As part of our Editor Deskside series, our team sits down with editors across the country to learn what they’re looking for when writing stories for their pages.
This past month, we sat down with Kaitlyn Yarborough, a Georgia native living in Austin, Texas, as an Assistant Editor at Southern Living. She covers a wide variety of topics for both the magazine and website, focusing on culture and lifestyle content, as well as travel in the south.
She graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.A. in Journalism. Go Dawgs!
Here are a few things we learned:
- Print editors work 6-12 months in advance.
- The earlier in the season that you can pitch, the better.
- In subject lines, she prefers you to state that it is a pitch, name the location, and always clarify if it is a new project or product.
- Southern Living begins pulling together online gift guides in the fall.
- Images must consider seasonality in pitching. If you are pitching for an idea in spring, especially for digital, pitch early in the season. For example, February is a great time to hear about spring offerings.
- When pitching about regions, Maryland is considered the South.
- None of the publication’s digital content is sponsored.
- The home editors are always looking for before and after projects.
- Kaitlyn shares, “I genuinely miss stuff.” So, following-up after pitching is VERY important.
- Travel pitching should consider that you are pitching for a year in advance.
