That subject line on your pitch e-mail

Jun 1, 2016 by jgordon@unitedmediaguild.org

In a piece posted on The Freelancer site in April, Katherine Brodsky sought advice from top editors on what to put in the subject line of a pitch e-mail.

Editors are bombarded with pitches from PR firms and, unfortunately, some freelancers who don’t understand the media outlet’s target audience.

Here were a couple of the responses from editors:

Eric Sullivan, former features editor at Esquire: “At the end of the day, you should think about what makes the story you’re pitching so unique and essential, and focus on that.”

Katie Wudel, articles editor at GOOD Magazine: “Freelancers should just be straightforward, describing what their story is about as simply and plainly as they can.”

Jennifer Ortiz, senior editor at Marie Claire: “Starting a subject line with something like ‘Story Idea:’ or ‘Pitch:’ is a quick way to get lost in my inbox. That’s how publicists pitch, so I assume, at first glance, that it’s a PR pitch and am less quick to open.”

Neil Janowitz, editorial director at Vulture: “When I fall behind on email, my failsafe is to go back and scan for stories that I know had an upcoming peg. If ‘for a movie coming out April 8’ is buried in the email, I’m liable to miss it.”

And if those don’t work, you can always take a more desperate approach!