Thank You, Chuck Sambuchino!

Perfecting the In-Person Pitch

Chuck Sambuchino was an awesome presenter-funny, down to earth, and knowledgeable. I rewrote my pitch three times during this workshop.  [I purposefully took this mere hours before I pitched to Sorche Fairbank.  It must have helped.  Despite the fact that I’m on my second/third draft, she still wants to see the first 30-35 pages once I’m done.  I was thrilled, to say the least.]

Step One:  Introduce yourself 

Step Two:  Logline-One sentence about your work.  Written on the fly, I got—Adult contemporary fiction about a woman’s struggle to get her husband back from the grip of PTSD post Iraq war.  It needed rewording, but the main idea is there.  

Step Three:  The Pitch—3-10 sentences to introduce the main character and hook/conflict.  Don’t give away the ending.  

Step Four:  Any interesting points or information about yourself that are applicable to the story.  

For Non-Fiction pitches, start with a Bio-what makes you an expert?  Then tell what your Platform is-the ability to sell, specific audience, do you have podcasts/radio/blogs/articles?

-Avoid generalities (chaos ensues, her world was turned upside down, etc.), be specific, but there’s no need to tell every single detail of your story.

-Mentioning Themes- tells you nothing about the actual story

-The Pitch is not a synopsis

-Don’t pass on business cards or pages unless they ask for them.  They don’t have time for them at conferences and will likely get lost in the piles of stuff.

-Don’t try to pitch short stories, magazine articles, or poetry.

-Be careful comparing your work to other authors.  It comes across as cocky.  You might say your manuscript would appeal to fans of So-and-so because of such-and-such.

-RELAX.  Be confident but not cocky.

-Promise Of Premise:  Deliver what you pitched about.

-He mentioned the book SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder

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