The schedule of events for KillerCon has been updated, and man am I excited!There are a lot of different things that tickle my fancy on that list, but what I'd like to talk about today are the pitch sessions being offered by the con. The sessions are free; I just need to send the info about my book to the committee so they can pair me up with an appropriate editor/agent.
So now I'm finally struggling with what I knew was going to be a real sticking point for me: the pitch for my novel.
I did some research and found a couple of great articles here and here, but I feel like I've just scratched the tip of the iceberg here. Do you guys have any advice for a good pitch, or any links you'd like to direct me to? I will be happy to list them in a future post for everyone to see. One of the things I'm really proud of with this blog is the fact I've been documenting as much as I can about the process of the first novel - from conception to execution, planning, promoting, and (hopefully, in the future) publishing. I want to share as much information as I can with fledgling writers like me, so hopefully it'll be just a little easier for the next person in line.
I've been tinkering with the pitch. I wrote a few paragraphs, but what I've been finding as I read more about this process is that the pitch itself needs to be no more than four or five sentences long. Anything longer than that and it's considered a synopsis, I think. Anybody have experience with this?
I'm going to write more about this in the days and weeks to come. Any and all advice/help/suggestions you may have are more than welcome. Tomorrow I'll post what I have so far on my pitch, and I hope you'll tell me what you think and offer some constructive criticism.
Have a fantastic Monday, my friends!
9 comments:
A most ebjoyable post, will look forward to reading some more,
Have a good day,
Yvonne.
What a great opportunity. Let's meet this week and I'll see if I can help you out. You may want both a pitch and a synopsis. Imncase after your pitch, they ask you to hand them a synopsis!
And you're right - the pitch needs to be short - what you could tell an agent in an elevator ride about your book.
I don't know if I'll be much help, but I'll read your pitch tomorrow.
Isn't it supposed to sound a bit like a back cover blurb? I look forward to seeing what the more experienced authors have to say.
i don't really know jack about pitching.
But i'm excited to hear all about the conference
I love pitches...will look forward to your tomorrow :-)
I'm not much help in this area. I do find Elana Johnson's advice for everything spot on - I'm sure she's got something for pitches in her blog. Suzette & Bethany at Shooting Stars also did a section on pitches (I'm pretty sure). Good luck with it :)
Good Luck B, I'm routing for you!
I'm really BAD at this, but here are a couple things I think help. You don't want the pitch to MISLEAD, but it isn't 'what your book is about' NEARLY so much as a sexy marketing teaser to get somebody to want to READ some of the book--the shorter the better.
Other recommendation: get it written and throw it out for feedback, but ask people NOT to fix it, but rather to shoot questions and holes all through it so you can see what is and is not working. (believe me, if they try to rewrite the thing, they will display a book that has a totally different story than yours does)--but that feedback DOES help.
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