Ten Minutes to the Pitch: Your Last-Minute Guide and Checklist for Selling Your Story (10 Minutes 2 Success) [Paperback]

Chris Abbott (Author)

Book Description

Series: 10 Minutes 2 Success | Publication Date: March 2005

How to present the best pitch possible! Here's a usable, workable guide to selling your script, story or idea to the 'powers that be.' The Guidelines prepare writers, directors and other creatives to go into the Inner Sanctum and sell their fabulous ideas. Compact and Comprehensive, TEN MINUTES is meant to be read once, twice, three times, to help you .Then, when it's time to perform, the Ready-Set-Go Checklist settles you down, gets you focused and puts you in position to knock 'em dead. Insider advice and last minute reminders from a writer-producer who has successfully pitched..and been pitched to...thousands of times!

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Tallfellow Press (March 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931290563
• ISBN-13: 978-1931290562
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,019,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seems Indispensable to Me!, February 15, 2005

By 

Kristen from CA (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ten Minutes to the Pitch: Your Last-Minute Guide and Checklist for Selling Your Story (10 Minutes 2 Success) (Paperback)

I'm a writer, but unfortunately, I'm not yet at the stage in my career where I take meetings with important people. It's really too bad, because after reading this little book I felt totally prepared.

There's a lot of great advice told in a nice, friendly, chatty, but altogether honest tone -- things like (I paraphrase) "Make sure you know yourself before writing a story, because the more specific your story is to what moves you, the more universal its appeal will be."

If that seems simplistic, think of how many people write stories they think other people will want to buy, instead of stories they really want to tell.

That's more about writing, but there are a lot of tips tailored to what you need to do when you're "in the room," too. One of the best is "Be Memorable." I think most writers are so scared just to GO to the meeting that they don't even think about the producers or executives who have to SIT THROUGH these meetings... all day... every day. This is your big chance to entertain them, and there are plenty of anecdotes from successful writers who were able to do so and make a sale. (There are equally as many examples of what NOT to do.)

Anyway, I don't want to give away the whole book and stop you from buying it. The info is indispensable, there's a whole Resources guide at the back (support groups, Conferences, Bookstores, Books, etc.). It's well worth the measly $12.95 cover price. I'm going to buy a copies for my friends, and then we're going to work pitching practice into our writers' group meetings. (It will be nice to practice on something other than my stuffed animals.) Wish us luck...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must have!, September 8, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ten Minutes to the Pitch: Your Last-Minute Guide and Checklist for Selling Your Story (10 Minutes 2 Success) (Paperback)

When someone is giving me advice or directions I want it brief and direct. In other words, give me the bottom line. Ten Minutes to the Pitch, by Chris Abbott is just that kind of book. Abbott's book is directed at pitching screenplays but the advice is also applicable to pitching a story for a publisher.

Abbott provides a checklist consisting of fifteen concise steps to successfully pitching story ideas and the sound reasoning behind the steps. Scattered throughout the book are brief stories that are occasionally humorous and support the checklist. Also included is a section titled: Know the Industry, helpful publications and reference lists.

Armchair Interviews says: This is a small, handy must have reference book. If you write and want to sell what you write, you would serve yourself well to buy this book, place it on your reference shelf (the one that you don't loan out because anyone who wants it should have their own) and read it again.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharpen Your Pitching Skills, June 4, 2006

By 

W. Terry Whalin "Publisher/ Editor / Writer" (Scottsdale, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ten Minutes to the Pitch: Your Last-Minute Guide and Checklist for Selling Your Story (10 Minutes 2 Success) (Paperback)

Chris Abbott works in television and you talk about pressure! Imagine walking into a room full of skeptical television producers and executives who are ready to listen to your story pitch. It's Chris Abbott's world.

Ten Minutes to Pitch, Your last-minute guide and checklist for selling your story contains valuable insight about this area. The book assumes you are pitching an appropriate quality story to the right audience. With that assumption in mind, Abbott gives detailed tips about how to enter the room with confidence, pitch your idea then gracefully exit. This little book could make a significant difference in how you succeed in this process. The entire easy-to-read book is written from an experience author with valuable advice.