I may have heard something about that... hopefully this can give someone ideas for pitching it but also we should talk when your pub date gets a little closer.
As always, incredibly helpful. I don't think I ever would have made it this far if not for the resources you have provided fellow humor writers. Thank you!
I think your advice is sound, as always, but also useful. Thanks for sharing this. I find a lot of Substack advice to be condescending rather than helpful, you are one of the few I keep reading.
These are great tips, Julie! I've had a hell of a time placing author interview pitches. Meaning- I've poured a ton of time into it and gotten nowhere, despite having many great clips and generally feeling confident in my pitching skills. I'm curious- which outlets have you had good luck with?
Thanks, Pam! I think they can be hard to place sometimes, unfortunately, and I also have pitched books that I haven't managed to find a home for. I have tended to have more luck with the more literary pubs that have dedicated sections for these types of things already (e.g. The Rumpus, Electric Lit, The Millions) but the downside to literary pubs are that they don't pay a lot or sometimes don't pay at all so they may not be a good fit for you at the point you are at.
I've also seen others have success finding a different format (e.g. an essay about a new book or a few new books). And I had luck with that with the Livability piece I mentioned -- I just pitched a different format.
I think that one was also maybe easier to place because I had written for the pub and was familiar with the content, so I think thinking about a book-related piece that might work for outlets you've already written for/worked with can be an option (and may be something you already tried!).
Gotcha! I was pitching bigger outlets like The Guardian, SELF, O Magazine, etc, and I felt like I was banging my head against the wall. This makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, I feel llike those outlets can be tough, maybe because they have editors handling book-related content already? I had luck placing one in Bustle but it feels tricky now for similar sites!
Thanks Julie, this is so helpful!! One question I have: do you typically secure your interviewee before pitching, or vice versa? If the first option, have you ever had an instance where you've gotten someone to agree to an interview, but then the pitch hasn't been accepted?
Hi Kelley. Glad to hear that. I have always secured my interviewee before pitching because I don't want the anxiety of not knowing if they will agree and I also just have found it helpful to sometimes get some info from the author when I'm putting the pitch together.
And yes I have had cases where I have had them agree to be interviewed but then have not had luck having the pitch accepted anywhere. This is obviously not ideal but one thing I try to do now is just be clear about that upfront -- that I can pitch it but can't guarantee I can get it placed.
And as someone who has been on the other side of the equation (having someone pitch an author interview with me that didn't get picked up) -- I completely get that this happens and is part of it. And hopefully most other authors do too. Hope this helps!
I know a guy with a book coming out next summer...
I may have heard something about that... hopefully this can give someone ideas for pitching it but also we should talk when your pub date gets a little closer.
Awesome! I'll let you know when I have an official pub date.
As always, incredibly helpful. I don't think I ever would have made it this far if not for the resources you have provided fellow humor writers. Thank you!
Of course! And thank you for the great Humor Stack resource :)
So helpful, thank you.
Of course!
I think your advice is sound, as always, but also useful. Thanks for sharing this. I find a lot of Substack advice to be condescending rather than helpful, you are one of the few I keep reading.
Thanks, James. I’m happy to hear that!
These are great tips, Julie! I've had a hell of a time placing author interview pitches. Meaning- I've poured a ton of time into it and gotten nowhere, despite having many great clips and generally feeling confident in my pitching skills. I'm curious- which outlets have you had good luck with?
Thanks, Pam! I think they can be hard to place sometimes, unfortunately, and I also have pitched books that I haven't managed to find a home for. I have tended to have more luck with the more literary pubs that have dedicated sections for these types of things already (e.g. The Rumpus, Electric Lit, The Millions) but the downside to literary pubs are that they don't pay a lot or sometimes don't pay at all so they may not be a good fit for you at the point you are at.
I've also seen others have success finding a different format (e.g. an essay about a new book or a few new books). And I had luck with that with the Livability piece I mentioned -- I just pitched a different format.
I think that one was also maybe easier to place because I had written for the pub and was familiar with the content, so I think thinking about a book-related piece that might work for outlets you've already written for/worked with can be an option (and may be something you already tried!).
Gotcha! I was pitching bigger outlets like The Guardian, SELF, O Magazine, etc, and I felt like I was banging my head against the wall. This makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, I feel llike those outlets can be tough, maybe because they have editors handling book-related content already? I had luck placing one in Bustle but it feels tricky now for similar sites!
Thanks Julie, this is so helpful!! One question I have: do you typically secure your interviewee before pitching, or vice versa? If the first option, have you ever had an instance where you've gotten someone to agree to an interview, but then the pitch hasn't been accepted?
Hi Kelley. Glad to hear that. I have always secured my interviewee before pitching because I don't want the anxiety of not knowing if they will agree and I also just have found it helpful to sometimes get some info from the author when I'm putting the pitch together.
And yes I have had cases where I have had them agree to be interviewed but then have not had luck having the pitch accepted anywhere. This is obviously not ideal but one thing I try to do now is just be clear about that upfront -- that I can pitch it but can't guarantee I can get it placed.
And as someone who has been on the other side of the equation (having someone pitch an author interview with me that didn't get picked up) -- I completely get that this happens and is part of it. And hopefully most other authors do too. Hope this helps!
Yes, thank you!!