How Writing for IVN Works

Pitch

A “Pitch” is an idea for a new article that a writer submits for an editor’s approval before beginning to work on the article.

Explanation

To pitch an article in Edit Flow simply start a new post and hit save. Or submit your pitch by sending an email to [email protected] New posts created by IVN Contributors and Authors are set to Pitch status by default. Be sure to check Available Stories first to make sure the topic you’ve chosen isn’t already available.

In your pitch, include a working title, appropriate website categories, your deadline for completion, and a brief outline of the points you plan to cover in your article in the order you plan to cover them. Include links for sources you plan to cite in the article. You can even write questions you might have for the editor. When finished, save your pitch and an IVN editor will respond promptly by either rejecting or accepting the pitch.

Editors will always explain why they rejected a pitch with feedback in the Editorial Comments form. When they approve a pitch, they’ll provide any guidance or helpful resources they have to share in the Editorial Comments form, and then set your post to In Progress status.

Editorial comments will automatically be emailed to your user account email address. So will notifications of any changes in your post status.

A good pitch includes:

Choosing a story or taking an angle on a topic that isn’t being widely covered by major media outlets
Links to credible, primary sources or interview plans
Policy-oriented examination

A bad pitch will have:

No links to sources, or secondary ‘he-said, she-said’ sources
Saying that all Democrats believe ‘x’ or all Republicans want to do ‘y’ is a sure way to have a pitch rejected.
Old and outdated information.

Available

An “Available” article is like a “Pitch” only in reverse: These are article ideas editors want covered on the website and submit to the Available article queue in WordPress for writers to claim if they would like to write the article.

Explanation

Available Stories are leads for news articles or interviews that editors want to see covered on IVN.
Before pitching your own story for your next article, always check Available Stories first to see if there’s one that you would be well-suited to write.

Available stories will have a working title, assignment notes and guidelines, a word count to aim for, and a calendar deadline.

Authors claim Available Stories by clicking the Claim button. Only claim an article if you will be able to complete it by the deadline. After clicking “Claim” the story will automatically be assigned to you and set to In Progress status in Edit Flow.

Some Available Stories will only display a Claim button for writers whose accounts have been upgraded from Contributor to Author status. These are priority stories and interviews that editors need a more experienced IVN writer with a consistent record of quality work to cover.

Periodically, editors will post an Available Story that they want covered quickly and at a high level of quality. These will be marked in the Assignment notes as Paid Articles with the amount of compensation included for an article written to IVN standards and completed by the deadline.

Paid articles will only be Available for writers who have graduated to author status, may not be announced in advance, and will be assigned to the first author to claim them, so if you want to write a paid article, make achieving Author Status with IVN a priority and check Edit Flow Available Stories frequently.

In Progress

When a writer claims an “Available” article or when an editor approves a “Pitch” for a new article, it will automatically change to an article “In Progress.”

Explanation

When a writer claims an “Available” article or when an editor approves a “Pitch” for a new article, it will automatically change an article to “In Progress.” Writers are responsible for completing an “In Progress” article by the deadline indicated in the Editorial Metadata form on the right side of the Edit Post page. When an article is “In Progress,” an author will contact primary sources for comment, research and write the article, add a photo that meets IVN standards, complete SEO fields, and add tags and categories to the article.

Ready to Publish

When a writer completes an “In Progress” article and is ready for an editor to take a final look and publish it, they set it to “Ready to Publish.”

Explanation

When a writer completes an “In Progress” article and is ready for an editor to take a final look and publish it, they set it to “Ready to Publish.” This means that it meets all of IVN’s standards, has properly completed SEO fields, and has been carefully proofread at least twice (and not in the same sitting) and corrected for any errors. If an editor finds the article is not publish-ready, it will be reset to “In Progress” status and the writer will be asked to review it and make necessary changes. If the article is ready for publication, the editor will schedule it for publication on the website.

Published

Explanation

Published articles are those “Ready to Publish” articles that have been briefly reviewed and then published live to IVN.us by an editor. These are the articles that our audience comes to our website to read. They display on our website’s front page and in Google News search results (because IVN is an official Google News source). A good journalist’s work for an article isn’t finished once it reaches this status. Sharing your published pieces across your social media channels, promoting it to bloggers that may be interested in linking to it, and reading and responding to the comments readers leave on it will greatly increase your audience and interactivity on your articles.

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