Kate Bohdanowicz

For years I was an editor at a national newspaper, receiving multiple pitches and queries from journalists. Some of the journos I knew and some I didn’t. Well, most I knew because you tend to work with the same old trusted hands, but still, a few, I didn’t. They would often come to me with a catchy line such as “Fred Bloggs suggested I get in touch with you” or, “Do you remember me, we met 15 years ago at a pyramid teabag launch?” (Yes dear reader, there really was a party for a funny-shaped teabag).

Anyway, here’s the thing. I always got back to everyone. I mean, I’m sure a few fell through the net but I tried my damndest to respond to every single query with a yes or more often than not, a no, but a reply nonetheless. Even if it was the standard: “Thanks but not one for us.” Just so they knew where they were and that it was OK for them to try it elsewhere. I had been a freelancer many moons before so I knew what it was like on the other side of the fence.

And now I’m back there, pitching (when I’m not working as a teacher, which is taken up a disproportionate amount of time. I think I spend 30 hours on my 8-hour job). And I can’t believe how much radio silence I face. 

One newspaper has failed to acknowledge any of my correspondence (I even applied for a job there and heard nothing). However, a few hours after I pitched something book-related recently, a feature writer called the publicist directly and said they wanted to do it. Paranoid? Me? Yup.

I pitched an idea to another paper and heard nothing. Fortunately, another title took it and ran it. Then, more than a month later, the first paper ran an identical feature. If they’d taken notice of me when I contacted them, they would have had it first.

I’m not saying all my ideas are good. Some aren’t right or they clash with other stories. Yet I’ve had editors get back to me within minutes if they are saying yes. I know editors read the emails. After all, they’re looking for great stories to impress their editors so they need to read them to see what’s there. A ‘no thanks’ would suffice and free me up to pitch elsewhere. I never know how long to leave it with one desk before trying my luck elsewhere. You don’t want to look duplicitous but you’ve got a living to make and some stories are timely.

In this day and age, no job is secure in journalism. So, to all you staffers who ignore us freelancers with our pitches, listen up. Next year, it could be you working for yourself, trying to earn a living. I opted out of my regular job so I’ve made my bed and I’m more than happy to lie in it, but I know many many many journalists who have seen the security of a staff job evaporate overnight. I hope that doesn’t happen to you but if it does, you might understand how annoying it is to be faced with a wall of silence.