Just to be contentious: I actually wouldn't respond that well to this type of email. Would I respond with advice and/or 15 minutes of my time? Yes. But I do that for most people, including LinkedIn spam, as long as people are genuinely in need and asking for help for themselves and not a large business. It's sort of my schtick to help people. (I don't really check my messages anymore; I get way too many. But if I see them, I help. I'm not biased to well-written pitches.)

But I personally hate it when people are clearly pandering to my ego, I hate it when people feel a need to age-drop in a pitch, and I certainly don't appreciate the implication that my writing is somehow better than everyone else's, such as "there's no writing portfolio I'd rather be on."

I tell people frequently: if you want something, just ask. That to me is the best part of this pitch. He doesn't ask for advice and then run rings before asking for the interview and the piece about him: he comes right out with it in the email. Now, THAT is stellar and something I don't see often enough.

(As an aside, I wonder how much of this is a gender gap caused by the fact many women are taught not to brag and are uncomfortable with attention/lavish praise. Most of my female friends would agree with me on this and I think many of my male friends wouldn't.)