Notes from a Hired Pen: 10 things PR people should know about trying to work with me

Readers!

 

Good morning from England! I pre-wrote this before I left just for you, then I’ll be back when I’m back. Cheerio!

Last week I did an informal Q&A with an acquaintance’s PR firm, answering questions they had about working with freelancers. I’m not going to name the firm, but here are 10 takeaways that might be useful for the PR people who are hanging around here.

1. No two freelancers are alike. I tried not to speak for all freelancers but share my processes, because we’re all so very different. For example, I don’t pitch a lot, but another freelance might. I often use platforms like Qwoted and Newswise to help me find sources, but other freelancers might not. I was happy to share my life, but stressed that we’re all different. The same should be applied to what I say below. This is to work with me, not every freelancer.
2. I very rarely write stories pitched to me by PR people. So far this year, I’ve written one story based on a pitch that a PR person sent me. Last year, that number was zero. This is because I don’t really pitch much anyway, but it’s also rare for a PR person to know exactly what would be a good story for me that would also match what one of my clients is looking for at, at the same exact moment in time. Sometimes editors will assign me pitches they’ve been sent, but that’s coming from the top down, not me pushing an idea up. Most of the time, I reach out to PR people for sources. It’s just how I work.
3. If you are going to pitch me, know what I write about and give me lead time. With the group, I went over bad pitch so they know what not to do. It came into my inbox on a Saturday for an event happening the following Monday, for a newsletter I stopped writing years ago, and that today no longer exists today. Even beyond that this person did not do their homework about what I’m currently writing these days (or used AI to generate lies), if I’m going to cover an event, I need at least three weeks lead time — hopefully more. Because I have to assess the pitch and maybe ask a few follow up questions, then craft a pitch to send to an editor. And they need time to see it, review it, possibly bring it to an edit meeting, and then assign it to me. Would I need to travel? Get a photographer? The budget for those things would also need to be approved. There’s a lot of planning involved! Sending an email two days before the start of something is not enough, even if I was interested, which I was not!
4. Don’t contact me through social media. This person said he’d already reached out to me on Instagram. Absolutely not. I have a contact button on my website. Leave my DMs alone. Some reporters are OK with it. But me? No thanks. And while I’m at it: stick to email. Before I left, I was dealing with two PR people who thought it was fine to text and call to follow up on stuff. No! Email only unless I indicate otherwise.
5. I save emails about potential sources. Just because I don’t respond doesn’t mean I won’t at some point. I have folders where I put pitches if I think the expert being pitched might be of use down the line, which I might because, again, most stories are assigned to me. I’ve responded to emails more than a year after they’re sent. I do save these, but I can’t answer them all, not when I’m inundated as most journalists are.
6. Be prompt. If you pitch me your source, please answer if I reach out. I don’t know why I have to say this, but too many times I’ve been offered someone for a story and then get crickets in return. It happens even when someone response to a source request I put out to a platform. What’s the point in pitching me in the first place if you’re not going to be there if I say yes? Of course if I have sat on the email for a while, that’s different, but sometimes I’ll want to talk to someone immediately after getting a pitch, especially if I get one offering an expert who could common on a breaking news story. Also if you’re traveling, throw up that out of office. I always email the person there if I need someone ASAP.
7. When responding to a request for sources, read the brief, and don’t use AI. When I use a platform like Qwoted to find source, too many PR people don’t really read my briefs, where I specify that I require an interview with the source and that I won’t consider pre-written commentary. They’ll send the wrong kind of potential source, or long winded, AI generated slop commentary anyway. Ignored, as are shorter responses written with AI. Case in point: Last week I sent out a query for sources through Qwoted. I didn’t even need Qwoted’s built in AI checker to see who cut corners because half of them had the exact same introductory clause. Pass.
8. I know less about the publishing process than you think. Some questions were about what I as a freelance knows about who I wrote for, like if I understand why a publication assigns certain stories to beat reports and others to freelancers. I have no idea. That’s all pretty much a black box to me. I also write for a lot of different publications, and they all have their own workflows and processes, and editors are going to make the call on what to assign to freelancers for different reasons at one publication than another.
9. If I say I don’t know when something’s going to run, I really don’t know. I end just about every interview I do by telling the sources and/or PR person if they’re on the line what I know about next steps. If there’s a projected run date, I’ll tell them that. But most of the time, I have no idea when a story will be published until I get a Google alert for my own name. I tell them that too, and that I promise to send along the link when I have it so they can read and share as they like. The last thing a PR person should do is keep following up with me. I will answer once telling them that I have no new information and repeat that I’ll share it when it’s published, but then I won’t respond if they ask again. I understand that PR people are probably getting asked by their boss and/or their client, but that’s on them to repeat the message. Continuing to pester me means I won’t want to reach out in the future.
10. I don’t work for you. I’ve had PR people try to act like my boss, or that I’m part of their team working to get a story published. Absolutely not. While I try to be cordial of course, I work for myself first, the publication second, and a PR person never. This is also why I don’t respond to most pitches, especially off topic one from people I’ve never worked with before. I don’t know you! I used to reply to some, but too many times, the PR person responded by arguing with me about my rejection. One even sent a numbered list of questions he demanded I answer as to why I passed. HUH? And if you have quibbles with any of my processes above, read point 10 again. You can hate how I operate, but I don’t work for you.

 

Recent Bylines

“Iran shakes medical device industry supply chains,” AAMI News 

“Finding the balance between water and energy for a more sustainable future,” Mines Newsroom

 

What I’m Reading

• One Thousand Paper Cranes: The Story of Sadako and the Children’s Peace Statue by Ishii Takayuki. I finished reading this book, about a Japanese girl who died of radiation poisoning from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, on April 7, the day Trump threatened to annihilate Iran. It’s like the worst people in the world looked back at WW II, took the wrong lesson, and are running with it right now. It’s distressing, to say the least.
• A Long Winter by Colm Toibin. A young Spanish man returns from his mandatory war service, only for his mother to walk out once his father confronts her about her drinking. But she walks out into a storm. This is a novella about what happens after. It’s short (I got it from the library) but still packs a punch.
• Vicious Circle by C.J. Box. I brought our intrepid Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett on the plane with me, and read this one entirely on my flight to London. In it, a bad man that Pickett put in jail is now out, and wants revenge. I know it’s unrealistic that all of these things keep happening to a game warden but who cares, I like them. I know I’m about to embark on a long trip right now, but I’m already eyeing up a return to the American West for later this year (maybe). This book sure did push me in that direction!

What I’m Watching

• Asteroid City. I can give or take West Anderson, and this one was definitely a give. Doing a movie in a specific tone and style isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but this one didn’t land for me.
• Relay. A woman (Lily James) steals incriminating documents from a corporation and needs help protecting herself. To do that, she hires a shadowy figure (Riz Ahmed) who communicates with her through a relay service, where he types in his answers that are then spoken through the phone through another person. Perfectly fine B-level action movie.
• Band of Brothers. This was the last thing I felt I needed to read or watch before my trip. I was slow getting into it, not because of the story, but because of the violence. Then I realized I could skip forward in 10 second blocks through the worst, and I was fine. I would rather do that than just quit, which I almost did. I don’t think I can offer much new commentary 25 years after the mini series was released, but of course it’s excellent, and it was the most intensive televisions viewing experience I’ve ever gone through…ever? See my comment about One Thousand Paper Cranes. I want to tell more people they need to watch this, but I don’t know if they’d get the right message or not. I do want to watch The Pacific, but I’ll hold off on that because I know it will be upsetting since that’s where my grandfather was wounded in combat. Given how I sobbed at those parts of Buckeye by Patrick Henry, I know it’ll be a lot. Anyway, I also saw a meme about how nice it must be for Damian Lewis and Andrew Scott, who played Americans in Band of Brothers, to use their English accents in the upcoming D-Day movie Pressure. Andrew Scott is Irish. Never ever tell an Irishman that he’s English.
• Anaconda. This was the 2025 remake that’s not a remake with Paul Rudd and Jack Black. They with two more high school pals (Steve Zahn and Thandiwe Newton) all feel stuck in their lives, so they go to make an Anaconda remake and course things go wrong. I went in with middling expectations, and it was pretty funny. Not quite ridiculous, but silly in a fun way.
• Now You See Me. One of the librarians at my local library said this was her favorite movie, so I gave it a go. A heist with Robin Hood mentality magicians? Sure why not. I did not guess the twist at the end, which is saying something for the movie since I usually do. I don’t know if I care enough to see the sequel, but I’m sure it’ll come across my feed at some point.

 

Nail polish of the week.

Twinklette by Zoya. I chipped my nail polish twice in the airport, and nobody can tell because this neutral sparkle is just like that (and I brought the bottle with me and fixed those chips!) It’s a great travel color.

 

TTFN! Ta ta for now!

Jen A. Miller (she/her)

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