DURATION/TIME 5 weeks Mondays July 24 - August 21 7-10 pm LEVEL General LOCATION New York (Soho) PRICE $399 ($375 for ) more info

Course Details

You may write the best articles on the planet, but you'll never have the chance to publish them without a winning pitch letter. A stellar proposal functions as your resume, currency, and calling card all rolled into one. Some editors get as many as 100 pitches per day! Your job is to catch the assigning editor's eye with a precisely articulated story idea that can't be resisted. This class focuses on transforming your ideas into salable proposals.

This course starts off on July 24 with admission to James Sturz's lecture Pitching for Dollars: How to Write Irresistible Proposals. It continues with four weeks of a small, interactive workshop, where Sturz will critique individual pitch letters and help you determine where to send them. The workshop component is limited to 15 participants.

In this class, you can expect to learn:

• The four basic parts of every pitch
• How to write a compelling lede
• How to pitch in a voice
• When to pitch and how to know a magazine or newspaper's lead time
• When and how to include sidebars and pegs
• How to answer the "why you" and "so what" questions
• How to submit your proposals and how to follow up

By the end of class, students can expect to have:
Workshopped six to eight complete pitch letters. Weekly submissions will be critiqued by the instructor, and commented on by all classmates.

Admission requirements:
You must submit a letter of interest which (including a brief work history), and a writing sample (less than 2,000 words).

Instructor Bio

James Sturz's Courses

James Sturz spent three years on staff at Vanity Fair. In addition to his novel Sasso, he has written for more than 70 newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, International Herald Tribune, The New Republic, The New York Observer, The Boston Globe, Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Adventure, Caribbean Travel & Life, Men's Health, Entertainment Weekly, Us Weekly, Glamour, Marie Claire, Redbook, and Saveur. James has also served as a guest editor for the adventure magazine Blue and as a contributing editor for Manhattan File and Lexus magazines. His journalism has also been anthologized in the sociology textbook Human Sexuality. James has appeared on Inside Edition, Real Personal, The Book Show, and Good Day New York. Pieces he wrote are included in the anthologies Italy: The Best Travel Writing from The New York Times and Best Food Writing 2007.

Testimonials

Thanks to James, I now know the proper way to propose stories. He provided great comments on my articles and gave me the impetus to submit my ideas for publication. -- Kathleen Kent, freelance publicist

"After taking James' class I felt that I could take my writing to the next level. Since completing the class I have landed travel pieces in The New York Times, Out Traveler, Flaunt, Clear, and Genre and logoonline.com. -- Cator Sparks

"James is a great instructor. He's a smart, well-spoken guy who knows what he's talking about and can answer your questions. This was by far the best class of its kind that I've taken. " -- St. John Frizell, copy director, Bon Appetit

"I grabbed a last-minute flight from Portland, Maine, so I could attend. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. James clinched the aspects of the business that I thought I knew, and opened my eyes to all that I did not know." -- Pat Friedman

"James is fantastic. If you want to become a travel writer, consider this course your first journey." -- Ethan Todras-Whitehill

"Since James' class, I've been assigned travel stories for Plenty, Nymag.com and Experience Curacao. James' class didn't just make me a better travel writer. It made me a better writer, period." -- Jennifer van der Kwast