It’s natural when you first start using BowerBird to submit to just a handful of editors. If you’ve got a new project, you might just send it to 10 or so key publications you love.
What can I do if journalists are not responding to my messages?
Firstly, something to keep in mind is that just because your Journalist Views section doesn’t show that an editor/journalist has ‘viewed’ your BowerKit, it doesn’t mean your submission hasn’t been seen (via email) and reviewed. We don’t currently track this within the platform.
So, a good place to start is a simple follow-up message. Something like:
“Hi there, John, I thought I would follow up on my last message to see if you had any interest in publishing. We’ll be sending the project to more journalists this week. Thanks!”
What next?
Maybe you still don’t hear back. Don’t be put off, editors are busy, and they can’t always respond. The next thing to do is to ‘widen your net’, by using Submission Suggestions to target another 20–50 publications.
Rinse, and repeat. We would recommend only sending two messages without hearing back. If you haven’t heard back after that, it’s likely that the BowerKit hasn’t made the cut for that publication.
Then what?
A few extra tips:
Always check your Journalist Views to see which journalists have viewed your project, even if they haven’t made contact. Reach out to them, as they’re likely to be interested even if they didn’t take immediate action
Add more projects. If you have multiple projects, add them one at a time (maybe a month or two apart) and repeat the process
Get in touch. You’re not alone. If you still aren’t getting success, contact us and we’ll review your kits and your actions to make sure there aren’t any stumbling blocks
Don’t be afraid to submit to more journalists
Can’t find a publication? Suggest it here
As always, get in touch through our chat box on BowerBird or on our Support Site with any questions.