The founders of The London Writers Salon discuss the different roles of editors at book publishers, the pros and cons of traditional publishing versus self-publishing, new ways for writers to promote their work and how to pursue a creative career.
Pia Velasco, Senior Beauty and Fashion editor of Hello Giggles, discusses the regular features, reviews and pages of the beauty pages.
Plus, how she sifts through 500 PR emails a day, the phrases that make her hit delete, the hot trends editors want to explore stories on and why PRs should NEVER ask, ‘What are you working on?’
Literary agent, Andrew Lownie discusses how to pitch your book to an agent.
This episode, we speak with literary agent Andrew Lownie, who has 200 authors on his books and has sold thousands of books into publishers. He told us how he sifts through some 300 submissions from aspiring authors each day, what stands out, what is sure to hit the bin and the typical process from pitch to publication.
Huck Magazine covers everything from adventure sport to music to photography to politics and activism, all through the lens of individualism.
With an audience of half a million a month, split between UK and US, editor Niall Flynn gets 100s of pitches a day for coverage. He discusses what they look for in a story, and what to put in your pitch for different types of stories.
Jack Sommers, UK commissioning editor for Business at Insider (the new name for Business Insider) discusses his pitching advice for PRs, freelance writers and experts.
His advice includes when to pitch to an editor and when to pitch to a reporter; what makes a ‘list’ piece and who decides them; and why you should never pitch a ‘theme’ – think stories!
Plus, the new-look ‘Insider’ brand, and what we can expect to find in the new family of ‘Insider’ publications.
Punteha van Terheyden is an expert on true life journalism. She has been writing and editing the so-called real-life sections of UK magazines for over a decade, including titles such as Take a Break and more
She set up Lacuna Voices, to challenge the traditional mould of the real life stories. Why, she asks, don’t the media take that many real life stories from men for instance?
We discuss why it’s time to challenge the traditional formula of what makes a story in the media; what PRs can add to a press release to get a story picked up; and why editorial teams have the worst reputation than any other industry for not replying to emails.
Cate Sevilla writes for titles such as Stylist, Elle and The New Statesman.
She’s held editorial roles across a range of titles including BuzzFeed and The Pool and is also an editorial consultant for branded content.
In this episode we discuss the difference between ‘branded journalism’ and traditional journalism, how the content gets commissioned, and the opportunities for PRs and writers to pitch.
Plus, why is the media industry so slow to pay writers? And why freelance journalists are either fighting back, or leaving the industry.
PS! Cate highlighted a recent campaign for equal pay for freelancers. We couldn’t remember the name of this when recording, but this is it: Anna Codrea-Rado’s spreadsheet for freelance writers to submit their pay rates and day rates.
Stewart Rogers is managing editor of Grit Daily. He shares his advice on good and bad pitches, including how much lead time is needed, how to suggest an ‘exclusive’ and the damaging fallout that can happen when PRs use mailing lists to contact journalists.
Grit Daily is a leading tech news publication with lifestyle and entertainment thrown in. It has 2 million readers per month.
Emmie Harrison-West is Commissioning Editor of three of the UK’s most popular women’s weekly magazines – Chat, Woman and Woman’s Own.
She walks us through the different ‘slots’ or pages of the three titles, including ‘Don’t Tell me I Can’t’, ‘Shock Reads’, ‘Call That Justice’, ‘The Moment I Knew’, Scrapbooks and many more.
How does she find these stories? What can PRs do to make a story fit the mould? The answers are in this episode, plus why magazine journalism is an essential platform for women to tell their untold stories.
RealLeaders.com is a digital publication and print publication distributed globally focussing on leadership issues around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals featuring interviews, features, how-to’s and thought leadership.
Grant shares why the listicle is still the most popular content, simple things you can do to make your pitches relevant and why morality is part of the commissioning process.
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