Pitchapalooza at the TBF

If you’ve been reading the blog or my newsletter for a while, then you know I’m involved with the Texas Book Festival. Last year I chaired Book Church which included gospel music and books about gospel music. It took place on the capital steps and was a foot-stomping success. This year I’m chairing art and photography books, artists, and authors at the Austin Museum of Art. Book Church premiered last year and the Book as Art at AMOA is new this year.

The Book Festival keeps changing, trying different events, bringing in exciting authors, working on traffic flow. The planning goes on all year long. Literally, as soon as this event is over next weekend, planning will begin for 2007. It is a huge multi-days event, getting bigger each year. The TBF staff is amazingly small. Which means the volunteers who work the weekend are numerous. It takes over 900 volunteers to pull it off.

The AMOA events are not the only new thing going on this year. One that I wanted to mention here is a pitching event called “Putting Your Passion into Print Pitchapalooza.” It’s brand new, never tried at the TBF before. That means not too many people know about it. And that means if you want to try your hand at pitching your book, you got a good chance of getting the opportunity. And it’s free. Too scared to pitch? All the more reason to do it here. Way too scared to pitch? Then come watch, listen, and learn.

Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry of Putting Your Passion Into Print will lead the workshop. Eckstut is an agent. Sterry is an author and pitch consultant. You’ll have one minute to pitch your book.

Here’s the write-up on the workshop:

Putting Your Passion into Print Pitchapalooza
It's like American Idol, without the Simon

Texas Book Festival
Oct. 29, 2006; 12-1:15pm, Capitol Auditorium, Texas Book Festival

So, you wanna be an author? Well, this is your shot. You get one minute to pitch your book to a bunch of publishing experts, American Idol-style.

Now the Putting Your Passion Into Print Pitchapalooza is coming to you. The Pitchapalooza is the brainchild of Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, authors of Putting Your Passion Into Print (Workman 2005). She's an agent who runs the West Coast office of Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. She has also authored three books, including The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen. David's a bestselling author who's had four books published in five years, with another two contracted for, ranging from memoir to sports to reference to Young Adult. He's also a professional actor, a pitch consultant and a book doctor. Already five of their students have book deals. Plus, they're married.

Here's your shot. Are you gonna take it?