architectural Digest has a whole section that covers the intersection between design and pop culture. I had never written for the outlet before, so I sent a cold email and the story was greenlit! It ended up being one of my favorite freelance pieces I’ve ever gotten to write.
Hi [Editor’s Name],
I’m a freelance journalist with a story idea I think could be a great fit for Architectural Digest.
March 24th marks the fifteen-year anniversary of The Office premiere and, in celebration, I’d like to give a behind-the-scenes look at how this beloved slice of television history was built. Through conversations with the show’s production designer, set designer, and location scout, the piece would explore the work that went into meticulously creating the hyper-realistic world of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.
It all started with transforming Los Angeles’s squat, grey Chandler Valley Center Studios into a fully functioning office space in Scranton, PA. Details were everything. The crew was in constant communication with Scranton businesses to make sure that every piece of that world was real. Froggy 101 radio station stickers were flown in. Local restaurants were recreated. The Scranton Times would mock up front pages of newspapers for the show to use. Writer/actor Paul Lieberstein’s office at Chandler Valley Center Studios was permanently transformed into a rough replica of Michael Scott’s office so they could use it anytime the character was looking outside at the parking lot.
I’d also dive into how the crew created the moments that defined the series: like the infamous “Dinner Party” episode. The production crew was so dedicated to creating a realistic world that - in lieu of using a soundstage - they scouted out a condo for Michael Scott, which the entire cast crammed into for a long, overheated shoot. Or that time Jim proposed to Pam at a spot halfway between New York and Pennsylvania and the production team, determined to get every detail right, built an exact replica of Merritt Parkway rest stop in Connecticut for single scene that cost $250,000. Showrunner Greg Daniels would later call it the “most expensive and elaborate shot we’ve ever done.”
If you think this story might be of interest, I’ll reach out to request interviews. Thanks so much for your consideration. Attaching samples of my writing below.
Best,
Thea
Inside the Thrilling, Chaotic Writers’ Room of Dawson’s Creek
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/01/dawsons-creek-20th-anniversary-writers-room
Richard Curtis’s Five Places to Visit in London
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/travel/five-places-to-visit-in-london.html
From Freaks and Geeks to A Simple Favor: Paul Feig’s Secret Weapon