How to think like an opinion editor
The first reaction to a pitch is often the truest.
Thanks for reading Pitches Get Stitches. I’m Jake. My company, Opinioned, helps leaders publish op-eds in top-tier media. I previously built and edited the opinion section at Fortune.
In this newsletter, I evaluate reader-submitted op-ed pitches from the perspective of an op-ed editor. I try to not only point out flaws, but highlight common themes I’ve noticed over my career fielding pitches and helping clients construct their own.
I would love if you submitted a pitch for me to review. It can be something you’re actively working on or hypothetical. And it can be a short email pitch or a full draft.
If you have a pitch, reply to this email or send it to jake@getopinioned.com. If I select it, I’ll omit any identifying information and evaluate it in this newsletter at no cost.
Real-time reactions
I’m trying out something in this week’s newsletter that I'm pretty jazzed about. I'm going to dictate my response to the pitch as I read it the first time.
Why do it this way?
An editor’s gut reaction usually determines whether your pitch is successful. Evaluating your pitch based on how I initially react is likely to be the closest approximation to how an op-ed editor at a target publication would.
Editors often make their decision on accepting your piece in a few seconds. A lot of the time, they don’t even fully read the pitch. They just decide based on your subject line and the first few sentences.
Is there a chance that deciding so quickly might cause them to miss a great pitch that just took a little too long to get to the good part? Yep. But the editor has to weigh the chance of unearthing a hidden treasure against the downside of spending too much time evaluating a pitch that, at first glance, looks unlikely to meet their needs.
Not only will evaluating pitches in the moment facilitate a more authentic reaction, but they’ll also, I suspect, yield more honest insights. I’ve been noticing more and more lately how my best thinking comes about when I’m not self-editing in my head before I talk or write.
You can use this approach to anticipate how an editor might react to your pitch. Wait maybe a day after you’ve written your draft, and read it again. Or send it to a trusted confidant. Either you or they should note down initial reactions on the first read.
I’ll still go back, edit and add to my reactions after I’ve done my first pass. I do want this newsletter to be readable. 😆
By the way, this same principle applies to writing a pitch. You should try to start from your most authentic place, a feeling like: This is what I want to write about and I don’t care what anyone thinks. Don’t worry about what eventual form it’ll take. This is effective at breaking writer’s block and delivering the most interesting product.
Okay, on to the pitch. As in, right now.
Pitch
Subject line: What is on the horizon for fixed income in 2024: emerging markets’ thematic debt
Dear [editor],
I am reaching out on the topic of impact investing:
1. What is on the horizon for fixed income in 2024: emerging markets’ thematic debt
Demand accelerating from institutional investors looking to access EM debt, countries that are below investment grade but also issuing bond
Bonds with thematic uses of proceeds like SDGs, blue, green, gender are on the rise
Banks increasingly clamoring for access
[Forthcoming financial guidelines my client co-wrote.] The final draft is being reviewed by partners so we expect it to be published within a few weeks
2. 3 trends to watch in ESG/impact Investing in 2024
Shift away from DEI and climate is again a focus—companies see this as more material to their operations
With nature and biodiversity looming large, TNFD released guidance and asset managers looking to be early adopters, especially relevant for infrastructure segment
Liquid instruments, like short term impact notes are on the horizon. For example, investing in dollar deposits in leading developing country banks where the invested funds must be used to finance SMEs contributing to green growth, gender parity, etc. and there is monthly interest and monthly liquidity - more of these instruments are coming online. These are innovative deposit agreements.
These are the topics we’d like to offer for publication. We’d be glad to provide data on size, greenium, uses of proceeds in case of interest.
The expert: [Name] - Chief Impact, Sustainability and ESG Officer, with unparalleled track record in impact investing strategy, structuring and execution
Recent Clients: [followed by list of 8 clients and a short description of the work the author performed for them]
Stitches
Subject line: What is on the horizon for fixed income in 2024: emerging markets’ thematic debt
📈 I consider myself a fairly well-read person. So if I feel a compulsion to check Investopedia on what exactly “fixed income” means (I have a general idea, but not in detail), that’s an indication that many readers might not know either.
I’d be careful about using a term like this in your subject line. Maybe use it in the pitch itself, but I’d be sure to define it briefly. In the headline, it’s probably safer to go with a word more widely recognizable like “bonds.” Even if that doesn’t completely encompass what you’re talking about, it’s close enough for a subject line.
📈 Since you put the term “thematic debt” in the subject line without defining it, I've already started thinking about it. I assume that you're going to explain what it is in the text, but I can't help myself.
I'm already considering whether emerging markets are issuing debt according to some kind of theme, and what that would even look like. A lot is already going through my head. If I feel frustrated or confused by your subject line, I might reject the pitch before even opening your email.
Dear [editor],
I am reaching out on the topic of impact investing:
1. What is on the horizon for fixed income in 2024: emerging markets’ thematic debt
📈 When I see the number “1,” I immediately jump ahead in the email to see if there’s a second pitch. There is.
This PR representative told me they were pitching an outlet that is arguably one of the top five op-ed pages in the world. At that level, you absolutely cannot be sending them two pitches. It looks like you're trying to get them to conform to your plans. That's not how this works. You have to treat this like it's your one and only chance to get your article published.
📈 Now that I've already scanned ahead, I'm naturally going to finish skimming through to the end of your email. I notice a list of recent clients there, which makes me dread having to eventually read through it—if I end up getting that far.
Demand accelerating from institutional investors looking to access EM debt, countries that are below investment grade but also issuing bond
Bonds with thematic uses of proceeds like SDGs, blue, green, gender are on the rise
Banks increasingly clamoring for access
[Forthcoming financial guidelines my client co-wrote.] The final draft is being reviewed by partners so we expect it to be published within a few weeks
📈 Pitches should be written in paragraph style. Bullet points can be effective if you're listing out a few brief points related to one topic, but an entire pitch written in bullets looks lazy.
📈 The deeper issue, though, is that a bullet-only pitch prevents you from telling a story. Don’t think that you can’t do that in a limited space. It’s your whole objective.
📈 The other problem is that this article doesn’t sound like an op-ed. An op-ed needs an anchoring argument. This reads more like a market analysis. There is nothing tying all these predictions together; they're just different pieces of information that specific audiences might be able to use.
📈 On a more specific note, the second bullet doesn't give me enough information. I might know what SDGs are, but I'm not sure if everyone else does. I don't know what the "blue” theme refers to. And while I do have a sense of what “green” and “gender” refer to, it's not clear what exactly these proceeds would be doing.
📈 This first pitch places a lot of responsibility on the editor to discern what the argument is. That should be the pitcher’s job.
2. 3 trends to watch in ESG/impact Investing in 2024
Shift away from DEI and climate is again a focus—companies see this as more material to their operations
With nature and biodiversity looming large, TNFD released guidance and asset managers looking to be early adopters, especially relevant for infrastructure segment
Liquid instruments, like short term impact notes are on the horizon. For example, investing in dollar deposits in leading developing country banks where the invested funds must be used to finance SMEs contributing to green growth, gender parity, etc. and there is monthly interest and monthly liquidity - more of these instruments are coming online. These are innovative deposit agreements.
📈 The second op-ed précis is similar to the first. It’s like an industry outlook memo being distributed to close watchers of a particular space.
Sure, ESG and impact investing are popular topics in mainstream media that most readers, especially of financially-focused publications, will be familiar with. At the same time, analysis of these topics is extremely saturated. If you want your argument to stand out from all the others, it needs a unique take.
The expert: [Name] - Chief Impact, Sustainability and ESG Officer, with unparalleled track record in impact investing strategy, structuring and execution
Recent Clients [followed by list of 8 clients and a short description of the work the author performed for them]
📈 The statement that someone has an “unparalleled track record" needs to be backed up. You can't expect the editor to simply accept that at face value.
📈 Listing out clients and descriptions of the work done for them is a lot for the editor to process. Most don't have the time to read through all of that. It would be better to pick out two or three recognizable clients for which the author did similar work, and summarize it in one sentence so it's easier to digest.