Writing the email subject line is often the most difficult part of pitching a magazine.
But not if you use this tip, one of more than 30 that I shared during the webinar on “How to Find Your Way into Glossy Magazines.” (The replay is available.)
Here’s the tip:
When writing the subject line, follow the same headline format that you see on the cover of an earlier issue of the magazine.
Let’s say you’re a podiatrist and you’re pitching a story about foot care for Bicycling magazine. You see this headline on the cover of an issue from a few years ago: “Pro Secrets: 8 Ways to Make Your Bike Faster.”
Take that headline, substitute your own words and turn it into: “Foot Doc’s Secrets: 8 ways to Prevent Boils & Blisters.” If you can’t find a headline on the cover that’s a good fit with your story pitch, flip through the magazine. You’ll often find a large selection of headlines from which to choose. And a headline on the cover isn’t necessarily the same as the headline on the story inside.
During the webinar, I also explained how to find out what hot issues the magazine cares about, which new freelancers are writing for the magazine (so you can pitch THEM too) and personal details about editors and writers that you might be able to weave into your pitch. Advertising in most of these magazines is incredibly expensive and far out of the reach of many Publicity Hounds. If you pitch correctly, you can get far more mileage and thousands of dollars more in free publicity than you can from a paid ad.
[…] The more unusual or controversial your story, the better. I recommend this excellent free 90-minute webinar from Daniel Hall on how to get onto local TV. You will also learn how to write a pitch: http://www.realfasttvpr.com/joan/. They are selling a training program, but even if you buy nothing from them, you’ll come away with fabulous ideas you can use for getting onto TV. In order to get quoted in a magazine, you must first read the magazine and understand its audience and the topics the magazine covers. Never pitch a magazine without first holding it in your hands and flipping through it to get a good idea of what they cover—the issues, the topics, departments and features where your story might be a good fit. NEVER send a one-size-fits-all pitch to more than one magazine. You can read more about this topic at my blog at https://publicityhound.com/blog/want-publicity-in-magazines-research-then-pitch/ and at https://publicityhound.com/blog/pitching-magazines-tips-for-a-compelling-subject-line/ […]