Why editors don't reply to your pitch

I speak to a lot of writers whose pet peeve is editors who don’t reply, and who consider it bad manners. Even those who do reply with a ‘no, not for us’ are criticised for being too brief. Some people seem to want something to work on, some advice they can act on.

I haven’t pitched The Times for a few years but when I did I used to sometimes receive brief one line emails, saying something like ‘no thanks’ or ‘not for us’. And far from getting annoyed with the editor I was always pleased that he had taken the time to reply. This saved me time chasing, and allowed me to take the idea elsewhere. What is there to get annoyed about?

How many of us reply to the marketing material we receive through the post? How many of us provide cold callers with proper feedback on why we are not interested in what they are selling? But still we expect the editors to do the same. 

An editor might not reply for many reasons. He might be too busy. He might not have received it (good reason for chasing). Perhaps he is still considering it (I had positive responses from editors six months after pitching). But perhaps he thinks – why should I reply, I didn’t ask to be emailed.

Whatever the reason sending an angry follow up email will not encourage him to respond. It will however get you blacklisted by the magazine and, as editors talk and have friends who work for other publications, it may also get your name known in the business for all the wrong reasons.

What do editors want?

What every freelance writer wants to know – what do editors want? Many new writers view it as being akin to mindreading. At first they think they know, and they suggest ideas which they think would make a great article. Common mistakes are – everything you could possibly want to know about X; my family holiday in Majorca (oh yes, travel editors love that one); and an article on the latest craze which has been around for ten years and which everyone knows about anyway.

It is hard to know what someone else wants, so apologies if any of my reader have pursued any of the ideas mentioned above. Please don’t take offence. We’ve all been there (apart from Majorca). 

One thing you have to realise when you are starting out is that you need to put yourself in the editor’s shoes and view ideas from his point of view. Contributors often think they know a magazine well and may disagree with the editor’s decision to reject their article, but really that is the equivalent of me, a stranger, going up to you and saying that I know you and your family better than you yourself do. 

Read as many back copies of the magazine as you can get hold of, decide who the reader is, what their interest are and how much knowledge of the subject he is likely to have, find a news hook, give the editor something new.

Finally, don’t forget the advertisers. Advertisers are very important, particularly in today’s economic client, and an editor can’t risk losing regular advertisers. Years ago when I was starting out I sent an idea for an article on how forward facing buggies where detrimental to a child’s development. I sent it to a parenting magazine, and the editor, quite rightly, pointed out that while she thought it was a great idea she couldn’t risk upsetting one of their largest advertising clients, one of the biggest pushchair brands.

In short – put yourself in the editor’s shoes, get to know the magazine and readers well, and think like an editor, not a writer.