[MarkMc]

Although the author isn't struggling to make ends meet and land a paying writing gig, his advice is directly applicable to someone who is:

1. Check out Open Notebook - it really helped me see what my pitches were missing

2. A good pitch must have unique angle, be good storytelling in it's own right, answer 'so what' has lead to 'a ha...that explains why...'

3. You need to have lots of stories to pitch, be persistent and have a daily routine. Keeping track of each pitch in a spreadsheet is great for motivation.

To me it seems these are specific, not-obvious pieces of advice grounded in personal experience. Not at all fluff piece.