the monthly TLDR (annual TLDR at the end):

metric	goal	result	percent to goal
pitches	56	76	136%
pieces filed	11	9	82%
conversion rate	NA	12%	NA
estimated payment	$1000	$800	80%

i pitched my little heart out in february didn’t i?

reminder: i’m reporting on how many pieces i filed, not how many ran (since that can vary wildly), and my estimated payment is what i’ll eventually make after all the pieces run / i invoice / the money hits my bank account. full definitions can be found in my january recap.

—

whew. i rode the rollercoaster of freelance writing in february. i came off the high of january and having the most pieces i’ve ever filed to crickets in february. at one point i checked to see if my email was still working because the responses just.were.not.coming.

it was a tough month with lots of emotions (sorry husband for bearing the brunt of this!) but from reading other freelance recaps and bits of advice it seems like the rollercoaster is just part of it. here’s how i ended up for the month.

how many pieces did i write in february?

i filed 9 pieces in february, which means i fell short of my goal to file 11 pieces. and let me tell you, i scraped to get to 9 — because of the extra time on my hands i was able to file two pieces early that were due early march at the end of the month, which boosted my percent to goal.

i ended at 82% to my goal, which is fine. i have to remind myself that freelance writing is a lot like a sales pipeline in that sometimes results can be lumpy. some months in sales it seems like all you work is going nowhere and then all of a sudden things happen – i’m hoping with the emphasis on the top of my pipeline (ie pitching) that i’ll see more pieces in march.

how much did i pitch in february?

like i said at the beginning, i pitched my little heart out in february. the middle two weeks of february i had zero pieces due, which really made me turn on the gas with pitches.

i’ve followed the same philosophy my entire sales career that when deals are light, you gotta put more into the top of the funnel which for freelancing is pitches. i’m not sure it entirely works the same way with freelancing but i feel like as long as the ideas are decent it can’t hurt?

i tracked my pitches the same way- just by counting the number of times PITCH showed up in my sent mail + looking for submission confirmations so this is my best approximation. one day i’ll get my act together and track things for real.

how much did i make in february?

i didn’t hit my goal of making $1000 – for the 9 pieces i published, i should make $800. that works out to $89 per piece. that’s lower than last month but i know different outlets pay different amounts.

i still feel really in the dark about whether this is low, average or high. on the off chance that you’re reading this and have some perspective, i’d love to hear it

roses and thorns from february

this month i continued to focus on pitching new outlets. i did hear back from a few new outlets which i’m counting as a win, but they were all variations on “no.” definitely a frustrating thorn, especially since there is typically no feedback on why it’s a no. for the editors who did give me feedback this month on the no’s, THANK YOU. it is so so so appreciated.

the no’s just make me even more determined to get a yes from that outlet, though, so they are good motivation at this point. i saw a post from an editor on linkedin saying it took her four years to land a piece at her dream outlet – while i hope it doesn’t take me that long it is good perspective that you just have to keep going.

another thorn- i thought i was this close to landing a pitch at a new national publication but after lots of back and forth with the editor it turned into a no. i also am still hanging out in limbo in a “maybe” for another big-to-me pitch as it hinges on whether i get the final approval on an interview that would make or break the piece. i’m hoping that march brings news of some sort.

but a rose is that all of the pitching seemed to start to pay off at the end of the month. i’ve got 15 pieces theoretically due in march and another four set up for april so i’m back on the top of the roller coaster for now.

february was a good lesson in patience and a reminder that there will be highs and lows in this world. i’m manifesting more responses from editors this month (even if it’s a no), and manifesting that i’ll get a yes (hoping for one, not gonna get greedy at this point) from a new outlet.

—

YTD stats, since there’s now more than one month of data. the “goals” here will reflect the sum of the individual monthly goals for however many months we are into the year.

like i remind my sales team, sometimes things are lumpy but if it’s an annual goal you’re after, that’s how you should be measuring success. so despite not hitting my goals in february, overachieving in january kept me on pace for my annual goal.

thanks for indulging my nerdiness over this!

metric	goal	result YTD	percent to goal
pitches	118	142	120%
pieces filed	22	23	104%
conversion rate	NA	16%	NA
estimated payment	$2000	$2700	135%