Pitch letter example #2

Here's a second pitch letter, this one very recent, which I wrote for my review of Chris Hedges' book, America: The Farewell Tour. Note that I basically used two paragraphs from the review for the bulk of the letter. I sent this to three news-y magazine/journals that actually pay. Did get replies, nice ones, but they were no's. I decided to just make this review a blog exclusive, which does drive up visits, new readers, plus a lot of Russian trolls. So I don't know. Maybe I could have pitched to more places. I wanted to get the review out by December though, for the holiday buying season. Oh: I also found a typo posting it here. I'd spelled NYT, NTY. Doh. Learn from my mistakes!

For your consideration, my review of:

America: The Farewell Tour

by Chris Hedges

Simon & Schuster 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5011-5267-2 (hardcover)

Hedges earned a degree from Harvard Divinity School, then ended up becoming a foreign war correspondent for the New York Times, earning a Pulitzer along the way. The author of many NYT bestsellers, he teaches at the university level, hosts a show on the RT Network and somehow finds the time to teach in prisons.

America: The Farewell Tour collects a series of ethnographies, a 'tour' of different towns across America, interviewing people feeling the effects of American decay. Hedges generally gives little judgment, acting more as a witness, though including historical and cultural context from experts in the related fields. Sometimes though, Hedges provides a little argument, ways he thinks people on the left could be doing things better. His sympathies are definitely from the left, but just as definitely not with center-left Democrats. As a whole, the chapters form a larger, depressing, though honest picture of what's going on in (i.e. what's wrong with) America. That is, what's been wrong with America for a while.

Word count: 2,000

I hold a MA in Written Communication from Eastern Michigan University, and an MFA from The New School for Social Research. My reviews have appeared regularly at Entropy and Comics Bulletin, as well as Word Riot, Gravel, and Empty Mirror. Links available at my website. johnyohe.com

I would be more than happy to send you the whole review.

Thank you,

John Yohe