Typical problem for freelancers: When they pitch an article to an editor, they must wait to hear back from that editor before they can pitch elsewhere. But a response can take days and maybe even weeks.
Typical problem for editors: With staff cutbacks, they’re relying on good freelancers more than ever. And timeliness is still an issue. Some editors receive more than 500 emails a day, so how can they quickly find the emails from the freelancers whose work they might buy?
Solution for both: Reporterist.com, a news exchange where freelancers and editors can connect. As a journalist, you can upload your work and submit it to a specific publication, like an article about hiking to an outdoor magazine, and give editors two weeks to view the story and decide to publish it.
Read more about it in the Online Journalism Review article “What if there were an eBay for news?”
A tip of the hat to Poynter Online’s Jim Romenesko for this one.
Joan, I would beg to differ with your statement that freelancers “must wait to hear back from that editor before they can pitch elsewhere.”
Why on Earth would anyone do that?
Pitch as many as you think might be right for the article. If more than one responds, you just tell the latecomers that you’ve changed your mind…but how about an alternate article?
Since you cannot control the speed of an editor’s response, it is foolish to sit on an article while waiting. And it is unrealistic for any editor to insist (as though they have any control over it) that freelancers should do so.
Since freelance pay — at least for consumer magazines — has changed almost not at all over the past 20-30 years, freelancers who want to make money at the game have to use simultaneous submissions.
However, if you have an ongoing relationship with an editor, it would probably be smart to give her first refusal. And if you do have that relationship, your email will probably bubble to the top of her must-read list if she knows you’re going to produce top-notch work.
I have no real sympathy for the poor overworked editors with their bulging inboxes. Do they think they’re the only ones with that problem?
But thanks for the info on that website. Anything that can help editors and writers find each other is a good thing, indeed.