• Only 25 Words? by Deborah Riley-Magnus

     
    Published: June 15th, 2012 05:00 AM  Views: 743  
    1 Comment Comments
    There are hundreds of ways to do anything from washing the dishes to planning a career. They range from the most effective for optimum results to, well, crash-and-burn. As writers we’ve tried them all for story ideas, plot power and character development. We’ve sought out and perfected the right tension and climax for the book and even laid awake nights thinking about how to make it all better. We want everything to be right.

    So … why do we drop the ball when it comes to creating the perfect pitch for our book?

    When do you pitch your book? Think about this because it’s not just the obvious. Yes, you’ll pitch in your query to literary agents and/or publishers but there’s a lot more pitching in the life of your book. In fact, there’s a ton of pitching throughout your entire writing career. Even if you’re self published you will be querying. You’ll be querying reviewers to read your book and groups for the opportunity to speak about your book or do a book signing. You may be querying the media (live or online) to interview you, or you may simply be querying the press to talk about you and your book for news reasons. You query to speak on writing panels. You query book stores and book clubs. You query all the time!

    That’s a LOT of querying. And, no matter what a writer queries for, there are sure to be rejections on the horizon. We’re used to that. Like everything else in the world, there are a hundred ways to query, but only a few that are extremely effective. To reduce the number of rejections you need to remember one simple thing …

    If you send off a query and receive a rejection, it was not your book, your request for review, your request to speak or your request for an interview that was rejected.

    It was your query.

    Of course there is always the possibility that you queried the wrong agent or reporter or group, but assuming that you did your due diligence and sought out the correct contact, there is little reason for a rejection unless your query was inadequate.

    The core of any good query is a 25-30 word pitch that tells the recipient everything they need to know about your book. Yes, just 25-30 words.

    Oh, have I frightened you? Would you like a glass of water? Some fresh air? Maybe sit down and take a few deep breaths. Of course I’m making a joke about your reaction but as an Author Success Coach I’ve seen just about every reaction possible when I explain to a client that they must take their 90,000 word manuscript down to just 25-30 words for their core pitch. It can be daunting. Even though lots of writers can pound out 25 words that describe their story, there are several other elements that must be present within your core pitch. Using the RIGHT 25 words can change everything about how a person views you and your book as a good prospect to review, interview, write a news story about or … in many cases … request a full manuscript which can lead to agent representative or a publishing contract.

    Now the question is … how do you create your perfect 25-30 word core pitch that can take you from query to book sales success?

    From July 23 to August 5, 2012, I’ll be teaching the workshop “25 Words from Query to Sales Success” here at SavvyAuthors. Join me and get your core power pitch ready, no matter where you are in your writing or publishing process, whether you write fiction or non-fiction. This little collection of the right 25-30 words will serve you well!

    Deborah Riley-Magnus is an author and an Author Success Coach. She has a twenty-seven year professional background in marketing, advertising and public relations as a writer for print, television and radio. She writes fiction and non-fiction.

    Deborah produces several pieces weekly for various websites. She also writes an author industry blog and teaches online and live workshops as The Author Success Coach. She belongs to several writing and professional organizations. Since January 2011, she’s had two novels and a non-fiction, Finding Author Success, released through Central Avenue Publishing.

    She’s lived on both the east and west coast of the United States and has traveled the country widely.


    AUTHOR LINKS
    “Finding Author Success” print and ebook onAmazon, B&N, Apple& Sony!
    I blog - http://rileymagnus.wordpress.com/
    I teach - http://theauthorsuccesscoach.com/
    I fiction – http://coldincalifornia.com
    I write - http://deborahriley-magnus.com/
    I tweet – http://twitter.com/rileymagnus
    I facebook - http://www.facebook.com/deborah.rileymagnus
    I should be sooo tired!
    Categories:
    1. Industry
    2. Writing Life
    Comments 1 Comment
    1. Melinda B. Pierce's Avatar
      I love this workshop - and getting the pitch down to 25 words is hard the first time, but now I can do it with every story I start.
      Reply
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