Starter’s Guide For Writing: How to Write a Pitch

An article written by: Lee Sonogan

Image result for pitching your ideas

“Just spend a bit of time bringing the same level of creativity to selling the work as you brought to creating the work.”  – Peter Coughter, The Art of the Pitch: Persuasion and Presentation Skills that Win Business

The following article is about pitching your writing ideas to publishers and editors. You may be trying to freelance or make a book and you to get published somewhere. When you know how to market your content it is similar to selling a product. With your content being your product, the pitch can be done in many ways while there is many people out there ready to review it. Keep in mind failure is important in pitching and a part of the process. The more you send out pitches the better chance someone will accept your content under the conditions you initially set out to do.

What needs to be in your pitch? First of you need a catchy tittle. It needs to be clear and concise. Use catchy words such as ‘tips’, ‘how to’, ‘great/best’ or any other relevant words. Having the word of a number is always good in a tittle. Overall the tittle needs to motivate the reader/s. Then with the first paragraph you introduce your story idea and define your angle. Write your views on the certain subjects/topics from your prospective and argue why your content is important and interesting.

Where are you pitching to? and to who? Pitch to a human being, most likely an editor. If you send your content to a submissions email there is a chance it could be over looked. Make sure that the editor is still at the publication you are sending to. For other content make sure your pitch is perfect for their outlet. otherwise you might get a reply saying that you content does not fit with their content. So right person and right outlet for your content. Research and keep your summaries short and to the point of focus which is your content’s angle .

Extra tips for pitching ideas:
  • Pitch a story idea, not a topic.
  • Spell and grammar checks
  • Use templates online and edit them to your liking
  • Read your pitch out loud or feedback from a friend
  • Make sure your idea does not already exist in a place you intend to publish your content.
  • Add extra samples of published work/blog posts of your work
  • Add phone number, email address and estimate a deadline
  • Before you send take a quick break and read it again
  • Probably more relevent tips for pitching ideas…

Pitching ideas to people is not always a fun option. Maybe self-publishing your content is the way to go. Otherwise keeping pitching new ideas. You will better next time in your next pitch. Do not send a full draft until something is interested in your pitch full of relevant samples of your content. A letter or an email, either way your pitch quality and originality will make you stand out from the rest. Be your self and communicate politely like you would in a job interview. You are your own public release person.

Here is some links to my book for sale:

https://ungroovygords.com/

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