Guardian U.S. features editor’s pitching advice is food for thought for any writer

I only know three things about Jessica Reed: She’s the U.S. features editor for The Guardian. She’s French, which she evidently has a habit of apologizing for. And she gives great advice to freelance writers.

The latest example of that is her Medium piece Freelance writers: writing is great. But writing isn’t enough. It’s a followup to a very useful piece she posted on taking the job in November, How to pitch to this editor (plus, what I would give my right arm to read more of).

In the new piece, Reed writes:

In two months, it became clear to me that certain skills are maybe not essential, but very nice to have when pitching to the features desk. I didn’t think much of this while editing op-eds for close to seven years, but it’s the first thing that jumped at me when I took this job.

How will your story be illustrated?

Sure, this is something for picture editors to worry about. But not all organisations have them (sadly). And some editors like to have an input regarding the visual feel of your piece (I am one of them). A big, fat, giant plus when writers send me an idea is to hear “I can take photographs”; “I already have someone prepared to go with me to shoot this story”; “I can recommend someone to do photography in [this small town you want to go to]”; “I have sourced photographs from archives”; “I have personal pictures to share for my essay.”

In other words: your story will be read because it’s good, but it can get 10x more readers if it looks good. Make sure your editor is given the tools to make it look good.

She goes on to show some work from the illustrated pieces she’s liked best in her three months at The Guardian, and offers tips on thinking about how you can make your story look great. These are smart ideas whether you’re a freelancer looking to pitch or you’re working for a publication and thinking about your next feature.

And don’t miss the earlier advice about how to pitch. It’s how to pitch Jessica Reed, but the advice will serve you with any editor:

I want to know what you already know about the story you have in mind, what you don’t know yet, and who you want to talk to to find out. I want to know, most of all, why you’re interested in the topic at hand. I want your first email to be concise (four paragraphs or so), and I want it to give me an idea of who you are.

There are some other tips there, including things like “I do not want to open attachments” and “I do not want to open a Word document,” which I think are common sentiments among editors. The tl;dr version would be: Make it easy to read your pitch, and convince me quickly that this story is compelling and hasn’t been told yet, and that you’re the one to tell it.