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You Won’t Get Into High Paying Publications If You Don’t Pitch Them Ideas
The case for taking more action
Late last summer I was in the middle of an interview for a potential fellowship. Sadly, I did not get the fellowship (I cried when I didn’t get it because I am an adult and I can do what I please), but the editor interviewing me liked an essay I sent in with my cover letter.
“I really loved your voice in this, it was so funny,” she said.
On the outside I was calm and smiled but on the inside I was screeching. I was so flattered that she had even read my essay on Lenny Letter.
“Have you considered writing for the New York Times? she asked.
I gave a casual answer about looking into it, but I wanted to explain that I would LOVE to write for a publication like the Times. I just didn’t have the confidence to pitch them my ideas. A combination of a lack of diversity in media, and having pitches rejected most of 2017, I didn’t think that anyone at the Times would ever look at anything I’d send over.
And though I’ve continued to brainstorm different ideas for publications, and I have yet to send anything to a publication like the New York Times. My goal is to get rejected by them before the end of this year. And when I think about that I have to…
