I teach pitching to writers because writers are resistant to the aspects required to create an awesome pitch.
An awesome pitch requires:
Focus. You have to be able to push all the other distractions out of your mind’s way, if you are going to be able to clear the way for a strong pitch.
Clarity. You have to know what you are saying to make a good pitch. How are you saying this and not that and how does what you are saying make your pitch a better fit than it might be otherwise?
Understanding. You have to care, first of all. You have to forget yourself long enough to sincerely want to be helpful to an editor’s needs. A pitch is not about you.
Confidence. You have to believe that you can do the footwork and deliver a finished piece of excellent work that is worth publishing.
Willingness. You have to be willing to fail. You have to accept “no” or silence as one step closer to a possible “yes.”
Flexibility. You have to have such a focused, clear, confident understanding of your topic that you can reconfigure it if necessary. You have to be informed yet flexible in your approach. This is hard for some writers who want to stay on the surface of a topic until an editor gives them an assignment. But it doesn’t work that way. You don’t the assignment until you have inspired the confidence that you can carry it out.
Perseverance. Initially learning to pitch is awkward and uncomfortable. But when a writer shifts from partially succeeding to nailing it, that’s a major shift in a writer’s career. It means mastery of a skill that comes in handy in so many aspects of a writing career.
There is an art to pitching. And once you’ve got the hang of it, it belongs to you.
And yes, of all the classes I teach, pitching is probably the most challenging…but it’s also the most rewarding for those who are ready for it.
Yup, the climb is steep. But the victory sure is sweet.
Pitching Practice begins Wednesday. Are you up for it?
~ photo by searching4jphotography