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THREAD: A couple of weeks ago, after I started a thread about which magazines pay freelancers $2/word, some people commented—a bit irritatedly, maybe—that the more pressing question is how to get past publications’ “gatekeepers” in the first place. I wanted to address this.
I freelance as both a journalist and an editor, so I’ve seen both sides of that. Here are some thoughts. (My thoughts alone—I’m not representing any publication.)
Editors get a ton of pitches. Seeing whether you’ve published strong pieces in publications similar to theirs can be a way for them to quickly gauge whether you have the chops. If you’ve done it well elsewhere, you can probably do it well again.
That means there’s often a kind of ladder you have to climb: Write first for publications willing to take a chance on someone who hasn’t published much (these tend to be online, not print, publications, in my experience—often newer, startuppier ones, but not always).
How do you get those first, and later, assignments? Here’s what not to waste time on: Lunches and coffees with editors. Twitter “friendships” with people you think can help you. Here’s what to do: Come up with excellent stories, and pitch them well.
A good pitch is crucial. Here's my hot tip: Don’t center the pitch around questions you’re interested in exploring. Do the reporting and thinking first, and figure out the answers. Then pitch that. What's happening? Why does it matter?
Of course, it can be hard to get through to editors in the first place. Some respond to all pitches. (I do.) Some don’t. Watch for editors posting calls for pitches here. Ask other journalists who they’ve had luck with.
MOST IMPORTANT TWEET: When you write your first pieces, good God, make sure they’re good and original. There are a lot of people writing fast, snappy hot takes—but not many producing deeply reported, well-written, meaningful journalism. (Nothing against hot takes.)
None of this is to discount the structural barriers to entry that exist—in terms of race, gender, class, and so on. As a woman of color, I’ve had what I think is a rare experience.
In high school, I went to a kind of journalism summer camp for students of color sponsored by the @SeattleTimes. From there, I got a job as an assistant at the paper’s (now defunct) youth publication, Mirror.
In college, my first internship was through @DJNF, an internship program that aims to improve diversity in newsrooms. I was placed at the @DenverPost, where one of my two editors was @RowenaAlegria, a brilliant journalist who is a woman of color.
Later in college, I interned at the @WSJ, where one of my three editors was @puiwingtam—also a brilliant WOC journalist—who would later become a top @NYTimes editor.
I was in college at Stanford, a credential that also helped. One of my two @WSJ internships was through a program created in memory of Daniel Pearl—the WSJ reporter murdered in Pakistan in 2002—and reserved for a student at Stanford, where Pearl had studied.
I became a reporter at the @WSJ, then worked at the @NewYorker’s website. My first freelance magazine article, in 2015, was for @CalSunday. I cold-emailed @dougmcgray, and he and @kitrachis took a chance on me. stories.californiasunday.com/2015-06-07/ann…
After that, other editors started contacted me. My second freelance magazine article, in 2016, happened after Emily Biuso, then a @BW editor, asked me to pitch her, having read some of my online @NewYorker pieces. That was my first cover story. bloomberg.com/features/2016-…
Research confirms what my experience suggests: Having peers and mentors from backgrounds similar to yours matters. Organizations that actively promote diversity matter. Editors welcoming pitches from all quarters—with an eye toward improving diversity in their pages—matters.
Anyone who has questions I haven’t answered, or who wants advice specific to their situation, feel free to write. My DMs are open.
