Q: If you have multiple queries, should you send them in separate emails? Or is it all right to send more than one in a single email?
A: Please keep it to one pitch per e-mail. If you have more than one pitch, send them in separate emails. If you send more than one pitch per email, you’re diluting your pitch. As well, human nature is that we’ll think that your first pitch is the one that you really care about, and others are throw-ins.
Q: How long should we wait before following up on a pitch (if we haven’t heard back)?
A: Give us a couple of weeks. We try to respond to all serious pitches. But, if you don’t hear back from us in two weeks, feel free to send a reminder note. If you don’t hear from us by the 30-day mark after you’ve sent the pitch, you’re free to move on with it.
Q: Are there certain themes or topics Edify looks for at certain times of the year? Or can you pitch any idea year round?
A: We do have themes planned for the year, and we’re always open ideas that might fit with one of our themes. We are also excited about stories that are just too good to pass up, regardless of theme. Also, themes may have to be changed, because all plans do change. We also offer exclusive online content that your story might be a good fit for. Ask us for our editorial calendar.
Q: Has the age of the readership on which you focused changed? I think you used to focus more on the under 40 demographic.
A: We are skewing to a wider demographic since the brand change to Edify, but we still have our loyal readers that are 35-55 that pick up a copy every month.
Q: On the topic of younger readers, do you know what percentage of those pitching stories or writing are over 40?
A: We don’t ask the ages of our freelancers or people who are pitching stories to us, so it’s hard to tell. We’re just looking at the quality of the writing and if they can tell a compelling story.
Q: If there’s a potential conflict of interest with us writing on a certain piece would you prefer we include that in our pitch or is that something we discuss with you afterwards?
A: Yes! Please let us know within your email pitch if you think there may be a conflict of interest. We will review them on a case-by-case basis to determine if the story should still go ahead. Sometimes, a potential conflict means a specific writer simply can’t write a specific story; sometimes it means that we need to be transparent with our readers (that the writer must state, for example, that he/she/they once ran for office, or worked for a specific organization, etc.). We encourage you to look at the Canadian Association of Journalists’ policies on conflict of interest. https://caj.ca/ethics-guidelines
