The second #FreelanceUK Twitter chat took place last night, with a particular focus on pitching. We covered everything from how to pitch and who to pitch to, to debating whether pitching is necessary.

In summary, here are a few of the most interesting points:

• Don’t be afraid to pitch over the phone. There was a great debate about the pros and cons of phone pitching vs. email pitching. It really seems to depend on your comfort levels and the industry.
• For a lot of freelancers, a big barrier to pitching is simply confidence – fear of rejection or being laughed at. Samantha Sparrow made a good point here – “they can only say no”!
• It’s fine to reach out to an editorial contact on social media, as long as you follow-up with a well thought out pitch afterwards.
• A debate started over whether pitches should be long and thorough, or short and clear. Personally, I’d suggest keeping it short and clear, as there’s a danger that your pitch might be replicated in-house – and you won’t get commissioned.

I’d have loved to have explored the issue of some publications using taking pitches without commissioning freelancers more, but we ran out of time.

Have a read of some of the tweets from last night below. I’m planning another Twitter chat for early February, so I’d love to hear what you’d like to talk about next.

The #freelanceuk Twitter chat

Storified by Emma Cossey· Wed, Jan 02 2013 01:41:09

@dexdiva #freelanceuk Which could be avoided with a phone call, non? Sorry to be devils advocate I’m interested – My exp has seenLeanne Rice

@kaitewelsh @learice @samrsparrow @freelance_life thank you! Thought was talking to a void then! #freelanceukJo Gifford

@cateca @freelance_life pleasure, Igot commissioned straight away after reading it #freelanceukJo Gifford

@dexdiva @freelance_life thanks. I’ll definitely give it a read #freelanceukcateca

@SamRSparrow @emma_cossey I’ll second that #freelanceukkerry

@emma_cossey everything?! #freelanceukSamantha Sparrow