Pitching an op-ed to the New York Times

Of all the hoopla about Greg Smith's new book I confess that the process of pitching an op ed to the New York Times was what caught my eye:

Smith decided to submit his piece to the op-ed page of The New York Times — the publication he thought “would have the most impact.”

When submitting his piece to oped@nytimes.com resulted in no response, Smith tried again — this time directly writing to a handful of editors. By the next morning, Smith had gotten the green light.

So the New York Times gets the editorial equivalent of a bolt of lightening and no one recognizes it until he sends it to specific people. This is my experience in media relations. If you follows the procedures laid out by news organizations you, and your client will get ignored. In order to catch their attention you have to send your material to a specific person.