I am spending time researching how to pitch a book for an upcoming Pitch event. If you haven’t seen these before it is on Twitter or Facebook or any social media app where publishers or agents read as many pitches for books that are posted over a specified amount of time (one pitch per author) and choose the book/novel they would like to read and consider for publication.
What is a pitch? It is a boiled down to basics premise for your book. These Pitch Events have a limited number of words/characters allowed, so you have to put your whole 50,000 to 120,000 (or more) word novel into 280 characters max.
Yep.
I first researched some previous pitch events that are still available online. Found some leftover Pitch Wars where you could see what other writers had submitted. Just to get the feel. This pitch is something you would put in the query letter to a publisher and practicing it is useful even if you don’t enter a Pitch event.
Next, I went over older books and online courses that I have taken over the years to perfect my query for previous unpublished books I have. I finish books and in my excitement of a finished product; I send out queries or enter contests. If it doesn’t fly the first try, I go on to the next big idea. I know about the authors who continue to send their stuff out, but I am not one of them. Yet.
I keep writing though. And I know I am learning how to do this better. Hence the newest pitch research.
Wonderful formulas come out of this research. I have them on sticky notes all around my desk.
“Flavor. Opening, obstacle, and quest.”
“Intriguing protagonist + ACTIVE goal (PLOT PROBLEM) + Stakes + Ticking Clock = AWESOME STORY.”
(Kristen Lamb, WordPress, 8/25/2021)
I even purchased a book specifically on pitches. It is not on limited character pitches, but it is still useful. I am a total writing advice junkie, and any new way to define the writing process appeals to me.
The book (more like a long essay at 47 pages) is Gotta Read It! Five Simple Steps to a Fiction Pitch That Sells by Libbie Hawker. And just like it promises, it tells you the five simple steps that are needed in a pitch. I will adapt it to a Twitter pitch. Fewer words. I won’t give it away for the sake of Libby Hawker’s future sales.
The best part of this research comes in the stuff you don’t put in a pitch.
Don’t put a question in it. Questions can be answered and if the reader is in a bad mood, the answer can be snarky and they will give up on your story. Hawker puts a question in her sample pitch when she gives that advice, qualifying it. If the only one who can answer the question is the protagonist questions work. The question draws the reader into the story.
Don’t use character names unless the name will give a flavor or time period to the book.
Don’t go into every detail. This is a given for a 280 character pitch on Twitter. The pitch cannot sound generic, though.
“Impoverished female makes a deal for money with rich man and they fall in love.”
Who would read it? It is the plot for a lot of books.
“A great pitch will tell us the key themes of the story, the types of characters and the conflicts they will face in the course of their romance – leaving us wanting to know more! “
Harlequin 12/13/2021, Join Us for the #HarlequinRegency Pitch Event! – Write for Harlequin
That’s it. So easy and so hard. Why am I spending weeks on this? Because the end game is to have the publisher say, “I want to read this story!”
No pressure there.
Wish me luck.
So sad for me. My shiny pitch did not attract the editor this time. Maybe a new lure will work? Keep casting!
JKL Martin 