by Rachel Smith
07 March 2014
So, you came up with a truly awesome story idea. You researched it, located experts for it and just as you were about to pitch it … DAMN, there it is in print – by someone else.
Sound familiar? Well, this happened to a List member last week who, loathe to let her pitch go to Great Idea Heaven without a fight, emailed me for advice.
The good news is, if your story idea has already been published, you know it’s got legs and there’s an audience for it. The bad news is, if it’s a very specific story that can only be spun one way, you may be out of luck right now – and faced with either shelving it for a while and re-pitching down the track, or moving on and developing other ideas.
Or, you could work on re-angling it. Maybe a savvy switch of perspective could freshen the idea enough to get it picked up. Or maybe there’s another aspect to the story you could tease out that would work just as well.
Say the idea you’ve jumped on is linked to a celebrity coming out about being a domestic violence survivor, and you had it in the bag but another mag or journo got the story first. (I’m thinking here of the Rachel Taylor story which appeared in AWW last week.)
OK, so you missed the big interview – but there are so many other potential markets for this story, such as:
• 10 celebrities who’ve spoken out about domestic violence experiences
• 5 domestic violence survivors tell their stories
• Interview with Rachel Taylor about life and love after surviving DV
• Do’s and don’ts for helping someone in a violent relationship
• “I got away and here’s how” Diary of a domestic violence survivor
• The One In Three Campaign: recognising male domestic violence victims
• Can violent men be rehabilitated and what resources exist to help?
• New organisation / campaign shining a light on DV
• Day in the life of a women’s shelter
Health mags
• Thinking of leaving a violent relationship? What you need to know
• Health outcomes for domestic violence sufferers / for their kids
Has a great story idea of yours been pipped to the post? What did you do?
Photo by Chris Spiegl on Unsplash
What a great post full of real practical advice.
Thanks Rachel!
Pleasure, Leigh!
Great examples! Thanks Rachel. Are there any particular rules of thumb behind how you decided which stories best suit the different categories (e.g. online vs health mag)? Or could many of your ideas be just as easily run in other categories, although they would be written up differently?
Hi Louise. I guess I consciously slotted the ideas into those categories based on the types of stories you typically see in those outlets (eg, more newsy angles for newspapers, weekly mags often do story + shoot type stories and celeb features, online lends itself to ‘lists’ and long form human interest stories – like you see on Narratively, for example).
But yep, like you say – there would definitely be crossover and there’s no reason not to pitch a typically ‘online’ story to a health mag or weekly mag. At the end of the day it all depends on whether the editor likes the idea or figures it will fit the mag’s style/format/tone, I guess!
Great ideas Rachel, thanks.
I was recently pipped at the post but as a result of my pitch was asked to write a 500 word sidebar/breakout for the article that pipped me AND was asked if I had any ideas/experience on a couple related topics. As a result, I was commissioned for an article; so I was pipped at the post but two paid pieces have come my way.
I’m happy!
Sounds like a good outcome to me Noelene! Nice one.