Article and book pitches — both successful and unsuccessful — can give you a small insight into an editor’s selection process and the sales-side of a writer’s mind, as well as help you learn to write more effectively. As such I’ve started to collect sites featuring proposals and pitches.
A recent addition to this list is the pitch database from The Open Notebook; a collection of writer-submitted pitches for science articles that have been accepted for publishing in many of my favourite places, such as Ars Technica, Atlantic, Lapham’s Quarterly, This American Life and Wired.
Of particular note is a pitch from David Dobbs, writer of theĀ Neuron CultureĀ blog. Pitching AtlanticĀ editor Don Peck, Dobbs wrote anĀ extensive pitch for The Orchid ChildrenĀ thatĀ led to the publication of a fantastic article,Ā The Science of Success. Those who follow Dobbs’ blog will know that this in turn led to a book deal for The Orchid and the Dandelion, Dobbs’ forthcoming book.