Pitching

Every year, there is this amazing conference I like to attend called Life, the Universe, Everything (LTUE) in Provo, Utah. While I was there, I signed up for two separate pitch sessions. One was with a publisher, and one was with an agent. It was exciting, stressful, rewarding, educational... Everything I hoped it would be. I did a lot of research before pitching, and thought I'd share some of the main points I discovered.

First off, there are basically three different kinds of pitches:

1st: The Elevator Pitch

2nd: A Conference Pitch

3rd: A Query Letter.

All three of these are different forms of presenting your book, but at the heart of all three of them is the same question... What is your story about?

You would think that answering this question would be easy, but the truth is, learning to narrow down my novel to a few key sentences was write a query was almost as hard as writing the entire novel.

First of all let's talk about how each of these pitches should look.

An elevator pitch is one sentence to hook your audience and make them ask questions.

A conference pitch is what you would say after that hooking sentence. You follow up with about a paragraph worth of storytelling that captivates your audience even more and makes them want to read the book.

A query letter is the above two pitches, but lengthened to about two paragraphs. This can be more of a summary of your book, but should absolutely draw your audience in. This summary is followed by a paragraph describing the genre, word count, title, and comparable titles, then another paragraph of your personal biography and qualifications.

Something my writers group did to help us become more confident about pitching, was we made shirts with the following on the back.

Rachel Huffmire

Ask me about "Granted".

This was super helpful, because people continually asked me about my book, in the hall, before class started, at lunch. I had so many opportunities to practice. I would start with the elevator pitch, and if they showed interest, I would continue with the conference version. By the time I was ready to pitch to agents and editors, I had already had plenty of run-throughs to get my jitters out. Plus, I made some excellent friends and we beta read for each other.

All in all, my recommendations are, if your novel is ready to query, try pitching. It is a great way to meet people and a better way to get your foot in the door. When I pitched to the publishing house, they requested a full manuscript and asked about my other work. They even invited me down to their office to take a private tour and let me sign my name on their wall. Because I put myself out there last year, I had an opportunity to "level up" in my understanding of the publishing world. It was a great experience. If you have a pitch, leave a comment! Practice pitching here. I'd love to see what you're working on!