Honing Your Pitch

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. I'm just back from my vacation trip with my 3 sisters and had a fabulous time. It was such fun to spend time with my sisters - we talked a lot, reminisced a lot and laughed a lot. Oh, and I managed to get 'rescued" by a group of very nice (and cute!) fireman - that may be going into a book some day :)

But on to the actual post for today.  We're moving into conference season so I thought it might be time to have a refresher on pitching to an agent or editor.  So here are a few notes taken from a workshop I give on the subject.

Pitching to an agent or editor has never been one of my favorite things to do.  Trying to summarize my masterpiece into a few sentences for this person who has the power to further (or not) my career is somewhat intimidating. 

The good news is that there is an art to the pitch, and anyone can master it.  While this doesn’t make it any more ‘fun’, feeling prepared does give one the confidence boost to get through the session with some measure of aplomb.

Once you’ve crafted your pitch (don’t worry, we’ll get to the how’s of that in a minute) - PRACTICE.  And this means saying it OUT LOUD, over and over, until it comes naturally.  

Grab anyone who will sit still long enough to listen, and pitch to them as if they were an agent or editor.  If you can’t find a willing vict-, uhm, volunteer, practice in front of a mirror.  Make sure the words flow naturally, that you aren't rushing it (my own biggest problem), and that the words you’ve chosen present your work in an active and interesting light.

If you want to write down your pitch, or just memory-jogging bullet points, use 3x5 index cards and bring them along. 

Ok, the big day arrives, and the moderator signals it’s your turn.  What do you do? 

·         Take a deep breath and try to relax.

·         Smile, introduce yourself, shake her/his hand.

·         Once introductions are out of the way, give your pitch.

·         Let your enthusiasm and excitement for your work show through - it’ll be contagious!

·         After you’ve delivered the opening pitch, sit back and give the editor/agent an opportunity to comment.  This is VERY important.  You need to get feedback on what you’ve presented so far, and you want to let the agent/editor ask questions.  Be prepared to provide information on:

°         additional details about the book you just pitched

°         details about yourself and your writing credits - this is a good time to mention contest wins, group affiliations, other writing credits, etc.

°         high concept information on any other works you have in progress or planned.

·         When time is up, shake hands, thank her for her time and consideration, and leave promptly.  DO NOT OVERSTAY YOUR WELCOME.

Now, on to crafting the pitch itself.  There are lots of different schools of thought on this.  What I’m going to give you here is my own slant, based on information I’ve garnered from other workshops, how-to articles, and (sometimes painful) personal experience.

First, I’ll give you the checklist and then we’ll go into more detail and look at an example (NOTE: this is for a romance. Tailor it as necessary for other genres)

The pitch should include:

·         genre/sub-genre  and, if appropriate, targeted line

·         approximate word count

·         setting

·         high concept or trope

·         Heroine: who she is, what she wants, what stands in her way

·         Hero: who he is, what he wants, what stands in his way

·         Romantic conflict: what attracts them to each other/keeps them physically together, what keeps them from committing/holds them emotionally apart.

Be concise - you should be able to pack all this info into 6-9 well crafted sentences.

The first part should be easy.  Simply open with something along the lines of:

THE LADY AND THE TIGER is a single title Regency-era historical of approx 95,000 words.

Now, what do I mean by High Concept or Trope? 

Well, there are two ways to approach this.  You can use one of the well-known tropes such as:

·         Marriage of Convenience

·         Secret Baby

·         Beauty and the Beast

·         Poor Little Rich Girl

By the way, your story may contain elements of more than one of these.  When pitching, however, I would stick to the one or two main themes.

The second technique is that of comparing your story to well-known characters, stories or movies.  This would look something like:

·         Elle Woods meets Mr. Spock

·         Sherlock Holmes meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer

·         Pride and Prejudice in Outer Space

Either approach gives the agent/editor an immediate image of what kind of story you will be pitching.

Next we define the heroine: who she is, what she wants and what stands in her way.

Part 1:  Who she is.  By this, I don’t mean her name.  Instead, paint a picture: 

• a single mother of triplets
• the only female in a prestigious law firm
• an ugly duckling who inherits a modeling agency

Don’t you immediately get a sense for what each of these women might be like?

Part 2:  What she wants.   This is the goal she is working toward and your description should hint at why. 

Part 3:  What stands in her way.  This is, of course, the obstacle (internal or external) that keeps her from achieving her goal. 

Once you’ve completed the above process for the heroine, do the same for the hero.

Now for the Romantic Conflict.

Part 1 - What attracts them to each other/keeps them together physically.

Even though they may not be initially attracted to one another, you must give them a reason to stay in close proximity for an extended period of time, allowing the attraction to develop. 

Examples of this would be:

·         their work/social circumstances throw them together often

·         they both seek the same prize/item and must work together to acquire it

·         they are stranded together

Part 2 - What keeps them from committing/holds them emotionally apart.  This explains why, once the attraction builds, they cannot achieve their happily ever after, at least not without significant cost.

Ok, so lets see an example of how this would work.  Here’s one based on one of my own books.

THE UNEXPECTED BRIDE is a single title Americana of approx  92,000 words.  It’s a Poor Little Rich Girl/Marriage of Convenience story set in 1892 NE Texas.

The heroine, a hopelessly inept, bookish heiress, sets out to prove she can make it on her own by taking a job as a governess, only to find she’s botched things yet again when she finds her new ‘boss’ thinks she’s come west to be his mail order bride.

The hero, a lone wolf who thinks himself unlovable, is dead set on adopting his recently orphaned nieces and nephews so the children can stay together as a family, even if it means he has to marry a snooty debutante who doesn’t want him.

The two strike an uneasy bargain to marry - agreeing to stay wed only long enough to finalize his adoption of the children.  Their plan is to get an annulment afterwards, allowing her to quietly return to her home ‘back east’.  This means, of course, they must treat the marriage as a purely platonic business arrangement.  Things get complicated in a hurry, however, as the attraction sizzles between them and threatens all their well-laid plans.

This pitch managed to cover every one of our bullet points in just 8 sentences - and hopefully grabbed your interest and made you want to learn more in the process.  And yes, I know it's a bit formal in tone - feel free to use whatever degree of formality/informality you are comfortable with.

As you can see, preparation is the key.  It's important to understand that this is not just make-work - it is your chance to sell yourself as a professional writer, and to sell your work as a marketable gem.

One last word of caution - don’t expect to actually strike a deal at the pitch session, no matter how good a job you do.  A conference appointment is just an opportunity to connect, an in-person query if you will.  But it could be the door that opens onto something absolutely wonderful. 

So prepare, practice, and when the time comes, you’ll be ready to wow  ‘em!


Now it's your turn. What do you think - did this resonate with you? Do you have a checklist of your own that you use when pitching? How is it different or the same as this one?