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(David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut, known as "The Book Doctors" are bringing the wildly popular "Pitchapalooza" to the 2014 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. They describe the event as "The American Idol for books, only kinder and gentler.")

Your pitch is one of the most powerful and underrated arrows in your quiver as you attempt to scale the walls of Publishing Castle. Here are just a few helpful tips.

1. A great pitch is like a poem. Every word counts.

2. Make us fall in love with your hero. Whether you're writing a novel or memoir, you have to make us root for your flawed but lovable hero.

3. Make us hate your villain. Show us someone unique and dastardly whom we can't wait to hiss at.

4. Just because your kids love to hear your story at bedtime doesn't mean you're automatically qualified to get a publishing deal. So make sure not to include this information in your pitch.

5. If you have any particular expertise that relates to your novel, tell us. Establishing your credentials will help us trust you.

6. Your pitch is your audition to show us what a brilliant writer you are; it has to be the very best of your writing.

7. Don't make your pitch a book report. Make it sing and soar and amaze.

8. A pitch is like a movie trailer. You start with an incredibly exciting/funny/sexy/romantic/etc. close-up with intense specificity, then you pull back to show the big picture and tell us the themes and broad strokes that build to a climax.

9. Leave us with a cliffhanger. The ideal reaction to a pitch is, "Oh my God, what happens next?"

10. Show us what's unique, exciting, valuable, awesome, unexpected about your project, and why it's comfortable, familiar and proven.

Here's a link to interview I did about pitching for NPR.

We're offering free 20-minute consultations (worth $100) to anyone who buys a new copy of The Essential Guide To Getting Your Book Published. The book will be available for sale at the 2014 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop.

- David Henry Sterry

David Henry Sterry is the author of 16 books, a screenwriter, comic and actor. He is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and NPR, and his work has appeared everywhere from the front cover of the Sunday New York Times Book Review to The London Times. As a screenwriter, he has written for Disney, Fox and Nickelodeon. He co-wrote the book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, with his wife and literary agent Arielle Eckstut. Together, they are "The Book Doctors." Both are part of the 2014 EBWW faculty.