I have occasionally commented, in this retirement blog, how frustrating I find reading the weekend papers. They do not seem to be aimed at people like me, i.e. retired people or people of a ‘certain age’. At my Guardian Masterclass course last Monday night (see building above). I understood why. I’ve been attending these courses for about the last 6 or 7 years, approximately one a year. I’ve mostly enjoyed them. The first one was a weekend course about starting your own blog. This one course was directly responsible for this blog. Well over 600 of them over the intervening years.
True, there has been a feeling of diminishing returns in these masterclasses, but each time I manage to get something from the particular course that I can take back with me. Last Monday night’s course was a case in point. It was entitled ‘Pitching your idea to an editor’. Or similar. Getting your ideas / articles into print. I don’t have any desire to become a freelance journalist or somebody who writes a regular column somewhere or other. But I do have this continuing obsession with increasing my blog readership.
If I could get one or two articles published in a magazine or newspaper that would surely bring people flocking to my retirement blog. At least that was my vague excuse for attending my 7th or 8th of these Masterclasses. The cost of the course, at about £100, is only the beginning. If you read a recent blog about the whole trip to London with hotel, train fare, posh meal and silly hat, you begin to see the total expense is not inconsiderable. True, I didn’t need to buy the silly hat but blame Mrs Summerhouse for that.
Anyway the point is with all that money spent you do tend to look for a rationale for the expense. Each time it gets that bit more difficult. This course was fine and the woman running it well-experienced as an editor working in the past for The Guardian and others.
It may be her casual remarks to me at the break were worth the money. Probably not but I’m trying to find justification here. When I told her my topic was retirement she remarked that the subject-heading in the ‘pitch email’ (to the editor) would need to be different if I were pitching to Saga magazine or The Guardian’s G2 supplement. Makes sense when you think about it but I hadn’t.
It turns out that one important aspect of getting your pitch (your idea for an article) read is in how you phrase your ‘subject line’ in your email. This, bearing in mind, they might get, according to Becky up to 200 proposal emails a day. Get this first line of your email wrong and your one chance for fame and glory has gone. They (the editors of whichever media outlet you’re pitching to) simply don’t bother reading the rest. So get this right.
Which means if you’re pitching to Saga not much point having as your title – ‘retirement’ because all their pitches will be about retirement or something similar. Whereas if you’re pitching to G2, this broad heading, with of course its unique twist (the hook), would get you further along the line. Still probably to rejection or, more accurately, being ignored, but a bit further.
Becky on her handout listed three key parts of the pitch that would follow your careful choice of key word in email heading. They are – 1) What is the idea? 2) Why now? / Why should readers care? 3) Why me? She goes on to say you are more likely to succeed if – your pitch is – 1) brief and clear. 2) Is a strong idea or argument which is fresh or unexpected. 3) Is timely. 4) You have some genuine expertise including personal experience. 5) The email is well written. The opposites of these being obvious no nos.
Once again, as is often the case with me and my little ideas, I move seamlessly from moderate enthusiasm to outright, can’t be bothered. True, I’ve been here before. Here being sending off publishing proposals of various kinds only to be greeted with nothing, silence, not even f— off.
But past rejections as an excuse really only disguise my increasing inertia. I’m all for spending money on another weekend in London and having as much fun as we can manage but, when it comes to actually doing something, like in this case, sending off a pitch about matters concerning this retirement blog, nah, I cannot be arsed. What this says about me and my ambitions to become the writer of the media’s choice in the area of retirement, I cannot say. Nothing good I suspect. I may be a driven man in some ways but mostly I’m just …
There’s no doubt that continued or lifelong-learning remains firmly as one of my key retirement values. These Masterclasses are very much in this category but I am finding that my inclinations / motivation to act upon these potential new skills or opportunities, seems to dwindle a little with the passing years.
Back to the point where I started this blog – why my weekend newspapers seem designed for others, not me. The reason is simple and staring me in the face as I sat in the masterclass room in the Guardian / Observer offices. Here were typical Guardian readers. These papers are aimed at the people in this room. i.e. young people. There were approximately 40 people here on this Monday evening. Two of them were about my age. The rest were, how can I say it, young people, roughly half and half gender-wise.
On a show of hands about half of them were aspiring, or actual, freelance journalists and the other half, people working in a PR role wanting to learn how to put forward pitches to the media that promoted their companies. A few others were neither, so don’t know why they were there only that they were young (and keen judging by their questions).
So to finish, here’s my pitch to either Saga or G2 and the fact I haven’t decided which is already a weakness. Never mind here we go.
Recent figures in a government report state that every year 120,000 people retire in this country. Some love it, some hate it. Why is this? The emotional and financial cost of an unhappy retirement is enormous both to the country and the individual and their family. As an author of over 600 blogs about retirement and a psychologist for 35 years I believe I can throw some light on this important area. Let me know if you are interested.
Brilliant, I’m sure if I ever got round to sending it off, those editors would be snapping my writing hand (both of them) off.