How to Pitch Extra Crispy
If there’s any group of people who believe the ideas around breakfast are boundless, we're obviously the ones. The editors of Extra Crispy want to hear your hot takes on hot cakes… but we just have a few requests before you send along pitches for stories and art. Here’s how to pitch Extra Crispy:
What we’re looking for
Opinion pieces, reported stories, personal essays, works of humor, illustrated narratives, breakfast-y profiles of people, original recipes, how-tos and unusual points of view on the beloved morning meal are all welcome. We don’t do restaurant reviews.
Please read Extra Crispy before you submit a pitch
Sure! you say, but, seriously, if you haven’t read the site, we’re going to be able to tell. Your pitch will stick out like a sore thumb, and we likely won’t accept it.
Check that we haven’t run your story before
Or something eerily close. The best way to do that is to search the site, of course, but it wouldn't hurt you to Google a few variations of “extracrispy.com [piece subject]” to be super-certain, too.
Send a fully formed idea with a point of view
Pitches along the lines of “I write about [this thing]—let me know if you need me for a story!” or “How about a story about brunch drinks?” aren’t helpful to our editors. We get lots of pitches, so the best way for us to connect is over a well-developed idea that provides service, has a narrative, etc. (you know, the same way we hope you’d pitch any other outlet). If we don’t already know you, reconsider pitching a recurring column until we do and it’s going well for all of us.
Be specific
Be very specific. In your pitch, don’t make generalizations for entire regions, ethnicities, or races. We are very interested in your personal experience and how it shapes your understanding.
And while you’re at it, don’t pitch a story about your grandmother’s biscuits or “Southern food culture”
We are at capacity on the former and for the latter, the South is a very big place that you cannot generalize on behalf of, the end. (And for that matter, so is the Pacific Northwest, Europe, Asia, the West, and so on and so forth. Also, see above if you’re inclined to pitch this.)
Tell us who you are
Have you written for other outlets? Do you have a culinary or literary background? Do you represent the cultural or racial heritage you’d like to write about in your pitch? Let us know why you’re uniquely qualified to write your story. And link us to clips if you have ‘em.
Recipe pitches need cred
Who are you and why should we trust your food? Have you developed original recipes for publications before, or are you a working chef or cookbook writer? We need to be sure that recipes have been tested and re-tested (and we’ll often test them again in-house) because our credibility is on the line here. “Adapted from” needs to be with permission (that you have in writing and can provide us!), or far enough away from the original source that it is definitively yours or your subject’s.
Direct your pitch to the right place
If you’re pitching to Food and Drink, pitch the Food and Drinks staff. If you’re pitching to Culture, pitch the Culture staff. Easy! If you’re not sure where it would live, that's fine, too: Just pitch the general submissions@extracrispy.com inbox, which we swear we check daily.
Don’t follow up immediately
Extra Crispy gets a lot of pitches—and, truth be told, sometimes they can get lost or buried. It’s totally cool if you follow up after about a week or so, but pretty please don’t follow up after a day and ask if we want your idea. Relatedly, if we don’t take your story, please don’t ask why. (Good rules of thumb for any publication, TBH, but we don't have to tell you that, right?)
That’s about it. The TL;DR (although we hope you R’d) is be specific, pitch to the right editor, and don't be a jerk! We’re looking forward to your smart, fun, weird, and cool pitches for Extra Crispy.
—The Extra Crispy Editorial Staff
