Search Results for: pitchfest

PITCHFEST: Tell Us Your Tips and Tricks!

March is nearly over. Bet you thought we forgot about throwing Pitchfest this month, didn’t you? 😉

Well, SURPRISE! It’s Pitchfest time again!!

This time we’re looking for your best tips and tricks for getting published. How do YOU make it past the Pitching Editor?!

Let me tell you how I do it:

I follow the Editor’s guidelines.

It’s honestly that simple.

As an editor myself, I know how annoying it is when writers don’t follow the guidelines I’ve set up. Even as a newbie freelancer, I wrote about the importance of following the guidelines here on the BAFB blog. Then, as an editor with years of experience under my belt, I went into full-on RANT MODE on my own blog about this topic.

Following the editor’s guidelines is of upmost importance when it comes to getting your foot in the door. In fact, many editors won’t even read your pitch if you don’t follow the guidelines — forget about actually getting published!

[Read more…]

By Lauren Spear 105 Comments

PITCHFEST: The Time is NOW!

This month’s theme is all about time: using it, saving it, managing it, billing for it…

So, in the interest of saving us all some time, let’s get right to the contest!

We Want to Hear YOUR Ideas

In case you’re not familiar, Pitchfest is a blog post pitching contest we run here on Be a Freelance Blogger every three months. You tell us your blog post idea and we choose our favorites, with prizes of up to $100 for the winners.

The contest starts today.

Your theme for this Pitchfest

This time we’re looking for pitches on the theme of “time.”

Interpret that theme any way you like! It could be anything from how to write faster blog posts for clients, how to bill for the time you’ve worked, or how to manage your time as a blogger when you’ve got newborn twins and three puppies to look after — anything!

We’re looking forward to seeing what YOU come up with.

[Read more…]

By Lauren Spear 171 Comments

PITCHFEST: Maintaining Your Professional Freelance Blogging Integrity

[Note from Sophie: Yes, this is a Pitchfest announcement with the usual $100 prize. But don’t skip to the contest – first, Lauren has some helpful advice to share with you about how to spare yourself the horror of working on a project that goes against your personal ethics and values.]

When it comes to freelance blogging, what you don’t do is just as important as what you do.

Every once in a while, you’ll be faced with a tough decision, and you’ll have to look deep inside yourself to see what you’re truly capable of. Are you willing to sell out an entire race just to feed your family? Is earning a paycheck more important than your humanity?

Earlier this year, I was hired by what I’d assumed to be a legitimate publication. I quickly found out that they were peddling hate speech and wanted ME to write it for them. I refused and removed myself from the project.

From there, I wrote a few posts on my personal website about my views on certain issues – sexuality, racism, etc. – so that future clients wouldn’t be confused about where I stand. I made it clear that I don’t tolerate hate, and that I refuse to write about it (unless it’s in the context of stopping said hate).

This put me in the Famine part of the Feast or Famine cycle for a while. Turning down a high-paying job is never easy, even if you believe strongly in your moral convictions.

However, thanks to the posts I made, I ended up with one of the best jobs of my career. They liked what I had to say on issues that were important to them. Because we were in synch on the tough issues, we ended up getting along incredibly well – and I fully back their company’s mission statement.

By sharing a little about my personal views, I was able to weed out the clients who were bad for me; and draw in the clients who were a perfect fit. It was a risky move, but well worth it.

[Read more…]

By Lauren Spear 141 Comments

Can You Negotiate Your Way to a $100 Prize? It’s PITCHFEST Time!

PITCHFEST! PITCHFEST! PITCHFEST! *dances*

Pitchfest is one of my favorite things we do here on Be a Freelance Blogger!

There’s the excitement of knowing that some lucky entrant is going to win a $100 prize – but, more importantly, I love knowing how much these contests help freelance bloggers become better pitchers.

I’ve received literally thousands of pitches in my inbox since I started working for BAFB over three years ago – and most of them were terrible. And, honestly, that’s not surprising! Most freelance bloggers have no idea what a good pitch actually looks like. And that’s because, most of the time, the pitching process is kept private.

This is your chance to view REAL pitches from REAL freelance bloggers – and see what REAL editors have to say about them!

This is your chance to get your pitching style critiqued in a “safe” environment. (Sophie and I are both nice ladies and promise we won’t bite your head off if you slip up!).

This contest is FREE to enter and the prizes and knowledge to be gained are fantastic.

Follow the directions carefully, stick to the theme, and have fun!

Here’s how you enter…

[Read more…]

By Sophie Lizard 182 Comments

Win $100 and Get Published: Enter Our Pitchfest!

Most blogs have a process for choosing whose posts they’ll publish.

And most blogs keep that process hidden in private emails.

They might give you guidelines to help you write and format your pitches and posts the way the blog’s editors like, but that isn’t the same thing as letting you see inside the selection process.

Consider this post (or more accurately, the comments on this post) your window into how we choose the guest posts we publish on this blog. Use it as a place to practice your pitching, or take a serious shot at first prize — or if you’re super-shy, you can just lurk and learn. But we hope you’ll join in!

Now, the ~~million~~ hundred-dollar question:

Do you have a great idea for a blog post that an audience of freelance bloggers would want to read?

Then now’s your chance to pitch your blog post idea to us and win $100 if we choose it as our favourite to publish here on Be a Freelance Blogger. 🙂

Here’s how this works…

[Read more…]