Submission Success Story (Pitch Perfect Edition)— “What the Heck is Wendish Coffee Cake” for Texas HighwaysThis one is a piece I had to pitch in order to get it published. This means, before I wrote the essay, I had the idea for it and thought it would look good in Texas Highways. So I emailed the editor, “pitched” them the idea, and they said yes. No long, endless wait for a submission notification required. Plus, I got paid. Total time spent on waiting for response on pitch: 2 days
Total rejections received before an acceptance: 0; I only pitched it to TX Highways
Relationship with editor: Knew the editor, had worked with him on a piece earlier that year. The Pitch: “Hey ___, Thanks again for helping me reach my dream for gracing the pages of Texas Highways! Haha, it made my family really proud. :) I’ve got another pitch for you to consider, either for online or print.
A few weeks ago, I visited my in-laws in Maryland to celebrate my birthday. My mother-in-law is a wonderful baker and wanted to make me the perfect cake. She asked my mother what my favorite cake might be and my mom pulled a memory from way back in time—my grandmother’s Wendish Coffee Cake. Of course my mother-in-law had never heard of it before, and the cake proved to be impossible for my mother to describe. When my mother-in-law found a recipe for a Polish coffee cake, she figured that was close enough, whipped it up, and presented it to me at the party.
It was a delicious cake. But a Wendish Coffee Cake, it was not.
I tried explaining to my in-laws exactly what this cake was like—dense and yeasty, yellow as all get out, with some kind of lumpy yet exceedingly delicious topping. Needless to say, I did not make them Wendish Coffee Cake converts. (They were already wary of these Wendish stories ever since I told them about the Wendish Rumplich, a terrifying, gunny sack toting Wendish Santa who spies on children to make sure they behave.) But I did put myself on the path to recreating my grandmother’s Wendish Coffee Cake, which has been a lesson in history, tradition, and reclaimed memories dusted off from the back of my mind.
I’d like to write the following essay, “On the Hunt for the Elusive Texas Wendish Coffee Cake,” about the traditions of the particular cake, the cake bake-offs at the annual Wendish Festival, the memories of watching my grandmother (one of the last descendants in the area who could speak some of the language) roll out this unique dough. If it’s accepted for online, I can keep it around 1,500-2,500 words. If the print magazine is interested in exploring it, I can go a bit longer and include more of the history and rich, local stories surrounding this dessert.
Let me know if this is of interest—I would love to see it in Texas Highways!” Their response:
The editor responded two days later and said he would pass the pitch along to the food/drink editor. That editor responded 15 minutes later and said she was “potentially” interested, and gave me a price and a deadline. We went back and forth on details, what the piece would cover (interviews, history, the recipe, etc), until we reached agreement on length and deadline. She sent the contract later that week and I signed. Pay: $675 for 900 words. Cha-ching!
Read it here.
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