Anjali Enjeti

A Roadmap to Writing Pitches for Short Nonfiction

Tuesday, June 18, 2024, 4:00 to 5:15 p.m.

Do you have an essay or article you’re ready to publish? You’ll first need to email a letter to the editor offering your piece for publication. For short nonfiction, this letter is called a pitch.

In this seminar, whether you’re pitching a completed piece or an idea for a piece, we’ll discuss the structure and content of pitches, and provide a framework for how to develop your pitches. I’ll also show you sample pitches for 4 different nonfiction pieces I’ve written (an article, an essay, an op-ed, and a piece of cultural criticism) so you can get a sense of how to capture the attention of your potential editors with your nonfiction ideas or completed stories.

Required Reading (in Reader):

Enjeti, Anjali. “The Haunting of Lake Lanier.” Oxford American, 1 June 2021.

Available online at: oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-113-summer-2021/the-haunting-of-lake-lanier.

Enjeti, Anjali. “On January 6, We Triumphed and Imploded. What Comes Next?” Harper’s Bazaar, 20 Jan. 2021.

Available online at: www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a35255847/georgia-runoff-election-capitol-riot/.

Enjeti, Anjali. “On the Unbearable Whiteness of Southern Literature.” Literary Hub, 28 June 2021.

Available online at: https://lithub.com/on-the-unbearable-on-the-unbearable-whiteness-of-mainstream-canonical-southern-literature-of-mainstream-southern-literature/.

Enjeti, Anjali. “Op-Ed: A Big Reason the South Goes Red? Gerrymandering and Voter Suppression.” Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2022.

Available online at: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-11-16/gerrymandering-voter-suppression-black-brown-voters-redistricting-south.

Recommended Reading:

Myall, J.D. “Pitching Articles: 5 Tips for a Successful Freelance Writing Pitch.” Writer’s Digest, 22 June 2018.

Available online at: www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/pitching-articles-5-tips-for-successful-freelance-journalism-pitches.