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Rock Your Pitch

When going to a writers conference, you need to pack more than comfortable shoes. You need to pack your best pitch.
Because when you get that face to face with an editor, you want to rock your pitch.

Here’s how to put your pitch together with all the right elements, and get it polished and packed for a writing conference.

Don’t Fret

A good pitch will convey your enthusiasm for your project, reveal the mood of the story and create enough excitement and curiosity in the editor to entice them to request a proposal. What pitching doesn’t need to be is a heart-stopping, frightening experience. No matter how you shake with unnecessary nerves or how badly you stutter through your pitch, chances are excellent that if your story fits the editor’s line and is something she is looking for, she will ask to see a proposal.

So relax. A good pitch will do the work for you. Your only task when you enter an agent/editor appointment is to have done your homework.

Pre-Conference:

1. Can you explain your story in High Concept? High Concept (HC) is a Hollywood term for presenting a story idea in one line

, giving the audience an overview of both story plot and theme. Yes, you read that correctly, one line. If you’ve seen the movie, “The Player” then you are familiar with this method. The first step in preparing your pitch is to find your HC, which is essentially utilizing familiar plots, stories and myths in comparison to your story.

When I started working on my book, STEALING THE BRIDE, I used the HC line, “It Happened One Night meets the Jane Austen.”

I once heard Susan Wiggs describe her book THE LIGHTHOUSE as “Beauty and the Beast in a lighthouse.”

Now you find yours.

2. Why High Concept works. Any time you use a familiar theme/story/fairy tale, it comes ready made with emotion, memories, and images. By using fairy tales, myths, beloved movies and legends that everyone is familiar with, you compare and contrast your book setting an immediate mood. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on back story or other elements of your plot

apoteketreceptfritt.com

, because the moment you use an HC pitch, the editor knows exactly what your manuscript is all about.

If I were to say, “Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending,” you immediately know this is a story of star-crossed lovers from feuding families who don’t die at the end.

3. After the HC, what comes next? The body of the pitch tells the editor how you have spun a new take on a familiar story. A good pitch will create excitement about your story, reveal theme, entice readers with the conflict and convey the uniqueness of your story.

In essence what I’m describing are the elements of a back copy blurb (BCB). Take four or five books that are similar to what you write and study the back copy, paying particular attention to the use of language and structure. (Here are the BCBs for Six Impossible Things, Along Came a Duke, and Brazen Angel) One very important thing to remember: a BCB leaves you hanging as to story resolution, a good pitch won’t!

4. The real work begins. To start, divide a sheet of paper into three sections, heading one with the name of your heroine, the other, your hero, and the third, write in your HC line. (If you aren’t writing a romance, you can just use your main characters.)

Under each section, brainstorm at least twenty words that describe each of these headings. Try to avoid physical descriptions, rather think of words which get at the character’s essence. For the heroine of STEALING THE BRIDE, Lady Diana Fordham, I used: spinster, daring, resolute, determined, inventive, crafty, sensual, risk taker, concealed, audacious, etc. These words reveal her personality, her conflict, her goals, her story. When you are finished, you have a project orientated thesaurus from which to draft your pitch.

5. Drafting your pitch. In the first two paragraphs, outline the conflict and goals for your characters. Again, go look at the BCBs linked above and read the copy, or pull similar books from your shelves and begin reading the backs. The more you study, the more you read, the more you’ll see how great BCBs are crafted.

As you work:

• Try to draw out the theme, mood or quality of the story by using words from your thesaurus. If the story is suspense, the audience should feel the drama in your story. If it is a warm and fuzzy romance, the audience should go away feeling the need for a cozy blanket and cup of cocoa.

• Next, make sure you have demonstrated that your heroine and hero’s goals/conflict are opposing. Simply put, show how your story conflict is “two dogs, one bone,” that the character’s goals are in opposition. Show the editor that your story has depth and the hero and heroine are going to be battling from the first page to the resolution to have that bone.

• For what I call the collision paragraph, I try to demonstrate the romance of the story. Why these two people are so different or alike and why they will ultimately find love and romance. Again, this is a great place to draw your HC theme into the pitch, and look for language that will evoke the sexual tension/mood of your story.

• Finally, make sure your language includes your enthusiasm for your story. This is your 30 seconds of fame, make it the most memorable 30 seconds of your audience’s life. Leave them breathless to read your entire story.

6. Practice your pitch. Find someone who has never heard the elements of your story before and practice your pitch on them. Listen carefully to their questions

, because these may well be the same questions an editor will ask, and you can either rework your pitch to fix the holes or have a ready answer with which to fill in the questions.

Anticipate as many questions as you can about conflict, motivation, plot devices and the resolution, and then think out or write out your answers.

When You Get There

7. During the appointment. Here is where you need to breathe. The appointment is just that, an appointment. The next 10 minutes will not make or break your life. Truly. So just breathe and do your thing.

In group appointments, listen to the questions the editor asks other authors. This will give you a good idea as to what the editor is looking for and what they don’t want to see. Refocus your pitch accordingly.

Don’t ever monopolize the conversation, comment on other pitches, or interrupt anyone else. Never.

Politely introduce yourself, offer your HC line, and then after taking another deep breath and therefore allowing your marvelous idea to set the mood, give your complete pitch and then close your mouth and smile. Answer questions from the editor with direct, concise answers. Thank them for their time and ask them if they would like to see the complete manuscript or sample chapters and a synopsis.

That’s it. Done. Kudos. Huzzah.

8. After the appointment. Make sure you send the editor exactly what they requested promptly. Sadly, editors say that they hear wonderful story ideas all the time and then never see the manuscripts. I know!!

Have your requested materials headed for the editor’s Inbox as soon as you get home. Write “Requested Materials” in the subject line and remind the editor in the opening lines of your email that you met at the “XYZ” conference and the attached materials are what they requested, consider putting in a few lines from your pitch to remind them about your story and then let the magic happen.

Good luck and Happy Conferencing! Questions? Drop a line in the comments or send me a note on Twitter. Links in the sidebar.

Like this post? Here’s another popular post: The 21 Best Books on Writing

One comment to “Rock Your Pitch”

  1. Laurie Benson
    October 4th, 2013 at 11:02 am · Link

    Timeless advice Elizabeth. Thanks for posting this. I just linked to this post on Twitter for the 2013 NJRW Conference.

    Regards,
    Laurie Benson







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