4 ways to improve your pitch’s subject line

Editors for lifestyle, entertainment, and tech publications receive more than 300 pitches per day. They have little time for mistakes: 53 percent say they’ve blacklisted at least one person this month due to bad pitches.

The teams at BuzzStream and Fractl surveyed writers and editors from 500 top-tier publications to find out what gets their attention. Most of them want you to pitch them via email, but even more noteworthy, 85 percent of them decide if they’re interested in a pitch based on the subject line alone.

To help you cut through the clutter and get your pitch noticed, your subject line needs to be top-notch. Here are a few tips from a white paper on pitching publishers:

1. Keep it brief. Shorter subject lines are key.

Though 75 percent of survey respondents prefer a subject line under 10 words, don’t cut it too short: A vague subject line can be perceived as click bait or not descriptive enough. A good rule of thumb is to limit your subject line to 10 words.