Pitching stories or ideas to the media is hard. Each episode, author and journalist-turned PR, Helen Croydon interviews a commissioning editor, writer or producer at a high profile media outlet on what, why, who and when they commission a story. If you’ve ever wondered how the news is made and where journalists find interviewees, this is a fascinating listen. Hear more about the podcast at: www.themediainsider.fm
Zena Alkayat is founder of Bloom Magazine, a publication about gardening and nature with a modern angle. Zena shares her tips on how to pitch a story including how to differentiate passion from expertise, why 'the story' is always the most important wording of your pitch and how a new partnership with a book publisher means they're scouting for new nature writers!
Jess Austin is Communities Editor for Metro online, commissioning Metro blogs and first person pieces. She discusses what the editorial team look for, why using fresh writers is so exciting, and, how to pitch to their regular series such as 'what it feels like to...' 'immigrant stories' and 'hello, my name is....'
Plus, what you. need to know if you fancy pitching yourself as a columnist.
Martha Dillon, editor of It’s Freezing in LA, a publication covering environmental issues, gives us pitching tips for PRs and freelance writers. She discusses different feature formats for the magazine, why she’s on the lookout for young writers and defining a story angle in a pitch.
Lucy Dunn, lifestyle editor, of Telegraph Magazine talks about the new editorial approach since The Telegraph went digital-first, why journalists are going 'below the line', the resurgence of long-reads and what's needed from PRs and journalists in their pitches for the magazine.
The founders of The London Writers Salon discuss the different roles of editors at book publishers, the pros and cons of traditional publishing versus self-publishing, new ways for writers to promote their work and how to pursue a creative career.
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Pia Velasco, Senior Beauty and Fashion editor of Hello Giggles, discusses the regular features, reviews and pages of the beauty pages.
Plus, how she sifts through 500 PR emails a day, the phrases that make her hit delete, the hot trends editors want to explore stories on and why PRs should NEVER ask, ‘What are you working on?’
Literary agent Andrew Lownie gives his advice on pitching a book to an agent, including what to put in a one page pitch, what the trends are in publishing, what he looks for in a writer and some of the common fails of pitching.
Huck covers everything from adventure sport to music to photography to politics and activism, all through the lens of individualism.
With an audience of half a million a month, split between UK and US, Niall, like many editors, gets 100s of pitches a day for coverage. He discusses what they look for in a story, and what to put in your pitch for different types of stories.
Jack Sommers from Insider (the new name for Business Insider) reveals when to pitch to an editor and when to pitch to a reporter; what makes a 'list' piece; the importance of specifics in a media pitch; and why Business Insider will now be known as Insider - and what we can expect from the other exciting 'Insider' publications.
Punteha van Terheyden has been writing and editing true-life stories for 12 years on women's magazines such as Take a Break.
She set up her own platform, Lacuna Voices, to give a home to the stories the traditional media won't take. In this episode we discuss modernising the traditional mould of what makes a good real-life story, what PRs can add to a press release to get a story picked up and why journalism is the worst industry for not getting email replies.
