As a freelance news writer, I've had meh luck with cold outreach (about 1 in 10 responds positively). Finding the right targets is definitely a challenge. I'd like to pitch to small to mid-sized news sites that publish daily and might need freelance help. Google News shows me some sites, but it's sporadic. Does anyone know of any tools or methods to identify smaller news operations?

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This shouldn't be hard to find, especially for a journalist. If you've written about particular subjects and you have expertise in some areas, just search and see what other sites are covering that. There are typically a few leading sites covering a subject, and then a lot of clickbait content farms that repurpose the leading publications. There's no point in approaching the content farms, they never paid anything worthwhile and now they're just putting out AI slop. Just determine the leading sites covering the subjects you can write about and pitch them.

Some freelancers I work with use Muck Rack’s free search to see who’s writing in certain beats. That can lead you to smaller operations you’d never have found otherwise.

I use SimilarWeb when I want to find smaller news sites like the ones you described – plug in one you already know, and you get a bunch of related ones. I also scan Twitter/X for editors posting “accepting pitches.” Works well for niche topics. I am curious – what has been your most successful cold pitch so far?

I have had the same struggle and ended up using a mix of Muck Rack, LinkedIn, and even Twitter to find smaller editors who are active. I also check local press association websites.. they often have member lists with direct contacts.

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