I’m a columnist for both Entrepreneur Magazine and American Express OPEN Forum. I also work extensively in the PR world.
That means if you’re going to pitch me, it had better be so good that it makes me pass up my girly toy drawer when I’m in the mood and makes me wanna get all down-and-dirty with your pitch instead.
Here are some tips for pitching me for either of these publications:
- Read my column archives: Just because I write about beer once in June of 2011 doesn’t mean I’m a beer writer. Read more than just two of my previous columns and get a feel for what I find interesting. Get a feel for my writing style. You can find my Entrepreneur archives here and my OPEN Forum archives here.
- Know what I don’t write about: I don’t write about gadgets, launches, or anything that’s going to be in your latest press release. Haven’t ever, never will.
- Understand what interests me: I write about people and processes behind companies, brands, products, and business scenarios. I want to hear about powerful triumphs, horrendous failures, hilarious interludes, and more importantly, WHY entrepreneurs, brand managers, business owners, and marketers would care. That should probably be in your pitch.
- No attachments: Seriously.
- No form letters: Again, seriously.
- Make me feel special: I’m a lady and I like to be made to feel like I’m the only one in the room — and the only one who could possibly tell your story.
- Know my constraints: I write 3 months out for Entrepreneur and one month in advance for OPEN. I have 600-700 words of bandwidth for each.
- I reply to every pitch: You pitch me, I will tell you you’re one of three things: (1) not my bag – thanks. (2) you’re in the file — this means something is interesting but I don’t know what to do with you yet. (3) marry me — this means your pitch tickled one of my spots named after a letter in the alphabet and let’s talk. I once had a “publicist” (term used loosely) call me a snotty whore for declining her cut-and-paste mass email pitch about a retirement community. Let’s just say I never want to hear about any of her clients (or from her) again.
That’s it. Still want to pitch me? Email your queries to pitches [at] erikanapoletano [dot] com.