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Story pitch guide · jamditis | DecimalAI

marketingby jamditis

Story pitch guide

jamditis/story-pitch

Source jamditis/claude-skills-journalism ↗License MIT

Craft effective story pitches for different publication types and formats.

SkillScore82Maintained

Automatic

Writing & Editing pack

Last verified 8/27/2026

What it changes

Passed 18 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 13 of 22 without it.

Without skill59%

With skill82%

Checks it passed that the model alone missed

Specifies a 2-3 word identifier length for the slug.
Limits the content under the pitch label to exactly one sentence.
Uses the exact field label "**Pitch:**" for the main news summary line.

and 3 more in the full report

5 fixed13 passed either way4 still failing0 broke

Pass-rate lift: +23 pp
Tokens: +150%
Agent turns: 0%
Response time: -19%

Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/27/2026v218 of 22 cases passed with skill

Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.

Use this skill

Save it into your project's skills folder. Claude Code picks it up in its next session.

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/jamditis-story-pitch/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/jamditis-story-pitch/SKILL.md

Want it pinned and updatable? pip install "decimalai>=0.15", then decimalai skills add jamditis-story-pitch, and start Claude Code with claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.agents"

1 · One-time — install the CLI (docs ↗)

pip install "decimalai>=0.15"

2 · Get the skill — writes .agents/skills/jamditis-story-pitch/ and pins it in .decimal/skills.lock

decimalai skills add jamditis-story-pitch

No CLI? Get the same file — curl · raw file

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/jamditis-story-pitch/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/jamditis-story-pitch/SKILL.md

Raw file: /s/jamditis-story-pitch/SKILL.md ↗ · machine-readable summary at /s/jamditis-story-pitch.json ↗

Safety checks: 3 of 3 passed

Code scan CleanIntent PassedContent Clean

See it in action

One of 5 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.

1 of 5

Prompt

I cover city hall for a local news outlet and need to quickly pitch my assignment editor. A group of transit workers just started an unscheduled strike outside the main station during rush hour, shutting down several bus routes. I have secured interviews with union reps and stranded commuters and can turn this around for tonight's newsletter. Please organize this into a daily news pitch format with a slug, news summary, urgency, sources, filing timeline, and file specs.

What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked	Without skill	With skill
Uses the exact field label "Pitch:" for the main news summary line.	Missed	Passed
Limits the content under the pitch label to exactly one sentence.	Missed	Passed

case-02 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/27/2026 · answers are capped and redacted

What's inside

The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.

SKILL.md388 linessingle file

Story pitch guide

Good stories die in bad pitches. This skill covers pitch structure, angle development, and outlet-specific formatting.

When to use

Pitching stories to editors (internal or external)
Developing freelance query letters
Refining story angles before reporting
Competing for assignment in a newsroom
Proposal writing for grants or fellowships

The pitch fundamentals

What every pitch needs

The hook: Why should anyone care? Why now?
The story: What will you show/reveal/explain?
The evidence: What do you have? What can you get?
The access: Who will you talk to? What will you see?
The ask: What do you need (time, budget, resources)?

The "so what" test

Before pitching, answer:

Why this story? (significance)
Why now? (timeliness/news hook)
Why you? (access, expertise, angle)
Why this outlet? (audience fit)

If you can't answer all four, you're not ready to pitch.

Pitch templates by type

Daily news pitch

For quick-turn stories to assignment editors.

**Slug:** [2-3 word identifier]

Track record

Benchmark

18 / 22

test cases passed, vs 13 / 22 without

Adoption

Users: 0
Times used: 0

Safety and source details

SkillSafety

✓ 3 of 3 passed

Code scan15 of 15 checks clean

0 critical · 0 warning · 0 info — scanner v5 — 8/26/2026

View 15 scanner checks

live_secretremote_code_executionreverse_shelldata_exfiltrationssrf_metadataagent_snoopinganti_refusaldestructive_commandsobfuscated_unicodeunicode_homoglyphopaque_blobsuspicious_urltool_overreachtrigger_abuseprompt_injection_phrasing

IntentSafe

LLM judge · does the skill do what it claims

ContentClean

LLM judge · policy & harmful-content review

Source

Imported

jamditis / claude-skills-journalism

journalism-core/skills/story-pitch/SKILL.md

View on GitHub ↗

License MITImported 8/26/2026Version v2

Other skills for the same job

Published skills whose descriptions closely match this one, with their headline benchmark lift.

mohitagw15856/story-pitchPitch a news or feature story to an editor — the angle, why now, and how you'll report it. Use when a reporter or freelancer needs to pitch a story, sell an editor on an angle, or write a query letter to a publication. Produces a tight pitch: the hook and angle, why it matters and why now, the reporting plan and sources, your access/credibility, and the format/length fit. Distinct from media-pitch (PR pitching a story TO journalists).Close match+32 pp pass-rate lift

More skills from the same source and nearby in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.

Ready to supercharge your AI agents?

See it in action

What's inside

Story pitch guide

When to use

The pitch fundamentals

What every pitch needs

The "so what" test

Pitch templates by type

Daily news pitch

Track record

Benchmark

Adoption

SkillSafety

Source

Other skills for the same job

Related skills