Originally published at: How to Pitch Apps to TidBITS in the AI Era - TidBITS
Developers and the press have always had a slightly tense relationship. Every developer wants their apps to receive broad coverage across as many media outlets as possible. Publications do want to cover the apps their readers will find the most interesting, but there’s insufficient time, energy, and space to cover everything. (And I won’t even touch on the topic of advertising, once a quid pro quo that was the bread and butter of publishing revenue, theoretically without affecting coverage.)
Long ago, software companies would send press releases—printed on paper!—to announce the release of an app, often accompanied by a boxed copy of the program (and sometimes even a nice chocolate bar as barefaced bribery to encourage reading). With the rise of the Internet, press releases moved to email and proliferated. In an attempt to manage the volume, we requested that all press releases be sent to a centralized address so everyone who wrote for TidBITS didn’t have to receive a separate copy. Eventually, even that was too much, forcing us to declare press release bankruptcy and announce on our Contact page that we would ignore all press releases. It worked, and coupled with the demise of traditional print publications, press release volume dropped precipitously.
So I was quite surprised earlier this year when I started to receive personalized pitches from indie developers, a few at first, and now several per week. Many seem to be building apps with AI assistance, but more to the point, they seem to be getting AI help with promoting the apps as well. They often reference our still-current prohibition on press releases with a nominally personal email, but for someone as steeped in words as I am, it’s obvious that an AI is doing the writing.
AI Is Not the Problem
At first, this reliance on AI rubbed me the wrong way. But then I realized that it wasn’t really any different than a software company outsourcing its media relations to a PR firm. Those communications had a certain form and set of expectations, and while these new AI-generated messages have a different form, the expectations (coverage) are pretty much the same. AI is simply the new PR agency. Which undoubtedly dismays PR professionals, but there’s still room for those doing PR right.
The problem I have with these new pitches isn’t that the developers used AI to generate them; it’s that they often don’t do it very well. AI can help with the mechanics, but it can’t know what makes a pitch compelling to a particular publication. What using AI misses is that the economics of attention haven’t changed. I don’t have any more hours in the day to evaluate apps, and even if I hired more writers to review new apps, TidBITS readers have repeatedly said they don’t want vastly more content from us. And nothing in this scenario generates more revenue for me to use for hiring.
AI may have made software development and outreach accessible to many more people, but as long as humans are both the target audience and part of the equation—and they always will be—relationships, judgment, and taste play an outsized role. Again, there’s nothing new here. In the past, outsourcing to a PR service that spammed hundreds of publications with cookie-cutter press releases wasn’t nearly as effective as working with an experienced PR professional who knew which publications were likely targets and had long-term relationships with their editors.
So here’s how pitching an app to TidBITS should be done, in my not-at-all-humble opinion. Other publications may have different needs, but the advice I lay out here will likely work well for many others.
Decide Whether to Pitch at All
It’s tempting to task an AI with building a press list and drafting messages describing your new app to the entire list. But that’s basically spamming—you’ll get more for your effort if you target your pitches to publications that are good fits. For TidBITS, that means:
- Current apps for Apple platforms: I only cover Apple-focused software. I would be highly dubious about Intel-only Mac apps, and don’t even bother telling me about Windows or Android software.
- General audience tools: I generally don’t cover highly specialized professional tools because too few of our readers would care about them and I lack the expertise to say anything useful.
- No me-too apps: If the term “yet another” could be applied to your app, don’t bother telling me about it. I’m interested in old concepts only if you have a legitimately new take.
If your app clears these hurdles, it’s worth continuing. But before you pitch, do some homework—and actually do it yourself, rather than asking an AI for a summary:
- Read TidBITS first: Make sure you know the kinds of topics TidBITS covers. If the article you’d like to see would feel out of place on TidBITS, I’m probably not going to write it. (Hint: no games unless they’re explicitly designed to appeal to boomers. Which would be a lousy business plan.)
- Get a sense of our readers: Read the TidBITS Talk comments on our articles to understand how our trending-older readers think about software. Will your app appeal to them?
- Participate before you promote: If TidBITS is a particularly good match for your app, consider joining the community before you pitch. Create an account and contribute usefully to relevant TidBITS Talk discussions by helping other people. You’ll get a better understanding of our readers and their concerns, and we’ll all get to know you as a knowledgeable member of the community first.
Write Better Email
I understand that not everyone has an equal facility with English. I suspect that many of the developers I’ve heard from speak English only as a second language, if that, so working with an AI will dramatically improve the quality of the text. (Since my linguistic reach is limited to high school German and college Ancient Greek, I can’t criticize.) Even among native English speakers, developers aren’t often known for their writing skills.
But to the extent possible, you want the writing to reflect what you would have said. Try to express yourself in your own voice, and eliminate the AI verbal tics that are so grating. Those that particularly bug me include:
- Empty intensifiers: I become irrationally angry when I see forms of “honest,” “genuine,” and “real” used as modifiers. They’re completely unnecessary and can be deleted without altering the meaning.
- Stock verbal tics: We’ve all seen these, and if they creep into your email, excise them. A few examples: “That’s a great question,” “It’s important to note that,” “At its core,” “The key is to,” “Here’s the thing,” “What really matters.” Nuke them from orbit.
- Excessive repetition: Since AI models are rewarded for producing “correct” answers, they often restate the same idea several different ways. Make your point once and move on.
- Rhetorical symmetry: Experienced writers often use rhetorical symmetry—constructions like ”not just X, but Y”—to strengthen prose. That works well with targeted usage, but AI models love mechanically balanced phrases and tend to overuse them. Avoid them unless you know what you’re doing.
Don’t ask an AI to manufacture a compliment or reference to a recent article. Specific references help only when they reflect actual familiarity; otherwise, they tend to unravel as soon as we start corresponding.
One final note—the message should look like personal email. In fact, it should be personal email! Avoid elaborate HTML layouts, colored text, banners, and marketing templates that may make it harder for me to parse what you’re saying.
Convince Me That It’s Worth My Time
First off, do me a favor and use a good subject line. It’s more effective as structured data so I can parse at a glance. Start with PITCH, give the app name, and then describe its function briefly with no adjectives. For the SetShot app I’m designing, this would be good:
PITCH: SetShot – Mac app for snapshotting and comparing macOS settings
When it comes to the content of your pitch, lead with a description of the app and a clear explanation of the problem it solves. For me to be interested in an app, I have to understand the problem—and preferably identify with it.
Most of the low-hanging fruit on the software problem tree was picked long ago, of course, and if I’m familiar with your app’s space, I’ll immediately ask, “But what about these other apps that seem to do the same thing?” Be sure to explain how your app differs from or is better than the obvious competition. Although a lower price is a valid reason, it’s seldom sufficiently interesting on its own to make me consider coverage. If you don’t include competitive details about a space with which I’m unfamiliar, I’ll have to research it, and I’ll be cranky if I immediately discover strong competition that you didn’t mention.
I’m also curious about the story behind the app. What caused you to experience the problem you’re solving, and how difficult was it to solve? In part, I’m interested in the backstory because I think the most interesting apps are those that scratch a developer’s itch first, and only subsequently focus on how they can help people with slightly different perspectives. And yes, I am curious about the extent to which you outsourced the actual coding to an AI. I’m not bothered by that fact as long as it doesn’t seem like you’re just cloning an existing app. The important part lies in identifying an interesting problem and designing an effective workflow to solve it.
If you’re employing a subscription business model, explain why that’s necessary. All apps that aim for long lifespans need regular maintenance, so that’s an acceptable answer, but it won’t be a popular one with readers.
Consider the quid pro quo. What can you do for me that will make me more interested in writing about your app? Being invited to a private beta is flattering, but unless it’s an app I would be dying to use, I probably don’t have time to install and test it. Early access to a release candidate is easier, and you may get feedback to improve the app before a public release. Some level of exclusivity can also be useful to offer, since I dislike feeling time pressure to write something thoughtful before other Apple-focused websites bang something out.
Make It Easy to Evaluate
An advantage of the traditional press release was that every decent PR professional knew to include certain information in an easily scannable fashion. Be sure to include:
- App name and version
- Company or developer name
- Supported macOS, iOS, or iPadOS versions
- Price
- Release status and predicted launch date, if it hasn’t shipped
- App website link
- App Store link, if applicable
- Instructions for obtaining the app
- Reviewer license code (don’t make me ask)
- Press kit link, if you have one
It’s worth including a representative screenshot that may grab my attention, but I can click through to your website or press kit to see more, or download the app to see it working live. The only time I’m likely to use your screenshots rather than ones I take myself is if yours include a lot of fake sensitive data (phone numbers, email addresses, etc.) that would be hard for me to replicate.
One unrelated but appreciated product request that makes it easier for me to evaluate apps: include an uninstall capability. It could be an Uninstall menu item in the Help menu, or an Uninstall button in the About dialog. From a purely selfish perspective, I install numerous apps I will seldom or never use again, but the apps and their support files will clutter my drive for years.
After You Hit Send
You’ve crafted what you think is the perfect pitch for an app you’re certain I’m going to find fascinating. What if I don’t reply right away? As much as I try to be good about replying, a message that requires me to figure out what I think can sit in my inbox for a while. Plus, I’m constantly busy, so your message has to arrive when I don’t have more pressing deadlines (Mondays are bad, since I’m finalizing the issue, but you knew that from subscribing to TidBITS, right?).
A follow-up in a week or so is entirely fine, but send it as a reply to the original pitch so they stay together as a single conversation, and keep the follow-up extremely short. It shouldn’t just be a nagging “Did you see my message?” because yes, I did, I just lack either the time or the interest to reply. Instead, make the follow-up carry new information, such as details about an update you’ve released or a legitimate question about the app, its competitive space, or another related topic. However, telling me that other websites have written reviews will just irritate me and reduce my incentive to cover your app, so don’t do that.
Silence usually means I’m either too busy to reply or still thinking about how to reply. If your app is a bad match, that’s an easy reply, and I’ll usually write back fairly quickly. If I’ve misunderstood something major about your app, let me know, but generally speaking, I don’t have the brain space to continue discussions about apps I’ll never use or cover.
When I do reply, it will probably be with questions or comments. Needless to say, reasonably quick, complete answers will help you here. If you need to use an AI to help you write, refer back to Write Better Email. I want to have a focused conversation with a real person who knows more about the app than I do, not a sycophantic exchange with an AI.
If my feedback identifies a gap or bug and you can address it before I start writing, say so and send an updated build. One advantage of AI-assisted development is that substantive changes can sometimes be made unusually quickly—but you also need to stay true to your vision for the app, even if that means disagreeing with me (and explaining why).
Most publications do not offer advance copies of articles, but I like to run what I write by developers for a fact check to make sure everything I’m saying is correct. It’s an opportunity to respond to any criticisms, although I’m very unlikely to change much unless I have missed or misconstrued some feature. And if something I identify as missing is on your roadmap, that’s worth telling me, since I may work that fact into the article as well.
In case it’s not obvious, email is the only communication channel I use. Although I exempt Mastodon from this opprobrium, I consider social media in general to be societally corrosive and best avoided like the plague it is. Slack and Discord are too noisy and ephemeral, and text messaging requires too much real-time interaction. Other publications undoubtedly have different preferences.
After Publication
After the article appears, it’s in your interest to promote it on your site, in social media, and so on, and that does provide a bit of that quid pro quo as well, even if very few people who read the article will become regular readers.
It’s also worthwhile to engage with TidBITS Talk discussions about the article. You may gain valuable user perspectives beyond what I put in the article, and you’ll enhance your online reputation by responding to the questions and comments. Obviously, how you respond to different comments is up to you, but even more so than in private email before the article comes out, you’ll want to make sure that you’re engaging in a positive manner.
As I hope has come through so far, a key part of releasing an app to the world is building relationships with the people who interact with it: reviewers, users, and potential users. AI may be able to assist with the mechanics, but it can’t build those connections for you. They come from engaging with people in a way that’s constructive for everyone.