U.S. News & World Report
1050 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20007
http://www.usnews.com
As special projects editor at U.S. News & World Report, Jodi Schneider has a lot on her plate. She manages all the guides produced by the magazine (except the education
guides), including a quarterly personal finance guide, a quarterly investing guide, a quarterly health guide, a twice-yearly fitness guide, retirement guides, career guides,
mutual fund guides and technology guides.
These special projects, with the same highly educated, highly paid readership as the magazine (nearly 71 percent have had some college education, 40 percent have college or
post-grad degrees, and the median household income is $60,875) reach an affluent, intelligent audience that numbers more than 11 million.
Schneider is more than happy to receive PR pitches, but be careful to avoid a few common traps.
Content/Contacts
The U.S. News & World Report guides cover a wide variety of subject matter. Schneider finds herself and her editorial team reporting on topics as varied as top hospitals
and credit scoring. Some guides lend themselves better to product pitches, while others call for expert sources: The technology guide is a great fit for the latest gadgets, while
personal finance guides are an excellent placement for an expert on investing or saving.
Topics are fairly straightforward, Schneider says: "Obviously, personal finance is going to be about saving, investing and managing money."
Schneider serves as gatekeeper for all guide editors. Email [email protected]. Education guides (including the college guide) are
handled by Anne McGrath, [email protected].
Pitch Tips
Whatever you do, don't call her. "I'm happy to be pitched, but it has to be on email. I don't return phone calls. If someone calls me and happens to get me, I'll tell them,
'I'm happy to look at your pitch on email.' I'll respond to emails by passing it along to one of our folks or letting you know it's not something we can use."
Get creative with your pitches, too. For personal finance guides, "obviously we've already thought of a story on saving for college." Instead, pitch Schneider with an expert on
529 funds, or the hidden traps people don't recognize in certain investment funds.
Comments
"We start preparing these guides months or certainly weeks in advance," Schneider advises. So, check out the editorial calendar and pitch ahead of time. "With product stuff
like for the tech guide, you should contact us a couple of months in advance," she says.
Also, peruse a few past guides before making the pitch. Schneider has a particular distaste for the classic PR gaffe: pitching before you're familiar with her product. "It
would be nice if someone would read the magazine. It bothers me when someone is clearly pitching 20 different magazines. When I get an email saying, 'Hey, I saw that last year in
this guide you did such and such, here's a contact who may be useful,' that's helpful."
In The Pipeline
Contact Schneider (via email!) for a complete editorial calendar. Coming up are a personal finance guide on credit, a best hospitals guide (including hospital rankings and
timely articles like one on minimally invasive surgeries), an investment guide geared at the developments of the summer market, a fall savings guide that will focus on saving for
colleges, and a technology guide in the fall that will include plenty of product information. Also coming up is "road warrior fitness" - a fitness guide for frequent travelers.
"We'll probably do some product stuff in that one, too," Schneider says.