Pitch Letter Writing

WHEN 4 weeks, June 11 - June 25 Chats Mondays, 9-10 pm ET WHERE Online. Click here for more information. LEVEL Intermediate PRICE $350 ($325 for ) more info

Course Details

You may write the best articles on the planet, but no one will ever know if you're never given the chance. Did you know that some editors get as many as one hundred pitches per day? You've got to grab the assigning editor's attention with a timely, irresistible story idea.

It's essential to learn to write a killer pitch letter to get started as a freelancer, and to keep the choice assignments flowing. More than that, you need to learn where to pitch, when to pitch, and how to formulate a targeted proposal that fits the publication you are pitching to -- in short, how to get the go-ahead.

In this class, you can expect to learn:

• How to write a compelling lede
• How to pitch in a unique voice
• When to pitch and how to find out a magazine or newspaper's lead time
• When and how to include sidebars and pegs
• How to answer the "why you" and the "so what" questions

By the end of class, you can expect to have:
Four to six polished pitch letters

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

The online classroom has several interactive components:

• Instructors post lectures once a week. You can read them online, print them, or download them at your convenience.
• Students post completed assignments for feedback and discussion by the instructor and class.
• Weekly chats allow your class to get together via instant message. Transcripts are available for review if you can't attend.
• Technical support is available from mediabistro staff.
  
  

Instructor Bio

Erin Torneo's Courses

Erin Torneo is a 2007 Fellow in Nonfiction Literature from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is currently working on Picking Cotton, the true story of an unlikely friendship forged between Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton, the man Cannino incorrectly identified as her rapist and sent to prison for eleven years, which will be published by St. Martin's Press. Along with Cannino and Cotton, she was awarded a 2008 Soros Justice Media Fellowship.

Erin is coauthor of The Bridal Wave (Random House/Villard Books, 2007), recently optioned for film adaptation. Her writing has appeared in publications such as as Cosmopolitan, The Independent, indieWIRE, The Kyoto Journal, Lucky, SEED, SOMA, and Variety's V-Life. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Lucky, SEED, SOMA, and Variety's V-Life. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.