When's The Best Time To Pitch a Story?

- It depends on what else is occupying the attention of
the editor / reporter to whom you're trying to pitch like
the start of a new war, an Enron-type debacle, their
spouse having a baby, etc.

- It depends on whether it's been a slow news day so
they're dying for something to fill the space

- It depends on whether their desk is full, or empty at
the moment.

In other words, we don't have control over lots of things.

Here's what we can control:

1. Don't contact them within 2 hours before their
deadline, unless your story is so hot that it may cause
them to drop the story they're writing now and replace it
with yours (trust me, this will only be true about 0.001%
of the time).

2. Don't contact them while they're at lunch

3. Don't contact them on Mondays - have you ever noticed
that Mondays are the hottest days for everyone to get
started on their week, so the phone rings off the hook
every Monday?

So when's the best time?

Our favorite time is Tuesday morning, well before
deadline.

How do you find out what their deadline is?

How about asking them? Remember, the best way is to
create a relationship with your favorite local reporter.
Once you've got that relationship going, it's a great
question to ask.

One great way to ask is in a thank you call/email for
their running something on you. (You are doing that,
right?)

As part of that call, it works great to say "by the way,
if I have something else interesting in the future, I want
to make sure that I don't call you when you're right on
deadline. What's the best time for me to call?" That way
you find out what really works for them.

Try it, it may help!

Tags: Timing