Submission Success Story (Pitch Perfect) — Trapped by my reading list essay for Business Insider I started this year off by eliminating all my lists and attempting move away from a completist mindset. This began when I actually deleted into the Google Cloud or wherever my 500-book long reading list I’d been keeping for over a decade. It was an accident, but a happy one, because I was able to emerge from a fog and realize that I could just, like, read whatever I wanted. This then extended to my propensity for podcasts. I unsubscribed from all the “eat your veggies” podcast I thought I needed to listen to and instead kept the ones I actually looked forward to listening to. As a result, I had more time to think and hear the birds. The world wasn’t just an oyster, it was an oyster with the biggest pearl at the center. In a burst of new year energy, I wrote about this new freedom. Just BECAUSE. Just FOR FUN. Radical. Then I saw this pitch call: Conz Preti @conz: PITCH CALLOUT: :Looking for people who leaning out of technology — Someone got rid of Alexa and is now happier? Got rid of their smartphone? Refuses to text? Won’t answer any emails? Doesn’t Uber? Doesn’t Amazon Prime even though it’s convenient? Email me!!! [cpreti@insider.com]
I felt an essay about a mass unsubscribing of podcasts probably fit the bill. So I emailed her. Typically, when you pitch a new editor, you want to sell not just the idea but the story. You need to make your pitch match your overall voice and tone so they can get an idea of your style and ability. A pitch is a request to work together, the idea being that you have an idea and the editor has an angle and you will work together to marry the two into a compelling written piece that will pull in eyeballs. However, this wasn’t a pitch—this was an essay submission for an essay that was already completed. It’s absolutely okay, possibly even preferred, to “pitch” a completed essay when the topic is personal or first-person, which this pitch callout topic was. So here’s the trick—the first paragraph of the original essay I wrote is such: I lost seven years of my life to podcasts. For seven years, I would listen as I dressed myself for the day, packed my lunches, and commuted to work. I listened at work, came up with mindless projects that would allow me to listen as I passed the day and counted down to clock out time. I listened as I did the chores of home, the dishes, the laundry, the daily tidying, the gardening, the organizing. I listened as I went on long walks in the neighborhood meant to clear my cluttered brain. I listened as I wound down from the day with cooking, a glass of wine, and a story of true crime or weird internet coincidences or ghost stories or investigative journalism or book gossip.
The pitch read as follows: I saw your tweet looking for essays about quitting technology in various ways. I have an essay that fits well into this theme. This year, I’m swearing off podcasts. I lost seven years of my life to podcasts. For seven years, I would listen as I dressed for the day, packed lunches, and commuted to work. I listened at work, came up with mindless projects that would allow me to listen as I passed the day and counted down to clock out time—true crime, weird internet gossip, ghost stories, investigative journalism, book trends. For seven years, my mind filled with the sound of other people's voices. It's no coincidence that the last seven years have felt personally fraught. As I emerge from the fog of a playlist that never ends, I have realized my own internal voice has been drowned out for years. So now I’m getting back. This essay, “The Year The Podcast Died” is complete at 1,100 words. I have previously been published with Insider, working with Edith Honan on this story about a man who protested his town’s Confederate statue for over 20 years. I have also published essays in various publications, such as Longreads, The Rumpus, Texas Highways, and more. My essay, “The Sunset,” was mentioned as Notable in the 2023 Best American Essays Anthology. You can read more of my work here: https://lisabubert.com/publications
The full essay is copied and pasted below my signature. Please let me know if it would be of interest to Insider.
And then I copied and pasted the full essay below my email signature. Four days later, I did not receive a response from the editor I emailed, but I did receive a response from another editor at Insider who had received a forwarded version of my pitch and was interested in running it in their lifestyle section. I sent them the essay in full. Three days later, they returned the essay with edits, basically a request for restructuring which would require a full rewrite. I wasn’t thrilled but when I read her notes I could totally see how the restructure would benefit the piece. So I rewrote it and this time focused it more on the loss of the booklist. Podcasts fell by the wayside, but that was okay because the editor made a good case for why this piece wasn’t actually about podcasts at all. I took a week and did the rewrite. Then I waited. I waited almost a month with no response. At one point, I was prepared to pull the piece and consider it killed. Then, an email stating it would be published the next day, great working with you, many thanks. Life comes at you fast. And here it is, the podcast essay turned book list essay and commentary on distraction. (I feel compelled to tell you I did not write the headline.) Here’s the timeline: Pitch sent: January 12
Response received: January 16 = acceptance
Edits received: January 19
Rewrite returned: January 25
Nudge 1: February 6 with a response that the editor has been slammed but more coming in the next few days
Nudge 2: February 19. I ask for an estimate of when edits will be coming again so I can adjust my work schedule. Editor responds saying the piece will be published that weekend, many thanks
Published: February 25
Pay: $250
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