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THREAD: I want to thank @jane_c_hu @ptullis @sarah_witman & @KatherineKornei for permitting me to annotate their rockstar pitches in the chapter on pitching in The Craft of Science Writing, a new book edited by @SiriCarpenter - now available for order: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734028009
Pitching isn't easy. It takes guts and a little bit of hubris, and you have to prepare yourself for the possibility you'll hear a 'No'. But take the time to craft as great a pitch as you can -- add details that convey why it's timely and important. Describe why YOU can deliver.
The book highlights the brilliant opening sentence of @jane_c_hu's pitch for a story she pitched (and was assigned to report for) @TheAtlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/11/math-women/506417/
It also discusses how @KatherineKornei harnessed 
powerful verbs in her pitch she wrote to @sciencemagazine -- here's the story that resulted: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/thunderstorm-triggered-asthma-attacks-put-under-microscope-australia
powerful verbs in her pitch she wrote to @sciencemagazine -- here's the story that resulted: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/thunderstorm-triggered-asthma-attacks-put-under-microscope-australia
And the pitch by @ptullis was a real gem (sorry, I cannot resist a pun). His proposal (to @NatGeo) for this story contained visceral details about the sights and sounds of the story -- creating a compelling scene for the assigning editor: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/03/sapphire-mining-fuels-lemur-deaths-in-madagascar/
Last, but definitely not least, @sarah_witman's pitch for this @SmithsonianMag story included succinct and energetic distillations of what made the story so exciting. Take the time to add distillations in your pitches -- they help editors tremendously. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-computer-scientist-you-should-thank-your-phone-weather-app-180963716/
