Day 29 – I continue showing you how to land your first $1000 as a freelance writer. This post is a continuation from day 27. I’ll show you what to do to get featured in a major publication, boost your credibility and help you command higher rates.
For social proof, you want to target a few major publications. As I mentioned on day 27, you only need to get featured in one major publication to attain this social proof and move on. Remember you want to get your first $1000 as quickly as possible. Sure, being featured in more than one is a nice to have. But it’s not necessary. Here’s a 7 step process:
1. Choose your publications
Pick five publications. Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fast Company and Business Insider are good places to start.
2. Decide on article ideas to pitch
To do this you need to understand what content they publish on their site. Visit the different categories e.g business, lifestyle etc.
Pay attention to articles that have many shares and high engagement and approach it from a different angle. Also, read the editorial guidelines; often editors will tell you’re what they’re looking for. Give them what they want and the chances of them accepting your pitch will be a lot higher.
3. Find the editor’s name
A simple Google search or visit to the companies pages will yield the desired results. Huffington Post, for example, have all their editor’s names listed.
4. Find the editor’s email address
Use email finding apps like Voila Norbert,
5. Craft your pitch
The important point is to keep it concise. Editors are busy people and get thousands of emails daily. Again I’ve already written a post on how to craft a pitch to an editor. Read it.
I share a pitch template you can use, together with a headline that works. I also share my successful pitch to Huffington post.
6. Submit your pitch to the editor
Do not use online submission forms. These online publications received hundreds, if not thousands of pitches daily. So, to stand out amongst the masses send an email to the source. Show you’re willing to go the extra mile. Go straight for the kill.
7. Follow up using the 3-7-7 formula
Often you won’t hear back from the editor. It may be that they didn’t like your pitch. Or it may be they liked it, marked it for follow-up but forgot to follow up among the host of other things they’re doing.
I can’t tell you how many times they reply after I’ve followed up. I use the 3-7-7 formula advocated by professional blogger and freelance writer, Bamidele Onibalusi.
Here’s how it works. If you hear nothing after 48 hours, follow up on the third day. If after that you still hear nothing after a further 6 days, follow up on day 7. Repeat 7 days later if you’ve still not received a reply. If still nothing two days after that, kill it.
Rinse and repeat this 7 step process for major publications until you get featured.
Click here for the next post. This is where the fun begins toward achieving that $1000. The focus is on cold pitching for high paying clients. I used this technique to bag $300 for one article!
Feel free to email me at nick (at)
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