Pitch Clinic – Fall 2015
We’re excited to welcome you to Freelance Writers’ Pitch Clinic. We look forward to helping you craft kick-butt pitches that will get you great-paying assignments.
You can get started right now with two podcasts we’ve posted on our Module 1: “Let’s Make Your Story Idea Not Suck!” and our Story Idea Lab. You’ll have access to the rest of the materials in Module 1, and our forums will become active, when class officially starts on Tuesday, September, 29. (Participation details are coming to you on email — be sure we’re not in your spam or promotions folder!)
After our first session, we’ll have a useful homework exercise for you to post in the forum. Then each week, you’ll see new materials and modules appear as we move through the course.
2015 Course Schedule
Please note that ALL our live events for this course are taking place at 11am Pacific (California time) / 2pm Eastern (New York time). Just click on the bar to unfold the full schedule. Participation info for live events is posted in the course modules below.
Open to view the course schedule and live event dates.
- Lesson 1 – Tuesday, September 29 from 11am-12pm Pacific (California time) / 2pm-3pm Eastern (New York time): LIVE Pitch Clinic event: Let’s Make Your Story Idea Not Suck! Listen in as we refine writers’ story ideas live, and make them irresistible to editors. This lesson is free and open to the public…but enrolled, paying students will have first chance at getting their ideas critiqued on the call. (HOMEWORK: Come up with an article idea and tweak it with our instructors’ help until it’s as salable as possible!)
- Q&A call – Thursday, October 1 from 11am-12pm Pacific / 2pm-3pm Eastern: Have questions left over from our Lesson 1 live call — or maybe you didn’t get to attend? Here’s your chance to ask the instructors your pressing questions, and learn more about how to develop great story ideas.
- Lesson 2: Anatomy of a Killer Query — Available Friday, October 2: In this recorded webinar, you’ll learn the pros’ secrets to writing every part of a query letter so that editors find it irresistible (and you earn big bucks!). (HOMEWORK: Write and post a query letter based on an idea that’s been approved by the instructors.)
- Q&A call – Tuesday, October 6 from 11am-12pm Pacific / 2pm-3pm Eastern: Your chance for you to ask the instructors your query-letter questions–live!
- Lesson 3 – Available Friday, October 9: Writing a Kick-Butt Letter of Introduction: In this recording, Carol and Linda share details on how to avoid common mistakes and write a standout letter of introduction that gets you hired by editors at trade and custom publications, as well as businesses. (HOMEWORK: Write and post an LOI to the forum.)
- Q&A call — Tuesday, October 13 from 11am-12pm Pacific / 2pm-3pm Eastern: Ask your questions about letters of introduction on this live call with Carol and one of the editors.
- Lesson 4 — Begins Friday, Oct. 16: Revise your query and LOI in the forum and get detailed critiques from the instructors. This is where you put everything you learned into action. We give you two weeks for this phase without a new training to view, so you can concentrate on crafting your eyeball-grabbing query and/or LOI, and respond to editors’ revision requests. (HOMEWORK:Take the feedback you received from our instructors on your pitches and post a revised query and LOI in the Mod 4 homework forum.)
- Final Q&A call — Tuesday, October 27 from 11am-12pm Pacific / 2pm-3pm Eastern: Still got questions? Want to tweak a story idea a bit more? We’ll hold a final, live 1-hour call to get you fired up to press “Send” on those pitch letters.
- BONUS MASTERMIND CALL for students who complete ALL the homework by the last day of class: Tuesday, December 1 at 11am Pacific (California time) / 2pm Eastern (New York time): We’ll be talking goals and accountability. Did you reach your goal for Pitch Clinic? How can we help you? We’ll offer our expert advice for putting what you learned to work.
Class Materials
All class materials will be posted below as the course progresses week-by-week.
| Module 1 | Live Pitch Clinic event: Let’s Make Your Story Idea Not Suck! |
|---|---|
| Pitch us your ideas and we’ll help you hone them right there on the call. | |
| Unit 1 | Pitch Clinic Refund Offer FAQ |
| Unit 2 | Getting Started in Pitch Clinic |
| Unit 3 | How to Get the Most From Pitch Clinic |
| Unit 4 | Module 1 Open Pitch Call - "Let's Make Your Story Idea Not Suck!" |
| Unit 5 | Module 1 Q&A & Story-Idea Pitch |
| Unit 6 | Bonus podcast: How to Make Your Query Irresistible to Editors |
| Unit 7 | Bonus Podcast: Story idea lab with Carol Tice & Linda Formichelli |
| Unit 8 | Idea Critique Handout -- "Let's Make Your Story Idea Not Suck!" |
| Unit 9 | Pitch Brainstorming Session — Podcast |
| Unit 10 | Module 1 Homework |
| Module 2 | Anatomy of a Killer Query |
|---|---|
| In this webinar, you’ll learn the pros’ secrets to writing every part of a query letter so that editors find it irresistible. | |
| Unit 1 | Module 2 Anatomy of a Killer Query - Webinar, Audio Recording & Transcript |
| Unit 2 | Module 2 Q&A Call — Recording and Chat Log |
| Unit 3 | Module 2 Interview handouts |
| Unit 4 | Template - Query Letter |
| Unit 5 | Bonus Webinar: Top 11 Query mistakes |
| Unit 6 | FREE E-BOOK: The Renegade Writer's Query Letters That Rock |
| Unit 7 | Module 2 Homework |
| Module 3 | Writing a Kick-Butt LOI |
|---|---|
| Carol and Linda share details on how to avoid common mistakes and write a standout letter of introduction that gets you hired by editors at trade and custom publications. | |
| Unit 1 | Module 3 Training: Writing a Kick-Butt LOI - Recording & Transcript |
| Unit 2 | Module 3 Q&A Call — Recording and Chat Log |
| Unit 3 | Template - LOI Hybrid |
| Unit 4 | Template - LOI to a Business |
| Unit 5 | Module 3 Homework |
| Module 4 | Post your queries and LOIs in the forum |
|---|---|
| Post your queries and LOIs in the forum, get detailed critiques from the instructors, and take part in another live pitch session. | |
| Unit 1 | Handout: Article Writing Glossary of Terms |
| Unit 2 | Bonus podcast: How to break into writing for trade pubs with editor Connie Gentry |
| Unit 3 | Module 4 Homework |
| Module 5 | Live “Exit” call |
|---|---|
| Still got questions? Want to tweak a story idea a bit more? We’ll hold a final, live 1-hour call to get you fired up to press “send” on those pitch letters. | |
| Unit 1 | Module 5 Live “Exit” call — Recording and Chat Log |
| Unit 2 | Bonus Handout -- "7 Ways to Get Editor's Emails" |
| Unit 3 | Module 5 Mastermind Call |
| Unit 4 | Module 5 Homework |
Technical Support
Have a technical question about the class? Please let us know in the ‘Report Problems’ thread on the Forum or contact our troubleshooters at help@usefulwritingcourses.com. The helpdesk is manned 7 days a week! If you email Linda and Carol about a technical issue, we’ll just forward it along to the helpdesk…so please make that your first stop!