Dear writers!
Welcome to a new chapter from your favourite neighbourhood (on lockdown) freelancing newsletter.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on The Pitch Club. The session was extremely informative (do you also have pages of notes?). Kamala, Rituparna and Neha shared a lot of good intel; I couldn’t have started off with a better set of panellists. Yes, I said started off because I want to make this a monthly session. The next one will focus on food and/or travel writing. Details will be up soon on my social media and in the next newsletter. If you don’t check social media often and want to remain informed about the next event, reply to this newsletter.
In other news, October will be a year since I started this newsletter. A YEAR! I am overwhelmed and grateful to everyone who subscribed to both versions, offered support, help and encouragement.
To celebrate this milestone, I am implementing two changes. I will be moving to Substack’s paid subscriptions model from October. They have opened up payments to Indian banks, which makes things easier for you and me. Substack, though, only allows monthly and yearly payments. As always, I will send out a free and paid versions of the newsletters, twice a month. You will receive another email by September 30 with more details.
The second change I am making (so excited about this) is I am opening up It’s All Write to pitches! I want to stories on anything and everything related to bettering your freelance life (be it writing, photography, illustration etc). Send me pitches on how to improve your writing, how Excel or Calendly has changed your life, the one mantra for writing/editing that has brought you the most success, a guide to tackling international payment systems, and more. The story should be useful and informative. You can be humorous or sarcastic, like this gem of a piece that Shruti Sunderraman wrote for me earlier this year. I want to make this a monthly feature. To start with, I can pay Rs 3,000 for 600-700 words; payment will be done post editing. As my subscribers increase, I hope to to better this rate. I will read and reply to every pitch, but please keep pitching rules in mind.
And with that mighty long introduction, it’s time to get back to the newsletter. This week’s paid newsletter has an interview with one of my favourite international editors, Barbara Fletcher. She’s been responsible for making my stories in Ozy shine + pitch calls, job opps, some contests and writing advice. I’ve also added a small peek into the interview in this newsletter. To subscribe, email itsallwrite@outlook.in or hit reply.
The free newsletter has a reading guide, some job links and other miscellany you will find interesting.
Ready? Let’s begin.
THE INTERVIEW
(Straight talk with the professionals)
Am offering a sneak peek into the paid newsletter’s interview with Barbara Fletcher. Fletcher is a Canadian-based editor and writer with 20 years of experience in digital media. She was the editor at Good Sh*t on Ozy till earlier this year. I’ve worked with her on a few stories and enjoyed her editing process, her matter-of-fact feedback and how she made my words shine.
Could you elaborate on what makes for a good pitch?
A good pitch typically captures my attention in the first three lines
. This can be in a proposed headline or the first few sentences of the pitch –– I look for tension, drama, intrigue, humour, heart. Some pitches require a graf or maybe two, but those first few lines are key.
Ozy has been publishing some great investigative work lately, including this excellent report by Maroosha Muzaffar on how Facebook is aiding political advertising that’s created the image of Modi as a leader enjoying near-invincible online popularity. This piece got a response from facebook, who said they will strengthening scrutiny of political advertisers.
MISCELLANY
(Job links, grants, links to good reads, and other news you can use)
Advice: Lavanya Mohan, the head of content at Vue.ai, recently shared a list of guidelines on what NOT to do when applying for a job. There’s been some controversy about this thread with some calling it elitist and privileged and tone deaf etc. As someone who absolutely hates her resume, I found it useful.
Survey: One of IAW’s subscribers wrote in to say they’ve launched a collective for freelance artists and designers in India. To begin with, they have an anonymous survey on how to price assignments. This could really be useful for those struggling to figure out rates. Details, here.
Conference: Type Weekend is a FREE global online typography conference covering four days. There will be presentations from around the world, Q&A chat sessions, live workshops and design hangouts. Dates: September 24-27. Register here.
Workshop: Author Sharanya Manivannan will conduct a creative writing workshop, Mapping Memories with Art. It will explore the concept of memory through creative writing and zine-making and will introduce the basic components, structures and designs of creative writing. Date: Sept 26, 11am to 12pm. Cost: Rs 200. Book, here.
Workshop: Branding specialist Ganesh Vancheeswaran is presenting a workshop on Personal Branding, for entrepreneurs/start-up founders and freelancers in any domain. Date: Oct 3 & 4, from 11 am to 12: 30 pm. Cost: Rs 1000. Details, here.
READING CORNER
(Articles I actually read and which didn’t stay open in my tabs)
This is an IAW #bylinebrag. Saad Ahmed published a story on Roundglass Sustain about the joys of creating an urban garden and watching it create an eco-system.
Another IAW #bylinebrag. Manisha AR answered a call for stories in the newsletter and got published, writing about two Indian photographers.
This story by Radhika Iyengar in Goya Journal is an informative look at caste and its impact on food.
Nihira Ram has written a brief piece on the emergence of brothels in Calcutta and connected it to the fallacy that sex workers were responsible for ‘spreading’ venereal disease in the city.
I’ve been avoiding reading about COVID as it is too depressing and it makes me worry, but this article laid to rest a lot of doubts about the virus.
Once again, a warm thank you to everyone who signed up for The Pitch Club (PS: do check your welcome email – there was a little surprise in there).
Also, add joannalobo@substack.com and itsallwrite@outlook.in to your inbox so you don’t miss the newsletter and updates. The newsletter about payments details etc will be out on September 28.
Am ending with a tip by the executive editor of Elemental by Medium, Anna Maltby.
See you soon!
Adios.