How to Pitch OT
How to Pitch: OT
This business and lifestyle sports magazine, which just celebrated its sixth anniversary, has an elite readership of pro athletes and sports industry insiders and has a trim, streamlined staff--which means lots of great freelance opportunities.
Circulation: 40,000+
Frequency: Monthly 2010
Special issues: Women in sports and leading athlete-charities (spring), top 10 athletes in business and philanthropy (summer), holiday hot list (fall), Super Bowl and NBA All-stars (winter)
Website: www.ot-network.com
Background: OT Magazine (it stands for OverTime) is the brainchild of Ryan McNeil, a former All-Pro defensive back, who conceived it as a niche sports magazine with a business slant. It's designed specifically for pro athletes and the sports-industry types who surround them. McNeil, who also founded the OT Business Exchange (formerly Professional Business and Financial Network), an organization that helps train, guide, and educate pro athletes to succeed in the business world, started OT to provide exactly the kind of business information and resources that he could not find during his 11 years in the NFL.
The magazine launched in the summer of 2004, but you won't be able to find it at your nearest newsstand. It's distributed exclusively to active and retired professional athletes, sports-industry executives, financial planners, agents, marketing execs, and others connected with the sports, fitness, and wellness industries. Earlier this year, OT opened up its subscriptions to the public for $39.95/yr for its online presence www.ot-network.com.
Under McNeil's guiding vision, each issue is pulled together by OT editors, ex-Inc. editor George Gendron, who's serving as a senior advisor to the magazine, and a bevy of current and former pro athletes like Troy Vincent and Junior Bridgeman, who sit on OT's editorial advisory board, and sports industry insiders such as Mark Verstegen, founder and president of Athletes' Performance.
The magazine's content, says McNeil, is "business-oriented and educational, but with a lifestyle twist." On the page, this translates to a wide range of stories: everything from entrepreneur profiles and investment advice to fashion spreads and travel stories. Most pieces run at a mid-sized length, typically 400-1000 words; OT publishes neither tiny blurbs nor voluminous treatises. The magazine's format, he adds, is highly unorthodox. Unlike most magazines, which are broadly delineated into front-of-book, feature well, and back-of-book sections, OT is a magazine in which form mirrors function. Accordingly, OT has five, not three distinct sections: 1st Quarter, 2nd Quarter, Halftime, 3rd Quarter and 4th Quarter.
What to pitch: The quarterly division of the magazine offers many opportunities for freelance pitches, though opportunities do vary by section. 1st Quarter leads off with service-oriented copy designed to showcase retired athletes who have gone on to develop successful business careers. McNeil reports that he is looking for profiles of athletes with name recognition, some without and notes that these articles should focus on the athletes as businesspeople. "Profiles should reveal what the athletes learned on the field that has helped them as businesspeople," he says. 1st Quarter is also home to an opinion piece written either by an athlete himself or by a seasoned sportswriter. McNeil says that other 1st Quarter sections--which include stories on finance, technology and careers--are also pitchable, but stresses that every story, no matter what the subject, should relate to the world of professional sports. "Every story that we publish," he says, "should help improve or change athletes' lives. If the story can't pull that off, it's not an OT story."
2nd Quarter offers a lighter, more lifestyle-focused take, giving past and present athletes ideas on how to spend their hard-earned dollars. McNeil says that most profiles of cars, jets, yachts are being handled in-house for now. However, freelancers are welcome to pitch both real estate, travel destinations, and dining pieces that are relevant to athletes. A real-estate story, for example, should focus on high-end investments, discuss why that community might be a good home for an athlete, and provide service information like contact info for top brokers. The dining section, called "Home Plate," features a number of short reviews from different cities, which makes sense for athletes who travel a lot and want to know the top spots where they can go to celebrate a big win, have a quiet romantic dinner away from the paparazzi, or take the family for an informal treat.
Halftime contains the magazine's style and fashion sections. When pitching to this section, be sure to have access to high res images. Halftime is also home a new department, conceived by McNeil, called "Playbook." Debuting last year, Playbook shows athletes the X's and O's on everything from "How to be a great teammate" to "how to transition from job to job" in an uncertain sports world.
Halftime is also home to book reviews, which can be either upcoming or current releases, but should definitely appeal to athletes. This is more of an area for authors or publicists to consider pitching since it is not a paid section. Keep in mind that the male-to-female pro-athlete demographic skews 85 percent toward the men. Book reviews should be 2-3 paragraphs in length and sent directly to bookreviews@ot-network.com with a jpg of the book jacket.
Freelancers will find good opportunities to contribute more meaty business stories in the 3rd Quarter. McNeil describes the 3rd Quarter as "more newsy and involving a bit more reporting" and says he's looking for good ideas from writers who ideally have both sports and business 6knowledge. 3rd Quarter has freelancer-friendly sections like "Aces" (profiles of active athletes who are simultaneously working as entrepreneurs) and "Yesterday/Tomorrow," a section that will alternate by issue and cover both great retired athletes who have made it big in business or current superstars with exciting plans for future business success. McNeil also welcomes pitches for "Family Matters," a section that discusses family issues and the way those issues affect athletes on and off the field.
The last segment of the magazine, 4th Quarter, aims to help athletes stay in shape mentally, physically, and socially. First-time contributors with ideas for quick health and fitness tips might find that section a good place to start, because it's one of the few places in the magazine that offers nugget-sized information tidbits. For example, the "Two-Minute Warning" section covers controversial topics such as negative publicity or the player/agent relationship. McNeil prefers to work with experts for that section, but would consider writers who show up with a great idea. "Giving Back" and "Community Corner" columns help athletes get involved in charity and give back to society in the most impactful way.
Finally, celebrity Q&As are always welcome-but with a twist. The celeb has to be a sports fan, or has to be involved in sports on some level. Think longtime New York Knicks fan Spike Lee, but not so much Ellen DeGeneres-who McNeil loves but "she's not so much into sports."
What not to pitch: Though the magazine covers lots of, um, bases, don't just pitch an investment story or a real estate story; all pitches must be tied into the needs of the professional athlete community.
Recent freelance stories pitched and published: The publication is approximately 85% freelance driven, so over the course of the last few years OT has reviewed and accepted multiple freelance pitches. Recent inclusions in the book were:
* Retire with a Plan: Don't just retire; execute an exit strategy.
* Annual Spa Roundup: Check out these nine world-class spas.
* Lou Carnesecca: Few coaches can rival the record of Coach Lou, who at 81 is still not far removed from the game he loves.
* Racing Against Despair: In retirement, track-and-field king Edwin Moses runs a tireless race to combat social ills.
Etiquette: All pitches should be e-mailed directly to McNeil. Pitches that are short and sweet (2 paragraphs in length). Those with a solid story idea that fits OT's demo get responded to immediately. Please don't write just to ask what the magazine is about. As OT is not available on the newsstand, all browsing must be done via Digital OT at www.ot-network.com. There, writers can find enough content to get a feel for the magazine. (In the meantime, OT's media kit is available online here.)
In your pitch, note which section you think your idea would fit into and why, and give a quick description as to why you think you're the best writer for this piece. Don't attach clips or a resume; McNeil will ask for those if he's interested. McNeil says he tries to respond to all pitches within a week, but when he's traveling or trying to close an issue, emails sometimes pile up. It's best not to phone, but if you don't hear back within two weeks, it's fine to send a follow-up email reminder.
Lead time: Three to four weeks.
Pay rate: Varies. $50-$250 based on length and complexity of stories ranging from 400-1000 words.
Payment schedule: Within 14-21 days of publication
Kill fee: 25 percent
Rights purchased: Exclusive first serial and electronic rights. Writers may resell the article after a period of one year from publication.
Contact info:
OverTime (OT) Magazine
201 17th St.
Suite 300
Atlanta, GA 30363
For Editor-in-Chief, Ryan D. McNeil: rdmcneil@ot-network.com
