Pitching

Study Successful Pitches at the TON Pitch Database

To tell a compelling story to readers, you first need to sell your idea to an editor. Our pitch database contains 290 successful story pitches to a wide range of publications. Each pitch is accompanied by a link to the resulting published story.

How to Pitch Science Stories That Sell: A Science Journalism Master Class

In this free online course, you’ll learn the seven key components of a pitch, how much reporting you need to do up front, how to identify the right publication for your story and tailor your pitch accordingly, how to communicate with an editor, and what to do when a pitch gets rejected. By the end of the course, you will have developed a solid pitch that’s ready to send to an editor.

Close-up photograph of a stack of old magazines.

Picking a Publication to Pitch

Celia Ford

3D illustration of a conceptual maze, with black pawns from a chess set moving between nodes on a surface. A direct path across the surface is shown in gold.

How to Break into English-Speaking Media as a Non-Native-English Speaker

Humberto Basilio

A glass bottle with a rolled-up message inside, wedged in the sand on a beach.

Making First Contact with Editors

Abdullahi Tsanni

A woman sits in front of a laptop with a small black dog sitting on her lap, its paws on the table in front of the laptop.

Freelancing in the Time of Coronavirus

Stephanie Parker

Three people sit in a small boat on a river, two using binoculars.

Invisible Science: Why Are Latin American Science Stories Absent in European and U.S. Media Outlets?

Federico Kukso

The words NO THANKS written in white in the center of a red speech bubble.

Delivering the Bad News: How to Reject Pitches Well

Kate Schimel

Image of people arranged in the shape of a circle, with a white background.

Finding the Science in Any Story

Kate Morgan

Zoomed image of the story decision flowchart.

Is This a Story? How to Evaluate Your Ideas Before You Pitch

Mallory Pickett

A young woman sits on a denim beanbag looking at a laptop. On the table in front is a cellphone and a plant.

Going Digital: Inside New Science Journalism Outlets

Rachel Zamzow

A close up of a globe and a metal meridian running around it.

Why Is It So Hard for Foreign Journalists to Break into U.S. and European Outlets?

Rodrigo Pérez Ortega

Gender Differences in Pitching: Results from the TON Pitching Habits Survey

Jane C. Hu

Brown recycling symbol on a tan background.

Repurposing Story Ideas for Multiple Venues

Alla Katsnelson

Ask TON: How Much Time Should I Spend Preparing a Pitch?

TON Editors

A woman stands at a rack of magazines, holding one magazine open.

Writing for Women’s Magazines

Melinda Wenner Moyer

Ask TON: How Soon to Repitch an Editor?

TON Editors

A small group of people gather on and around a fishing boat on an expansive beach. A photographer stands nearby taking their photo.

Pictures and Prose: When Photographers and Writers Work Together

Erik Vance

Ask TON: Breaking Into Science Writing

TON Editors

A man in a light jacket and tall rubber boots stands in a field next to a border collie, with a white sheep in the background.

Serendipity Story: A Pitch in Sheep’s Clothing

Jim Kling