The right attitude for pitches

A good friend of mine is terribly slow at replying to his emails. He explained to me, once, how he agonized over the best way to respond to emails. In the end, his neuroticism creates beautiful, wonderful emails that I enjoy and crack up over every time I receive one. The downside, however, is that they are few and far between.

As I seem to discover time and time again. It's exactly the opposite of this approach to emails that tends to play well to editors.

My friend's patient crafting leads to beautiful emails, but it takes time--both to craft and to read. And these are two drawbacks that make it the wrong approach to take with pitching.

Pitching, it seems, should be done in a casual, brief manner. It shouldn't be sloppy, but pitches are more about high numbers and being brief than about being comprehensive or well-crafted.

Also important for the right freelancing attitude seems to be a sort of nonchalance that is the exact counterbalance to my friend's neuroticism. Editors often don't reply; don't worry about it, just send out another email. The right attitude involves not taking things personally.