By Linda Dahlstrom, health editor
msnbc.com | TODAYcom
We're on your side. We have the same goal: To work together on great stories.
Let us know you get us
We really, really love it when freelancers get who we are, the kinds of stories we do and what kind of an audience we have. Different news outlets/publications have very different needs. Make sure you are pitching in line with what that publication/news outlet wants. For example, msnbc.com and TODA Y.com don't do general stories about specific conditions, such as a 1O-part series on "Everything you need to know about backaches." Rather, we'd do a piece on a new finding, such as how back surgery backfires for most people who get it.
Let us get you
When you pitch to us for the first time, tell us who you've written for in the past, your background and send links to your published work.
We love pitches but…
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Not deja vu. Before you pitch a story, search our web site to make sure we haven't already covered it.
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Don't pitch us something you just saw in another major publication.
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Do some pre-reporting before you pitch to see if the story is really there.
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Don't pitch the same story to multiple editors at the same publication/online news site.
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If you have any potential conflicts of interest with the story you are pitching or connections to the sources, make sure we know at the outset.
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Know that we rarely publish first-person pieces. When we do, it's because that story could only be told uniquely by the person telling it.
The perfect pitch:
Tell us the topic and if it's newsy or tied to a health study, include a link to that. Tell us what angle you'd take, how you'd go about writing it and maybe even some examples of sources you might interview for the piece.
Here's an example of a solid pitch:
Would you be interested in a story on women reuniting with their ex-husbands to care for them in their dying days? Doctors and hospice workers say they are seeing a growing number of divorced women come to the aid of their terminally ill former partners. A new study released by the University of Missouri has looked at the reasons behind the trend and found that many women are spurred by the need to protect their children. I'd talk to the study author, a professor with expertise in sociomedical issues and interview a woman who was her dying ex's caregiver.
We get a crazy amount of email. To help make sure we see yours, use a specific subject line in your email (not just "story pitch" or "story idea" but rather – 'Fat talk' among skinny girls story pitch from freelancer (or, if we know each other, "Hi Linda, wanna story explaining why thin girls call each other fat?")
If it's urgent or pegged to news, say so.
Consolidate your pitches to us. Rather than sending us a flurry of them, send us one email with four or five listed so we can pick.
It's not you, it's us (usually)
If we don't accept your pitches, it's typically simply because it wasn't right for our news outlets. It's nothing personal. Try us again in the future with other ideas.
Now, on to the writing/reporting/editing:
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Find out what word count your editor wants and stick to it.
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If things get weird, we want to be involved. If you run into an obstacle, a source backs out or the story changes in the course of your reporting, tell us right away so we can decide how to proceed together.
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But don't tell us every turn of the screw in what you're finding. (If things are on track, we don't need to know about each new source you are interviewing, etc.)
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Get real people with real names we can use. (We almost never use unnamed sources.)
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Double check the spelling of all the names and your facts
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Get rich, specific details when you can. If your story mentions a pet kinkaiou, find out the name.
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When you file your story, send it in a standard font so we can focus on your words – not the font.
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Editing is largely a collaborative process; please know that if we are asking for changes or additions to the story, we have a good reason.
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We love words too. We're really careful when editing yours. We promise.
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If you've filed a story and don't hear back from us that we've gotten it in a day or two, feel free to check in with us to make sure our spam filter didn't grab it.
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We don't eat lunch. We sometimes don't have time to pee. While we'd love to chat when you call, we usually need to keep it short.
