Rose Minutaglio is a Senior Editor at ELLE Magazine overseeing features and projects about women's issues. Rose has written for a number of well-known lifestyle publications including Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, and PEOPLE magazine.

During the episode, Rose shares the reasons why she automatically deletes pitches, she talks about the Clothes of Our Lives column, how to format your pitch using short paragraphs, and more.

 Follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Click below to listen to the full conversation and read below for highlights from the interview:

How to Write a Subject Line for ELLE

[0:07:33] BB: Yes. Okay. So those are some of the clues. Then, could you provide – I know we were talking a little bit before we got on here, a subject line. You're like, "Oh, yes. Can't wait to open that." Any of it you want to share or elements of such that are great.

[0:07:50] RM: Yes. I love and I think this is a common theme also in your podcast. But words like exclusive, or for ELLE, or for Rose. That kind of catches my eye. I got this really great pitch email. Actually, it was sent to my colleague, she forwarded it to me because it's a column. I oversee a column on elle.com called Clothes of Our Lives.

[0:08:12] BB: Which is super great. Everyone needs to see that.

[0:08:16] RM: Thank you. It's basically for people that don't know. It's a series we do, where we have powerful people talk about what they wore in a specific moment and why it matters. So our tagline is Clothes of our Lives decodes the sartorial choices made by powerful women, exploring how fashion can be used as a tool for communication. It's a really fun series that we do. 

Anyway, my colleague got this pitch for the series. It was such a good pitch, it like caught my eye right away, was basically from a PR person who works at NPR, was pitching a White House correspondent at the stories [inaudible 0:09:02]. White House correspondent, Tamara Keith, who is the president of the White House Correspondents Association. She was basically pitching for the White House Correspondents Dinner, because she was going to wear this really interesting outfit. It seemed like a really great inclusion for the series. But the pitch had a good subject line, which was exclusive idea for ELLE.

Then, the wording of the pitch, it was like, funny. She made some really funny story. It was just a couple of sentences. It was right to –

[0:09:41] BB: Okay. Short, sweet. Yes.

[0:09:42] RM: Short and sweet, right to the point.

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Elements of Pitches

[0:11:04] BB: Is there another example you particularly like or want to share? Or again, elements that make you go, "Oh, yes."

[0:11:12] RM: I'm trying to think, like I said, my name or my outlet in the subject line is honestly going to catch my eye. I mean, because who's not going to read an email that like has their name. 

[0:11:27] BB: That helps too.

[0:11:27] RM: I would say, also, I guess this is like maybe advice I – if the pitch is too long, like honestly, if it's over 200 words, or like two paragraphs, I –

[0:11:43] BB: Too much.

[0:11:43] RM: That is too much. I'm probably not going to read that. I don't have time in the day. I'm getting seriously like 200 emails a day. It's a lot. That's probably conservative.

[0:11:56] BB: That's probably, yes, I was going to say, for you. Because you must also get – don't you, Rose, being an editor get freelancer pitches too?

[0:12:04] RM: Yes, I do. I actually love getting freelance pitches. I really like working with freelancers. I guess, my advice for a freelancer who wants to pitch is, also, don't make it super long. Like two paragraphs is fine, be really knowledgeable about the site, and the publication, and what I do. I really focus on features, so I don't do as much – I don't really do a lot in the beauty space, or I do a little bit of culture writing, but not like a ton. So if you're pitching me a beauty product, or a celebrity news story, that's probably not something that I'm going to be really interested in. 

Just know who you're pitching to, keep it short and simple. Then, I always like – and a lot of the freelancers who pitched me already do this. But you know, a line that says, "Here's a link to some of the similar stories I've done or like some of my past work."

Rapid Fire Pitching Preferences

[0:17:26] BB: Okay, Rose. I have a couple of like rapid fire questions. Are you ready?

[0:17:43] RM: I am.

[0:17:44] BB: Okay. Video phone or in person interview and why?

[0:17:50] RM: Oh, for an interview, I always prefer in person. I think you get more color, or what we call them colors. It's just background information or like, what were they wearing or where did you go to eat with that? For an interview, if I'm interviewing the person in-person. But like I said, if we're just like – if it's a publicist that I'm meeting with, let's just do email or talk in email.

[0:18:17] BB: There you go. Bullet points or paragraphs.

[0:18:19] RM: Paragraphs, but very short ones.

[0:18:23] BB: Short, you said too earlier. So short, everybody. Okay. Short. Images attached or Dropbox zip file?

[0:18:34] RM: Is this for a pitch?

[0:18:36] BB: Yes.

[0:18:37] RM: No pictures until I –

[0:18:41] BB: Request it?

[0:18:41] RM: Got it. So not even – okay, everybody, not even a link, not even anything. Nope, until requested. Fascinating. Because I think people are like, "Oh, well, let me let me show you all the things I have. I'll attach everything." You're like, "God, that's a lot."

[0:18:58] RM: Yes, I think you can add a line in an email that says, I have assets."

[0:19:02] BB: We have, yes. They're horizontal, and they're this, or whatever. But yeah, there you go. Okay, good to know. Then last, this is kind of a longer question. But are there any sources you particularly look for? How would you like them pitched to you?

[0:19:19] RM: Sources. Well, I will say in some of the bigger feature stories we do, we will quote experts. I've actually found it pretty helpful from pitches I've gotten for experts. If it's a story about women's health, I get pitched doctors all the time. I've actually used some of the doctors that I've been pitched. I find that really helpful, I guess, especially when it comes to health, women's health stories. Because it's sort of a world that you don't know a lot about until you do if that makes sense. It's really helpful to have people come to me for that.

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