Do any of these sound familiar?

“I am totally dreading the sales conference ... but it’s my book and I don’t want anyone else to present it”


“Acquisitions meetings are a nightmare - I always fluff my lines and sound like an idiot when my boss is watching”


“I’m just terrified of freezing up and forgetting what to say”


“I blush so badly in meetings - it makes me feel like a kid”


You have a pitch coming up. Here's what your brain is saying:


"You're terrible at this. You always blush and shake and your voice goes weird. You loose your place and just start rambling. This is going to be awful."


I can help you with that.


You’ve missed out on acquiring books, or launched them badly, because of nerves?


I can help you with that too.


I’m James Spackman, AKA The Book Pitch Doctor. I was officially The Shyest Man in Publishing when I started my career. 



As a rep, then sales director, then editor, I’ve had to figure out how to present persuasively in all sorts of scenarios. Not by following some cheesy selling method or trying to be someone I’m not, but by focusing on the needs of my audience and using my own voice.* 


The Book Pitch Doctor approach has helped hundreds of - often shy and introverted - publishers use their own personality, to present in a way that persuades other people. 


Do they all turn into exuberant performers overnight? No, and they don’t eliminate every “um” and “er” ... but they DO find their own authority. They get comfortable with a process, so they stop dreading the whole thing like it’s dental surgery but worse, and get on with influencing people and publishing successfully.


“The workshop was constructive, supportive and empowering. Worth its weight in gold.” - Sophie Burdess, Hachette Children's Group


“It has definitely taken the acute fear out of presenting for me.” - Charlotte Fry, Quercus


*And yes, I still blush. And I accept it, so it doesn’t get in the way ...

Who's the course for?

A wide range of publishing roles involve pitching to colleagues or customers. All these groups will benefit ...

  • Editors

  • Sales people

  • Publicists

  • Rights people

  • Other publishing roles

  • Literary agents

Your Instructor: James Spackman

James, also known as The Book Pitch Doctor, has worked in publishing since 1996, across sales, marketing, editorial and management. He has been coaching people in pitching skills for more than four years.

  • Your instructor, James Spackman AKA The Book Pitch Doctor

Testimonials

"Hands down, the best training"

ZARA ANVARI, OCTOPUS (physical workshop attendee)

"James is thorough, attentive, encouraging and – best of all – a genuine expert with extensive experience working in the publishing industry. He understood exactly how different publishing scenarios worked. The course was refreshingly different and incredibly rewarding"

"Useful and constructive"

CATHERINE STOKES, HEAD OF SALES & MARKETING, NOSY CROW (physical workshop client)

"James delivered a really useful, constructive training session, focused to our particular, and specialist, market. His skill in dealing with a group with widely varying experience was impressive and all delegates gave positive enthusiastic feedback."

"Wonderful"

HANNAH CHUKWU - PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

"A wonderful experience ... so helpful for implementing strategies that I know I’ll use in future group situations"

"Practical and relevant"

GILLIAN HAINES, AUSTRALIAN PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION (online webinar client)

"The workshops were very practical, with relevant and effective strategies for participants to implement. The interactive elements enabled staff from a variety of publishing houses, big and small, to learn from each other as well as from James’ expertise."

Clients

A range of Book Pitch Doctor clients, for online and offline courses

Nosy Crow
Hachette UKPen
Penguin Random House UKA.
A.M.Heath
Faber & FaberGil
Gill Books, Ireland
Australian Publishers Association
Midas PRUn
United Agents

Take the plunge

Sign up now and start learning how to pitch your best ...

Get started now

Inclusion policy

To support diversity in the publishing industry, this course is available to anyone who would agree to any or all of these statements, at HALF PRICE. Just email [email protected] with the word CODE in your subject heading. No other information is required. You will receive a discount code within 24 hours.

  • I live outside London (or New York, or the centre of publishing in your country)

  • I’m Black or Asian or from another ethnic group not well represented in publishing

  • I identify as working class or from a socio-economically disadvantaged background

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome to Pitching for Publishers

    • Welcome to Pitching for Publishers

    • Introduction: Pitching is publishing

    • About Pitching for Publishing

    • Your tutor: James Spackman, Book Pitch Doctor

    • How to navigate through the course
  • 2

    Module 1: How do you feel about pitching?

    • How do you feel about pitching?

    • Emotional responses to pitching

    • How do you feel about pitching? About the survey

    • How do you feel about pitching? Take the survey

    • Beta-pitch: write a one minute book pitch

    • Example pitch
  • 3

    Module 2: Dealing with fear and nerves

    • Dealing with fear and nerves

    • Feel the fear: anticipating and identifying your fear triggers

    • How to Use The Graph of Dread

    • The Graph of Dread: download

    • Feel the fear: understanding and mitigating your fears

    • Reducing on-the-day uncertainty: a pitching environment checklist

    • Common physical symptoms of fear

    • Simple exercises for managing fear symptoms
  • 4

    Module 3: Working with your inner critic

    • Working with your inner critic

    • Listening to your inner critic

    • Exercise: taking steps to tackle your inner critic

    • Beta-pitch: delivering and recording a test run

    • Exercise: letting your inner critic out
  • 5

    Module 4: Understanding your audience

    • Understanding your audience

    • Audience

    • Analysing your audience: ten questions to ask

    • Beta pitch: your audience - where are they? (mentally)

    • Beta pitch: ... and where do you want to take them?

    • Exercise: focusing on a particular audience

    • Exercise: maintaining "agenda consciousness"
  • 6

    Module 5: Establishing presence

    • Establishing presence

    • Finding your own style

    • Observing personality in action: some examples

    • Working with gesture and body language

    • Beta pitch: experimenting with your body language
  • 7

    Module 6: Argument and perspective

    • Argument and perspective

    • Why you need an argument: an overview

    • Building an argument: some tools

    • Manipulating perspective

    • Avis v Hertz: argument in action

    • Exercise: broadening your comparisons

    • Beta-pitch: optimising your argument
  • 8

    Module 7: Telling a story

    • Telling a story

    • Story

    • Exercise: telling a story about a book

    • The power of storytelling in pitching

    • Beta pitch: finessing your pitch with storytelling
  • 9

    Module 8: Interaction, props and questions

    • Interaction, props and questions

    • Props

    • Making the most of props

    • Props in action: some examples

    • Beta pitch: using props

    • Checking In

    • The joy of rhetorical questions

    • Beta pitch: using questions

    • Embracing questions from the audience
  • 10

    Module 9: Scripts, rehearsal and notes

    • Scripts, rehearsals and notes

    • Scripting and rehearsal

    • Beta pitch: editing for your own voice

    • A script checklist

    • Finding your best form of notes

    • Exercise: experimenting with notes
  • 11

    Module 10: Pace and timing

    • Pace and timing

    • Pace in pitching

    • Exercise: hitting the pace of speech sweet spot

    • Discovering the power of the pause, in pitching

    • Beta-pitch: holding the pause practice

    • More pausing strategies

    • Keeping to time: ten top tips
  • 12

    Graduation

    • Congratulations!

    • What next? Time for some reflection

    • Time to reflect: how do you feel about pitching now?

    • Stay in touch ...