Pitchapalooza in The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal
Kathy Kmonicek for The New York Times
“For Would-Be Authors, a Chance at a Happy Ending”
By AILEEN JACOBSON
HUNTINGTON, N.Y.
December 10, 2010
SUZANNE WELLS, a slight woman with a careworn face, looked a little shaky as she walked up to the podium and faced a table where four judges sat. To her left was an audience of more than 200 people, ready to listen to her bid to become a published author.
Glancing at her notes, Ms. Wells launched into a description of her life, which started in affluence and comfort and devolved into heroin addiction and poverty, including an excruciating evening “when I took my children to a housing shelter.”
That was one of the more dramatic moments of “Pitchapalooza!” an event at the Book Revue here during which would-be authors pitched book ideas to a panel of publishing experts. All the presenters got advice from the panelists; the winner was to receive an introduction to an agent.
Though only 25 people were chosen at random to make their pitches, 187 had signed up for the opportunity at the Dec. 2 event, which was part of a cross-country promotional tour by David Henry Sterry and his wife, Arielle Eckstut, the authors of “The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It and Market It … Successfully!” The crowd in Huntington was the largest yet, they said.
Click —> HERE to read the full story on The New York Times.
“The Book Doctors Offer Cures for Book Proposals”
If hope is a thing with feathers, Politics & Prose Bookstore could have taken flight Wednesday night.
Usually a venue for best-selling authors, the Washington bookstore was filled instead with would-be novelists, expectant memoirists and unpublished writers of all kinds. They’d come for Pitchapalooza! — “The American Idol for Books” conducted by husband and wife team Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry. The Book Doctors, as they call themselves, are the authors of “The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published,” which instantly sold out at Politics and Prose.
Click —> HERE to read the full story on The Washington Post.
“One-Minute Pitches from Aspiring Authors: Publishing Professionals Hear Book Ideas at Pitchapalooza”
“One time, I only held a job for three hours. I hired as a lighting technician at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the early 1970s,” recalled author Steve Turtell. “I nearly killed someone when I lost my grip on a ladder that I was holding up—it just started falling and I froze! Luckily, a lighting cable stopped it from falling all the way over. After that, the guy who hired me asked me to leave.”
Mr. Turtell was in the sunken auditorium at the office of Workman Publishing, an independent publishing house in the West Village on Thursday evening, ready to pitch his book “50/50: 50 Jobs in 50 Years, a Working Tour of My Life.” (He has also worked as a nude artists’ model; a research assistant at PBS; a janitor at Gimbel Brothers; a fashion coordinator at Joyce Leslie; a butcher; a baker; and the director of public programs at the New-York Historical Society.)
Click —> HERE to read the full story on the Wall Street Journal.
PITCHAPLOOZA RETURNS TO THE BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL SEPT 18, 7pm
Brooklyn come pitch us your books! BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY, SEPT 18 7PM
WHAT: Pitchapalooza is American Idol for books (only kinder & gentler). Twenty writers will be selected at random to pitch their book. Each writer gets one minute—and only one minute! Many writers have gone from talented amateurs to professionally published authors as a result of participating in Pitchapalooza, including Genn Albin, our KC winner who got a 3-book mid-six figure deal with Farrar Straus & Giroux.
WHO: Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry are co-founders of The Book Doctors, a company dedicated to helping authors get their books published. They are also co-authors of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How To Write It, Sell It, and Market It… Successfully (Workman, 2010). Arielle Eckstut has been a literary agent for 18 years at The Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. 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 13 books, on a wide variety of subject including memoir, sports, YA fiction and reference. They have taught their workshop on how to get published everywhere from Stanford University to Smith College. They have appeared everywhere from The New York Times to NPR’s Morning Edition to USA Today.
HOW: At Pitchapalooza, judges will help you improve your pitch, not tell you how bad it is. Judges critique everything from idea to style to potential in the marketplace and much, much more. Authors come away with concrete advice as well as a greater understanding of the ins and outs of the publishing industry. Whether potential authors pitch themselves, or simply listen to trained professionals critique each presentation, Pitchapalooza is educational and entertaining for one and all. From Miami to Portland, from LA to NYC, and many stops along the way, Pitchapaloozas have consistently drawn standing-room-only crowds, press and blog coverage, and the kind of bookstore buzz reserved for celebrity authors.
PRIZE: At the end of Pitchapalooza, the judges will pick a winner. The winner receives an introduction to an agent or publisher appropriate for his/her book.
PRICE OF ADMISSION: To sign up to pitch, you must purchase a copy of The Essential Guide To Getting Your Book Published. Anyone who buys a copy of receives a FREE 20 minute consultation, a $100 value. If you don’t want to pitch, the event is FREE.
WHEN: September 18, 7pm
WHERE: Brooklyn Book Festival http://www.
Washington Post: http://www.
New York Times article: http://tinyurl.com/
Pitchapalooza mini movie: http://bit.ly/vm9YSu
Pitchapalooza on NBC: http://www.
Here’s what people are saying about Pitchapalooza:
“We came to Pitchapalooza with an idea and six months later we got a book deal with a prominent publisher. We simply couldn’t have done this without this opportunity and without David and Arielle. We had been working on this project for several years, on our own, and struggling without any guidance. We were really discouraged by the entire process. Winning Pitchapalooza, and working with these two, really helped us focus and renew our enthusiasm in the project. And now we’re going to be published authors!”—Nura Maznavi and Ayesha Mattu, Pitchapalooza winners Litquke, San Francisco, Oct. 2010
Here’s what people are saying about The Essential Guide To Getting Your Book Published:
“I started with nothing but an idea, and then I bought this book. Soon I had an A-list agent, a near six-figure advance, and multiple TV deals in the works. Buy it and memorize it. This little tome is the quiet secret of rockstar authors.”—New York Times best-selling author Timothy Ferris, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Workman & The Book Doctors Pitchapalooza June 27 5:30
PITCH YOUR BOOK TO ONE OF AMERICA’S TOP PUBLISHERS
LIMITED TO 65 WRITERS
For the first time ever, The Book Doctors are hosting Pitchapalooza in the offices of a New York City publishing house. On June 27th, writers will be invited inside Workman, one of the country’s great independent book publishers to pitch their books to a judge who could green-light their book deals on the spot.
Pitchapalooza is an American Idol for books (only kinder and gentler) in which twenty writers are selected at random to pitch their book before a panel of judges. Each writer gets one minute—and only one minute! A panel of seasoned book industry professionals responds to the pitches with constructive advice that will actually help you improve your pitch (instead of just pointing out how bad it is). The judges critique everything from idea to style to potential in the marketplace and much, much more.
Authors come away with concrete advice, as well as a greater understanding of the ins and outs of the publishing industry. Many writers who’ve come through Pitchapalooza have made the transition from talented amateur to professionally published author—take Genn Albin, the Kansas City winner who got a three-book, high six-figure deal. Whether potential authors choose to pitch, or simply listen to trained professionals critique the presentations of fellow authors, Pitchapalooza is educational and entertaining for one and all.
At the end of Pitchapalooza, the judges will pick a winner. The winner receives an introduction to an editor at Workman who will review his or her manuscript or book proposal.
Practice those elevator pitches, because you might get to try yours out on the editor-in-chief of Workman Publishing!
Spots are limited, and an RSVP IS REQUIRED for admission. So click here now to sign up!
EVENT DETAILS
ADMISSION: FREE! Plus, anyone who purchases a copy of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published at the event receives a FREE 20-minute consultation with The Book Doctors ($100 value). Click here to sign up!
WHEN: June 27, 5:30PM
WHERE: Workman Publishing, 225 Varick Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY.
GUEST JUDGES: Susan Bolotin, Acting Publisher, Workman; Elisabeth Scharlatt, Publisher, Algonquin Books;
ABOUT THE BOOK DOCTORS
Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry are co-founders of The Book Doctors, a company dedicated to helping authors get their books published. They are also the authors of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It… Successfully! (Workman, 2010). Arielle Eckstut has spent 18 years as a literary agent at The Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. She is the author of eight books and the co-founder of the iconic brand LittleMissMatched. David Henry Sterry is the bestselling author of 13 books spanning a wide variety of genres including memoir, sports, middle grade fiction and reference. They have taught workshops on how to get published everywhere from Stanford University to Smith College, and have appeared in a variety of media outlets including The New York Times, NPR’s “Morning Edition,” and USA Today.
The Book Doctors Bring All-Star Cast to Long Island: PITCHAPALOOZA @ Book Revue
The Book Doctors, aka David Henry Sterry, and ex-agent/current wife Arielle Eckstut, authors of the Workman book The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, will making a house call in Long Island, and they want YOU to PITCH your BOOK at their Pitchapalooza. Book Revue, Huntington, December 2, 7 PM. It’s like American Idol for books, only without the Simon. Writers get one minute to pitch their book ideas to a once-in-a-lifetime All-Star cast of publishing experts. It’s like American Idol for books, without the Simon. We are lucky enough to have James Levine, the founder of the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency, one of Manhattan’s most successful book agents. As well as Long Island’s own Mauro DePreta, Vice President of It Books (HarperCollins Publishers), publishers of the #1 New York Times bestseller Sh*t My Dad Says. An industry veteran of nearly two decades, he has had the good fortune of publishing bestsellers like Not Without Hope, the incredible survival story by Nick Schuyler and New York Times journalist Jere Longman, and Marly & Me by John Grogan. Arielle has been a literary agent for 18 years, and I am the best-selling author of 13 books, the last of which appeared on the cover of the Sunday New York Times Book Review. We’ve helped dozens and dozens of talented amateurs become professionally published authors. We’ve appeared on NPR many times, and taught at publishing Stanford University. Here’s a link to our awesome Editor Goddess Savanna’s blog about our Pitchapalooza at Barnes & Noble 86th St., with publishing titans Larry Kirschbaum and Bob Simon. Here’s a link to an article about the Art of the Pitch and our Pitchapalooza on Publishers Perspective.
Every writer who buys a book will get a free consultation from the Book Doctors, $100 value.
Workman Gives Essential Guide Some Love
Thanks to our amazing publisher Workman for throwing us some big love.
http://www.workman.com/blog/tag/david-henry-sterry/
Come Pitch Your Book To Top Industry Professionals @ Barnes & Noble 11/11/10 in NYC
The Book Doctors , authors of the Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, present Pitchapalooza, on November 11, Barnes & Noble, Upper East Side. They welcome ex-CEO and Chairman of the Time-Warner Book Group, LJK Literary Management’s Larry Kirshbaum, Jen Bergstrom of Simon & Schuster, and Bob Miller, Publisher of Workman Publishing