ПЕРЕВЕДИТЕ БЕЗ ПЕРЕВОДЧИКА, ПОЖАЛУЙСТА! Безотлагательно Freelancing can be soul-destroying. You spend

ПЕРЕВЕДИТЕ БЕЗ ПЕРЕВОДЧИКА, ПОЖАЛУЙСТА! Безотлагательно Freelancing can be soul-destroying. You spend hours coming up with great stories; finding clever, exclusive lines; tracking down interviewees only for your pitches to disappear into a black hole from which no communication, either positive or negative, ever emerges. Worse still, there is always the sneaking suspicion that the lead you39;ve given away in your email is now being worked up into a news story by the papers own staff. Pitching freelance stories is tough, but there is a lot you can do to improve your chances of success. Read the publication you are pitching to and work out what sorts of stories they are interested in. Think about the format your story will work best in. Identify a specific section and find out who edits it. Then pitch directly to them, not a general email. E-mail is mostly best for an initial approach. Include a clear and concise top line that sums up the story. Follow that with 100 words or so of context and background. This should be information that backs up your top line and helps to explain its significance. Then give a brief summary of who you are including which publications you have worked for previously. That will help your editor to get a feel for your writing credentials. What next? Give it an hour or so, then phone up to check that the pitch has arrived and been seen. Very likely, that will prompt your editor to read the pitch and respond one way or the other. Politeness and huge doses of charm are the best way to get a result. And what about protecting against idea theft? Try giving enough information in your pitch without making it easy to follow up the story - for example by leaving out the name of a key contact.