How to pitch your work to the BBC, by Deborah Jenkins

Click below (4th para) to hear the piece

I had a surreal experience the other day. I was lounging around on Seaford Beach with my daughter, who was down for the weekend, when the phone rang. 

"Hello," said Someone, "This is Anthony from the BBC." I nearly dropped my ice cream. Then I remembered. I had pitched a short piece to the BBC the previous week and forgotten about it. 

"We really like it," said Anthony, "It's funny. We're playing it tonight just after half past nine. We thought you'd like to know." I did. Especially as it was my third attempt at writing something for them and I'd heard nothing after the first two.

It was great fun sitting around the radio as a family listening to me, especially as the others hadn't read my piece and laughed in all the right places. If you're interested and haven't heard it, you can access it 3 hours 39 minutes in here . More importantly, if you're interested in uploading your own content to the BBC it's not hard, even for a daughter of dinosaurs, like me. This is for uploading voice recordings of your work. They accept videos too but I have no idea how to do that. You'll have to google. 

For voice recordings, here's what to do: -

1. Write something. 

I've tried a few things but the successful one was short (around two minutes), reflective, topical and vaguely amusing. It was about adventures with hand gel, the way I get it everywhere. Looking back, I think the previous ones were too long. Others have uploaded different things though - short stories, chatty reflections, points of view. You can see the kinds of things they'll accept here .

2. Record yourself reading it.

The easiest way to do this is on your phone and upload to the BBC from there. You need to make sure you record it in .WAV or MP3 or Windows media audio, in order to upload it. Most phones will do this anyway. You will probably have a voice recorder on your phone already but just check it records in one of the above formats. I didn't, so I wasted hours trying to upload a format the BBC wouldn't accept (I want to save you from this, Friend). Then I was advised to use this one: 

Put 'Voice recorder' into Google Playstore and download to your phone

I have two or three voice recorder apps on my phone but I remember this is the one to use for the BBC because it's a big, red microphone. Say this out loud. Big, red microphone! Good. You're all set.

When you click open the app you get this screen: -

Now you are far better than I at this sort of thing, so you'll realise immediately that you press the round, red thing to record. It will turn into a square. You press the square when you want to stop recording. Have a practice.

After that, a little box will come up where you can give it a name and save it. Like this: -

Once you've done this, you go to the little red head phones and 'play button' on the bottom left of the screen to see all your stuff to and play it back.

3. Save it so you know where to find it

This, the most basic of things, took me ages, the first time round. Here's what to do: - When you click on the little headphones to see your recordings, find the one you want to save and open it. The screen will look a bit like this: -

Now, see the little Share icon on the left here (the three dots/two lines thing). If you click it, all the different icons for sharing it somewhere will come up and you can save it. 

I save mine to the cloud, our family Onedrive where I have a Deb/Writing/BBC Upload file.

Just make sure you know what you've called it and where you've saved it as you'll need this next.

4. Upload it to your local BBC radio station and wait for their call. Or, better still, forget all about it and they will ring and surprise you.

Finally, type in BBC Upload and then the name of your local BBC radio station into Google. I put in BBC Upload, Sussex and Surrey.

Click on the link. The screen will indicate for you to find and upload your material from your files, give it a name and describe it briefly. You will then be asked to fill in some personal details including your phone number. and email.

5. After you've listened to yourself, find the programme later on BBC Sounds and post on social media, tagging BBC Upload as they will also help you share it. 

We have friends all over the country and world and it tickled me pink that I had people listening in Scotland, Ireland, Florida, Australia and Canada.

Finally...

Don't be discouraged if they don't get in touch the first time. I know someone who tried eight times before getting the format right and being accepted. You can look at the kinds of things people have already done here . 

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

It might take a few attempts but wouldn't it be wonderful if we get lots of ACW writers and readers sharing their content on local BBC radio stations all over the country? 

Go, You! Let's do it! 

Click here to see the novella on amazon

Deborah Jenkins is a primary school teacher and freelance writer who has written articles, text books, devotional notes and short stories. She writes regularly for the tes. She has also completed a novella, The Evenness of Things, available as an Amazon e-book and has just finished a full length novel. Deborah loves hats, trees and small children. After years overseas with her family, who are now grown up, she lives in Sussex with her husband, a Baptist minister, and a cat called Oliver