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When you have finally completed a novel after months or years of writing and rewriting, the last thing you want to do is crunch down your masterpiece into the three tiny sentences of a pitch.
Too bad. It has to be done.
From rich and famous authors to those who are pre-published, every writer who wants to sell their book needs to have a pitch for every single one of their projects. Writing a great pitch is the next step in the long process of publication. Don’t fight it, embrace the evitable, pursue the necessary skills and then you’ll be able to dazzle your audience when they ask, “What’s your book about?”
The good news is that after you write the pitch, you can use it all over the place. Query letters need a pitch paragraph. In-person pitches are self-explanatory. If you are pitching on Savvy, which you should really do, you can cut and paste your pitch, then engage in a live discussion with the agent or editor. You can use the pitch at the lunch table during a writers conference. You can even dazzle your mother-in-law.
Take the time to write a dynamic, succinct and captivating pitch. It’s worth it.
On to the pitch! This one comes from Leslie D. Please notice that she put the title and genre in the opening sentence!
In A Fault in Time, a 90,000 word Time Travel adventure with romantic elements, a firestorm catapults single mother Veronica Ramirez to 1849 San Francisco, where she lands in a gold rush bordello, with no freaking idea how to return home to her young daughter.
Clipper Ship officer, Stephen McAlester, is certain she's not the amnesiac Spanish lady she claims, but finds her gruff innocence oddly compelling. Veronica, against all good sense and better judgment, falls for the methodical man with dark eyes and shiny boots.
Veronica learns the way home is simply a matter of enslaving herself and her time travel abilities to an innocently predatory young woman. She can break free but it risks everyone she loves and could change the future.
Great job LD! The first two sentences dump us right into the action. They use active and fun language like “catapults” and “no freaking idea.” The stakes are right up front (must get home to her daughter because she’s a single mom) and you offer solid character details that set the stage.
I do have a couple questions. Where does the firestorm come from? It seems a bit out of place. In the second sentence, the use of the word “Lady.” If Veronica is in a bordello, the term ‘lady” seems out of sync. What do you mean by “gruff innocence?”
The third sentence needs some adjustments.
Veronica learns the way home is simply a matter of enslaving herself and her time travel abilities to an innocently predatory young woman. She can break free but it risks everyone she loves and could change the future.
In the first sentence it said that a firestorm caused Veronica’s time travel, not that she had an ability to do so on her own. This is confusing. Can you clarify this part of your story for me?
Some incongruous language is throwing me off too. Are you trying to play words off each other? Simply and enslaving, innocently and predatory are contradictory and confusing. Try cutting some of the details and ramping up the stakes.
Example:
When Veronica discovers the quickest way home risks everyone she loves and could change the future, she must…(do what)?
This last line can be the kind of cliffhanger that will make agents and editors fall all over themselves to get a look at your full manuscript. No pressure.
LD, I’d really love to see what you come up with! You are almost there!
I received a flurry of pitches too late to make it into this post, but check back! I promise to do my best to get to everyone’s submissions.
To pimp your pitch, submit to PimpMyPitch@SavvyAuthors.com
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