Pitches Wanted (Bay Area romance, sex, dating) | $200+ per article

Dan Gentile, Culture Editor at SFGate, is looking for pitches: I am still looking for freelance pitches on dating / romance / sex in the Bay Area for SFGate. Here's a great example from Chin Lu: https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/trick-to-san-francisco-dating-17446896.php Rates depend on scope, but start at $200. I'm looking for stories that find unique things to say about Bay Area dating culture. That can be trends, experiential stunts, subculture deep dives, or in Chin's case, a unique dating strategy. Fun and voicey is good, so is academic, but the angle has to have broad appeal What I'm NOT looking for is an essay about your meet-cute with your partner, the super weird date you went on once, a list of date ideas, anything pandemic-related, stories that aren't at least Bay Area adjacent, or diary entries disguised as essays. My email is Dan.Gentile@sfgate.com, hit me up if you have ideas! But before you do, please read below the general pitching tips and you will have a much higher likelihood of success.
A few tips for freelancers pitching stories to editors:
- Introduce yourself quickly with a couple of your best clips, that are relevant to the website
- Read the website that you’re pitching to, and show that by mentioning a story you liked
- Don’t pitch formats of pieces that aren’t published on the site (op-eds, poems, fiction)
- Send actual story ideas off the bat. Just a simple introduction and ask to write for a site will get ignored by most editors.
- Check that the website hasn’t already covered your idea, but make sure it fits with the site’s general style / format / length.
- Look specifically at headlines on the site, think about how yours can mimic them, and present at least one with your idea.
- Editors want to cover new ground, but it has to make sense for them. If you have an unexplored subject, explain why it makes sense in the context of the site’s other stories.
- Make the editor really want your story and it seem like you're easy to work with. This is literally a sales pitch.
- Write in a tone that shows you’re skilled, but don’t go overboard. If it’s a piece with a humorous angle, show that you’re capable of making it funny.
- There’s a difference between topics and angles. Dating in the pandemic is a topic. Dating an AI girlfriend app for a week is an angle (and I don’t recommend it). Come with an angle.
- Show that you’ve already put in some work and are familiar with the topic (initial research, obtaining access to sources), but don’t send completed pieces.
- Explain why this story matters right now, and why you’re the person to write it.

Attachments are not recommended.
- Don’t pitch to multiple outlets at once, unless the story is super urgent.
- Follow up, but wait at least a few days unless it’s urgent or you already have a relationship with an editor.
- A trick I used to use is to DM the editor on Twitter with a one-line pre-pitch that makes them want more, ask for their email and then hit them with the full pitch.
- Don’t feel bad if your pitch isn’t accepted. I always viewed any reply from a new editor as a win, because it means I’m now on their radar and they’re more likely to reply to the next pitch.
- Keep a spreadsheet of editors you know so that you can easily reference where else to pitch next.
- Editors aren't going to steal your ideas unless they're shady, but keep in mind that they have staff writers, so if a story is something easy for a staffer to write it's less appealing
- Also, having a personal thread to a story is always good, but the story can't be just about your experience unless it's super interesting / unique, but also super relatable
- Okay that's it for now! Hope these tips are helpful.
- And if you're professionally entwined with the source / subject that's typically a red flag, unless you can show you're very much not biased by that and willing to be judgmental
- If the site is locally focused, have a local hook for your story or show that you've found other stories on the site that skew more nationally.
- Show why an average reader would want to click through to read the piece. Editors love niche pieces, but if it's a general interest site, the subject matter has to resonate with a large audience for it to be worth the freelance dollars
- An important addendum: forgive me editors, for I have sinned. I’ve made all these mistakes! I look back on some pitches and correspondence and drafts with absolute horror. But you only learn by doing, most editors understand that and are forgiving (or just will stop responding)

CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly): Questions / submissions: dan.gentile@sfgate.com; Website: https://www.sfgate.com/