Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ Journalists
- I don't want to receive pitches to my email, I'd rather log into PitchRate.com in order to view my pitches, how do I do that?
Log into your account and click on "Account". Select the "Email Settings" sub-tab. Click the button that says "Stop receiving emails". This will stop the pitches from being emailed, but will still save them to your homepage. - I can't find a request I made yesterday, where did it go?
The first place to look is under your "Manage Requests" tab. If it's not under "Active Requests", try looking under "Closed Requests". It's possible that the deadline you entered has expired, and the request was automatically moved to the "Close Requests" tab. - I found my perfect expert, how do I cancel my request?
Go to your "Manage Requests" tab and find the Request you want to close. Check the box in the "Close Request" column. Then hit the cancel button at the bottom. This will close the request, and experts will no longer be able to pitch to it. - My expert was a bad ass! She nailed it in content and professionalism. How do I give her a great rating so other Journalists know to use them?
Easy, go to the pitch that they pitched to you, find their name in the pitch, there will be 5 'empty' stars next to their name. Click the star that is a appropriate - 5 stars being the best. - I got a pitch that had nothing to do with my request. How do I give them a poor rating?
Easy, go to the the pitch that they pitched to you, find their name in the pitch, there will be 5 'empty' stars next to their name. Click the star that is a appropriate - 1 star being the worst. - I got a pitch that was pure spam.
Let us know immediately. We can disable that expert's account for abuse. Use the Comments & Questions form for the quickest results. - Can I see an expert's rating?
You can see the rating you gave an expert and change it at any time (it's on each pitch an expert sends you). You cannot see ratings other journalists gave them. All ratings are factored into the expert's "average journalist rating". This cumulative rating is attached to every pitch the expert submits going forward. It's only one of the ways the pitch is rated. - I forgot to put my tags into the system when I entered my request. My in-coming pitches aren't being rated accordingly. What can I do? No worries. Just go to your "manage requests" tab and click on your request. Click on Edit and enter your tag words on the edit tab. Remember to choose words that only the most qualified candidates might use in their pitches. Hit the Save Changes and Re-Rate Pitches button! You're done.
- An expert earned 2 stars and their pitch wasn't even close to being on target. What's up with that? Since the rating system is heavily influenced by the tag words you enter at the bottom of your request, check your tag words first.
- How do I enter tags in order to rate my in-coming pitches? Use the tag window directly beneath your request. Use commas to separate words or phrases. If you want the system to score based on the phrase 'social networking', you'll want to capture the phrase in commas or the system will score according to individual words (ie. internet, social networking, free, technical).
- I am an expert, how do I get "on the list"?
Simply register as an expert, then when you see a request that is appropriate for your expertise, "make a pitch". That will send your pitch to the journalist making the request. - I qualify for more than one "area of expertise", how do I select more than one category?
On a PC, hold down the "CTRL" button while selecting your categories. On a Mac, hold down "Command" while selecting categories - I don't want to receive the daily Request List, I'd rather log into PitchRate.com in order to view the current requests, how do I do that?
Log into your account and click on "Account". Select the "Email Settings" sub-tab. Click the button that says "Stop receiving emails". This will stop the daily request list from being emailed, but you can still access media requests from your homepage. - Can I see a rating a Journalist gave me?
No, ratings are kept private and only the journalist can see how they've rated an expert and ratings for individual pitches. - How do I improve my pitch rating?
Sending a pitch that pertains to the journalist's request is key and the biggest factor in your pitch rating. The journalists set their own "tags" in their requests. If your pitch includes those keywords, it will boost the rating of the pitch. If you get chosen by a journalist, you can ask them to rate you on PitchRate.com, this will boost your future pitch ratings. - I registered as an expert last month and now I want to switch and become a publicist subscriber. How do I do this? Easy! Log in, go to "Account & Profile" page and hit the button that says "Upgrade to a Publicist Account for Free!"
- Can I see a sample of a 'great pitch'? What makes a pitch great depends on what the journalist is looking for. Pitches should generally be to the point and speak directly to the journalists request. For some great tips, visit the 'What's Up' page and listen to Michelle Tennant Nicholson's teleseminars on this very topic! Your profile and press kit are sent with every pitch you make so you don't need to include this information in the body of your pitch.
- Can I view the pitches I've sent out to journalists? You can view the recent history of all pitches you've submitted by clicking on the 'View my pitches' link on your home page.