Comments on: How NOT to pitch a story

By: Anonymous Thompson

Anonymous Thompson — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:24:26 +0000

I think I’ve made some bad pitches in the past, but nothing like some of the ones I’ve seen lately. I’m just now starting to get pitches for posting things on Westside Bikeside, and I think they start with the worst ones first. I’ve yet to get a decent pitch from a stranger.

I love the “LOL, I’m an intern” one. You can just feel the giddy enthusiasm for . . . for something!

By: Marisa

Marisa — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:54:45 +0000

Hi Siel,

Thanks for the great post. I am also relieved that none of my pitches were included in the above and I think a bad pitches series would be brilliant.

I do feel for those interns and hope they’ll be in a more strict environment that won’t allow those kind of mistakes in the future (the old “you have to learn the rules before you can break them” type of firm). Loved reading these and agree that it’s a travesty that non-profits lack money & therefore time/staff who can properly train interns.

By: Siel

Siel — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:42:18 +0000

sforshner — I get a lot of odd pitches like that too. The worst one of those: The hook was that women can save the economy. How? By shopping for expensive cosmetics. Apparently she thought I was a writer for the Bush admin –

Lisa — I agree it’s not rocket science. Sure, there’s something to be said for experience / training, but for the most part, good PR’s just good communication in general — the willingness to consider the other person’s interests / perspective while expressing your own.

maris — To say I have a PR BACKGROUND might be a bit of an exaggeration, depending on how one defines background — but I did work at a PR firm, then as an in house PR/comm person for a few years before starting grad school.

By: maris

maris — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:40:13 +0000

Siel – Totally agree. I’m not a fan of the BCC pitch anyway. One of the things I LIKE about being a publicists and one of the reasons I went into this field is to build relationships with the people I work with, colleagues, journalists, anyone I come across. So sending a blanket email, while in some cases is efficient and appropriate, is definitely not my favorite way to pitch. Do you have a PR background?

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:10:15 +0000

Siel, I am thanking God right now that none of my pitches are in your post!

I do both journalism and PR. It ain’t rocket science, people.

By: sforshner

sforshner — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:48:17 +0000

It is interesting to get another perspective. I am both a publicist and a blogger and once someone pitched me some jet liner or something like that. In the pitch, they complemented my “about” section. However, if they really read it, they would have known that I can not afford a jet.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:01:01 +0000

LMAO! thanks for the laugh today Siel, i especially liked the “Dear Fred Segal Green” one…hehe :)

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:36:23 +0000

LOL – I can hardly believe that these are really emails that you’ve received. Funny and sad.

By: Siel

Siel — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:04:48 +0000

I agree about the typos, maris — I obviously make those too, and those’re really the v. least of the probs outlined above :P

The prob with those typos in ex. #2, however, is that the email clearly had gone out to a whole bunch of people (I was bcc’d). If I were sending a huge group email, I’d really, really make sure I use a spellchecker.

By: maris

maris — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:01:00 +0000

As a publicist and a blogger I had to laugh at this post, and especially at my own reaction(s).

As a blogger, I think that some of them seem like honest mistakes (we all make typos!) and we’re just human.

On the other hand, the publicist in me cringes at the thought of a spelling error in a pitch.