Pitchapalooza Anderson’s: Kid’s Book Pitch About OCD
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Really fun Pitchapalooza on KCUR-FM/KCUR-HD1 | Kansas City Public Radio
Book Doctors Pitchapalooza New Orleans: Stuck: The Life & Near Death of a Doctor-Addict
NaNoWriMo Pitchapalooza: The Book Doctors Declare the Winners!
Consider 25 Sophie’s Choices.
Consider 25 juicy, delicious pitches.
Consider that you only get to choose one.
We did. And after much consideration, we have chosen a winner. It was not an easy choice! There were just so many great pitches. But we kept coming back to one. And that one, as you may have guessed, is Sparrow Migrations by Cari Noga. Cari’s storytelling ability , strong voice, and her idea to revolve her book around an event that captured America, won us over. We really wanna read this book. Congratulations Cari!
As for the fan favorite, the fans have spoken and the winner is…drum roll… Out of the Woods by father-son team, David and Ben Ash. Congratulations guys!
Thank you all so much for participating in what, for us, has been a fabulously fun Pitchapalooza. We hope EVERYONE gets happily published!
Pitchapalooza Comes to Kansas City: Mon, Feb 28, 6:30 PM
The Book Doctors, aka, Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, authors of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, will be making a house call in Kansas City, at the Kansas City Public Library, with Rainy Day Books. They want YOU to pitch your book at their acclaimed event, Pitchapalooza, which was recently featured in The New York Times, and in a mini-documentary for Newsday. Pitchapalooza is like American Idol for books–only without the Simon. Writers get one minute to pitch their book ideas to an all-star panel of publishing experts, including Chris Schilling, responsible for over a dozen New York Times best-sellers as editorial director at Andrews McMeel, and ex-editorial director at HarperCollins and Publisher at G.P.Putnam’s Sons; John Mark Eberhart, former Books Editor, Kansas City Star; and Jeffrey Jennings, entertainment law attorney/bookseller extraordinaire at Rainy Date Books. The winner receives an introduction to an appropriate agent or publisher for his/her book. Plus, anyone who buys a book gets a free consultation worth $100.
Arielle Eckstut has been a literary agent for 18 years. She is also the author of seven books and the co-founder of the iconic brand, LittleMissMatched. David Henry Sterry is the best-selling author of 12 books, on a wide variety of subject including memoir, sports, YA fiction and reference. His last book appeared on the cover of the Sunday New York Times Book Review. Together, they’ve helped dozens and dozens of talented amateur writers become published authors. They’ve appeared everywhere from NPR’s Morning Edition to USA Today, and have taught publishing workshops everywhere from the Miami Book Fair to Stanford University. Find more at www.thebookdoctors.com.
WHAT: Pitchapalooza Comes to Kansas City
WHEN: Monday, February 28, 2001 at 6:30 PM
WHERE: Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, Truman Forum
WITH WHOM: Chris Schilling, editorial director Andrews McMeel Publishing,, John Mark Eberhart, former Books Editor, Kansas City Star; Jeffrey Jennings, entertainment law attorney/bookseller extraordinaire at Rainy Date Books; the Book Doctors, and Kansas City writers rich and poor, of every age, race, creed and color.
Pam Satran to host March Book Club at The Fine Grind
The Fine Grind Book Club
Suburbanistas by Pamela Redmond Satran
Monday, March 7
6:30pm-8pm
$5 (one drink–tea, coffee, cappuccino or latte– and a delicious appetizer spread)
Author Pamela Redmond Satran will lead a lively discussion on her book Suburbanistas. This little gem is the story of a Jersey Girl who becomes a movie star, but ends up moving back to her small suburban town and reconnecting with her oldest friend, a mother of four married to a local cop. It’s a story of how female friendships change, survive, and ultimately sustain us through marriages, divorces, kids, moves, careers, success, and adversity. This book is for sale now at The Fine Grind.
RSVP at The Fine Grind counter with one of our excellent baristas, contact jessica@thefinegrindcoffeebar.com or call 973 837 0199. Please check out The Fine Grind Coffee Bar’s list of fabulous events at www.thefinegrindcoffeebar.com.
Pitchapalooza Picks Youngest Winner Ever
BY Stacey Gill | Friday, Feb 11, 2011 12:00pm
People from all across Baristaville turned out last night for Montclair’s own David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut’s Pitchapalooza. Over 100 writers from Bloomfield to Verona packed the Montclair Public Library for Sterry and Eckstut’s final book idea pitching event, after traveling cross-country from Huntington, Long Island to Chico, California and back on their own book tour.
The Book Doctors, as they are known, just published The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, and along with it they are personally trying to help other writers get their own books published — one Pitchapalooza at a time.
Last night they helped one lucky winner, the youngest in Pitchapalooza history, on her way to publishing her novel. Zoe Schiff (pictured right) at only 15 years old had the best pitch of the night. This incredibly creative Montclair High School student told of her idea of a historical novel with a twist. In her book about the Revolutionary War the Americans do not win. This AP history student goes on to tell the tale through two young sisters caught in the aftermath of the Americans’ defeat.
With ideas ranging from a poetic memoir to a book told in pictures to reveal the autistic mind, Schiff had stiff competition. And she knew it. ”I’m shocked and grateful,” Schiff said after winning the contest.
Although there can only be one winner, for whom the Book Doctors vowed to “do everything in our power” to get published, Sterry and Eckstut’s desires were to help all aspiring authors achieve their dreams.
“Our goal is to get everyone here tonight to publish your book,” Sterry said. And to that end he noted with a smile, “This is the best panel we’ve ever had.”
Although I got the feeling he says to all the authors, the panel was impressive. It included Montclair’s Dominic Anfuso, VP & Editor-in-Chief of the Free Press/Simon & Schuster; the bestselling author/blogger and MEWS founder Pamela Redmond Satran, also of Montclair; and agent extraordinaire Liza Dawson of the Liza Dawson Associates Literary Agency.
For those in the audience, Eckstut and Sterry dispensed plenty of helpful advice including their own travails in writing the pitch for their current book. “It took us six months to write, edit, and come up with the moves for that, and it’s 20 seconds!” Sterry admitted.
Another bit of Sterry wisdom was that the pitch should allow the agent to get a feel for your book through the voice and style. Sterry put it this way, “It’s like those t-shirts that say ‘Sexy’ on them. Let me be the judge of that.”
The pitch, then, should be a little snapshot of your book. Sterry stressed his point. “Don’t tell me it’s suspenseful. I want to sit on the edge of my seat.”
Eckstut agreed. “When you nail it in a minute, I feel like I read the book.”
Satran’s advice for writers was to give specific details in the pitch. “Agents and editors are inundated. Give them a sales handle where they can see it on the book shelf and next to which authors.”
All the panelists agreed and suggested authors come up with comparable titles to their own work. “There is a mania for categorization in the bookstore,” Sterry added.
Ultimately, people in the book business really want to hear writers’ stories, according to Anfuso. “Most of us get into this business to honor writers and books.”
If you are cursing yourself because you missed it, fear not, The Book Doctors are hosting a workshop next weekend in Baristaville:
How to get Published Successfully Workshop
Who: Writers.
What: A step-by-step, information-packed workshop that removes the smoke and mirrors from the publishing process, covering everything from coming up with a blockbuster title to finding an agent to building a following through social media.
Where: Montclair, NJ.
When: Saturday, February 19 from 1 pm to 4 pm.
Cost: For details and location call 310.463.2068 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 310.463.2068 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email sterryhead@gmail.com.
Photos by Margot Sage-EL
How to Get Successfully Published Workshop Montclair
This workshop, developed at Stanford University, is a step-by-step, information-packed, interactive workshop that removes the smoke and mirrors from the publishing process. We cover all the publishing bases, large and small, including: choosing the right idea; coming up with a blockbuster title; crafting an attention-getting pitch; creating a sellable proposal; finding the best agent/publisher for you; developing sales, marketing, and publicity savvy; building a following through social media; and self-publishing effectively with ebooks, print-on-demand or traditional printing. This workshop is for fiction and nonfiction writers of every ilk. Here’s a unique opportunity to have your idea evaluated by industry professionals and get concrete suggestions on how to improve your chances of getting published. Dozens of workshop attendees have received book contracts from major and independent publishers.
Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry are authors of The Essential Guide to Getting a Book Published, which Khaled Hosseini called “A must-have for every aspiring writer.” Arielle Eckstut is an Agent-at-Large for the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency, the author of seven books, and the co-founder of LittleMissMatched, a lifestyle brand that she built into a $30 million company. David Henry Sterry is the author of twelve books, from memoir to sports to reference to YA fiction. His first book has been optioned by Showtime, his latest was on the front cover of the Sunday New York Times Book Review. He is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, and his writing has appeared everywhere from The San Francisco Chronicle to The London Times.
SATURDAY, FEB 19, 1-4pm, $99 St James Church (Parish Hall) 581 Valley Road Montclair, NJ
310-463-2068 sterryhead@gmail.com http://thebookdoctors.com/
The ‘Book Doctors’ Want to Know What You’re Working On
OK, all you scribblers, it’s time to come out of your attics.
Time to let those manuscripts see the light of day.
Think about how you’d summarize your book to an agent if you only had the chance.
Distill that description down to a minute.
Rehearse it with a friend, or in front of the mirror.
Go to the Montclair Public Library tonight, and deliver that pitch to the Book Doctors and their panel of judges at Pitchapalooza, a sort of literary “American Idol” but without the cruelty.
The Book Doctors, in private life called Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, are the authors of “The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published.”
A revised edition of the book was released in November 2010 and since then Eckstut and Sterry have been touring the country with Pitchapalooza. They’re wrapping up the tour in their hometown and invite Montclair writers to pitch their books tonight, Feb. 10, at 7, at the library, 50 South Fullerton Ave.
Three judges will evaluate 25 pitches: Dominick Anfuso, vice president and editor in chief at Free Press; Liza Dawson, owner of Liza Dawson Associates Literary Agency; and Pamela Redmond Satran, bestselling author of “How Not to Act Old” and many baby name books, and the founder of the Montclair Editors and Writers Society, of which Eckstut and Sterry are members.
Eckstut has been a literary agent for 18 years and is the author of seven books. Sterry has written 12 books, in a wide variety of genres including memoir, sports, young adult fiction and reference.
With anywhere from 100 to 300 people at each Pitchapalooza event, the Book Doctors must see a wide range of pitches. Do they ever feel they’re wasting time?
“No one knows what’s going to be a successful book,” Sterry said. “If anyone knew they’d make a billion dollars.”
Citing Michael Jordan having been cut from his high school basketball team, Sterry said it’s not his job to nip anyone’s dream in the bud. But he won’t hesitate to tell a writer, “Look, this is not professional caliber. You need to do A, B, C and D.”
And as an agent, “trained to say no to everything,” Eckstut pointed out that there are no barriers to getting published anymore.
“One of the first questions we ask,” she said, “is ‘What is your goal?’ If they say ‘I want to be published by Random House and get a six-figure advance…'”
The sentence hardly needed finishing.
But what surprises publishers, editors, and agents, Eckstut says, is how many people don’t want that.
“They just want a printed book in their hands, and don’t care how they get it: self-publish, e-book, print on demand.”
Self-publishing doesn’t have the stigma it had a decade ago, when self-published meant ugly and riddled with typos.
“We tell everybody, if you’re going to self-publish, hire an editor, hire a proofreader, hire a cover designer and a book designer, so it looks like it deserves to be on the shelves,” Sterry said.
Many authors who’ve been published by reputable houses are choosing to publish on their own because they already have a following, he said. “If you’ve got 20,000 people champing at the bit and they can press a button [to get your book], why would you need a publisher?”
Before Pitchapalooza, Eckstut and Sterry conducted workshops based on the 2005 edition of their book — titled, like the book, “Putting Your Passion into Print”— and have had what Eckstut called “some major success stories.”
“A winner in San Francisco from seven years ago has seven books out,” she said, “and Tim Ferriss of ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’ took our workshops. Even from this tour, we’ve already hooked up a lot of our winners with agents, so they’re in the process right now.”
Everyone pitching a manuscript tonight will get one minute.
“This is what makes the event so dramatic,” said Sterry. “That clock starts ticking. When they get to 50 seconds, Arielle says, ’10 seconds.’ You can feel the room tightening up.”
For an unknown writer to get to pitch a book to established agents and publishers is a rare thing, so the Book Doctors want you to make the most of your minute tonight.
For writers who aren’t sure what a pitch is, Eckstut suggests reading the copy on the backs of books in your genre. Whether mystery, sci fi, children’s book, whatever you read (and write), “on the back of every book is a pitch.”
The Eckstut-Sterry family loves living in Montclair, to which they moved just after the birth of their daughter three and a half years ago. Eckstut recently completed a book project with her mother, an expert on color.
Sterry has just finished a novel, which he describes as “‘Catcher in the Rye’ meets Stephen King.”
That’s a very short pitch.
Contact Elizabeth Oguss at oguss@montclairtimes.com.
SF Weekly Pitchapalooza Love for Book Doctors
Well Played, Sterry By Michael Leaverton
You’re a writer and you have one minute with Soft Skull Press executive editor Laura Mazer: How do you pitch your book? This isn’t a rhetorical question — you really do have one minute with Mazer. At Pitchapalooza, she’s sitting next to NaNoWriMo’s Chris Baty and self-described “book doctors” Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, the founders of the five-year-old event. To prepare, start speaking in public ASAP, because you’re pitching before a room of people. Try to compare your book to what’s already out there, but don’t say, “It’s like Foer got drunk with Godot at Twilight and started puking Seuss,” because we’re going to say that. There might be agents scattered around you in the audience, like at the Pitchapalooza in New York, so don’t mutter profanities and scribble on a matchbook when awaiting your turn — or, better yet, do exactly that. The winner gets “an introduction to an agent,” which is surely better than it sounds. The losers get the opportunity to buy Sterry and Eckstut’s book The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It…Successfully!, which comes with a “free consultation” worth $100. Of course, it should be clear that Pitchapoolza is, at its core, a drop-dead genius way for Sterry and Eckstut to market Essential Guide — they know their shit, to be sure. They’re the book doctors.
http://www.sfweekly.com/events/pitchapalooza-2325029/