In September, attendees at the monthly Lunch and Learn discussed how to use social media to find editors who are calling for pitches. AHCJ freelance committee member, board member and Lunch and Learn co-organizer Tammy Worth asked freelance writer and editor Kaitlyn Arford to sit in. Arford writes a weekly newsletter of opportunities for freelancers, and she shared many useful tips. Other participants chimed in with their own experiences and questions.
Lunch and Learns are never recorded so that participants can feel free to share thoughts that they don’t want to go beyond the group. Instead, AHCJ posts a general summary each time. Here are some of the key takeaways from this session.
First, make your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles informative.
- Maintain up-to-date profiles and contact information on both platforms.
- Provide a link to your professional website.
- Include relevant keywords in your bios and titles such as “freelance writer” or “healthcare journalist” so that editors can find you in a search.
- If you write in various niches — for example public health, palliative care and caregiving — put all of these keywords in your LinkedIn headline to broaden your appeal.
- On X [formerly Twitter], have a pinned tweet introducing yourself, stating your availability for work and linking to your portfolio or website.
- Post examples of your best work on LinkedIn with a note that you are available for freelance opportunities. Thank your editors and tag them in your posts.
Finding Opportunities:
- Follow editors you want to work with on LinkedIn and Twitter.
- Use hashtags like #CallForPitches, #PitchCall, and #JournoRequest on X [formerly Twitter] to find pitch opportunities.
- Use the search bars on either platform. For example, in LinkedIn, type: “Looking for freelancers”, click on “posts” and browse editors who have freelance opportunities.
- Search for editor titles like “news editor” or “features editor” on LinkedIn and connect with editors of interest.
- Avoid direct messaging editors with pitches; most don’t like it.
- Instead, establish casual relationships with editors on social media and later request their work email for pitching.
- Or try the free service hunter.io to discover email styles for publications and figure out an editor’s likely email.
Alternative Platforms:
- Calls for pitches are less common on platforms like Blue Sky and Threads compared to X [formerly Twitter].
Newsletters and Communities:
- Subscribe to newsletters that list freelance opportunities. Don’t forget that subscription fees can be considered a business expense.
- On Facebook, join specialized “binder” groups. There are binder groups for medical writers, health writers, travel writers, you name it. They are mostly for women. These may include editors actively seeking pitches. You must be invited to join.
Additional Resources:
- An Arford article about X [formerly Twitter] accounts that share calls for pitches.
- An Arford article listing newsletters that compile calls for pitches.
- The Open Notebook’s database has more than 200 successful pitches along with articles about pitching, including a popular one on how not to pitch.
- AHCJ’s market guides for pitching to dozens of publications.
