I hate pitching ideas. I like when people bring interesting ideas to me. Who doesn't? Let me show you why pitching is such a pain in the ass. I am working on a pitch right now and so far this has been the lifespan of it:
- Have idea
- Email person idea is about. Get enthusiastic response with helpful info.
- Pitch idea. Idea goes nowhere. Time goes by.
- Decide idea is good again. Email person idea is about. Get enthusiastic update.
- Research.
- Write pitch
- Send pitch
- Follow up
- Send pitch to new publication
- Follow up
- Decide new publication to try: but requires contact information.
- Email friend at publication.
- Email bounces back. Facebook message friend on Facebook asking for email address in order to send question about whom to pitch so I can pitch the idea again.
It's very tiresome to keep at this and to keep track of where you are in this long pain in the ass list. The only thing worse is when an editor accepts your idea and then you're like, Oh, shit.