Using this worksheet we were able to put together a pitch for our books. Then on the last day we had a live pitch session in front of an agent and the entire group of attendees. Just the thought made me want to hide in the corner, but at the same time, I needed the help. It was a safe place, with a real agent to give tips and pointers. I knew that if I didn't try it out I would regret it. So I put my name in the hat for the opportunity. And guess what, every person that wanted to try it out got to do so.
Before pitching though, they gave us time to work together on developing our own pitch. We worked in small groups and helped one another. The best kind of pitch they said was one that was a quick one-sentence summary of your story, two sentences top. For example, originally I did book comparisons (AKA "a mash-up") of my story. Magic Mural is Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe meets Captain Underpants. This isn't an extremely close example though. So I came up with a different one, that is more on-point and gives the stakes, which is really important.
Side note on mash-ups. I often hear people talking about their frustration when someone compares their story to something already written. They hate it when their ideas just aren't "original." Someone in my writer's group was trying to brainstorm an idea and as we compared it to popular books already on the market she would get so frustrated. Well guess what? That's a GOOD thing! When your book compares to others already out there, creating a mash-up is easy. I've heard examples of authors whose stories are entirely too unique and they find it difficult to market or to sell their books on the national market. Not to say there is no place for completely unique stories, in my opinion there aren't enough, but if your goal is a quick pitch or an easy sell you want to have the ability to mash-up.
On the other hand, your pitch doesn't have to be a mash-up of two books. One of the editors had a good point. She said that one of her authors had a fantastic one liner pitch and that pitch was what she used to promote the story to the publishing house. Then that one liner pitch made it onto the back cover of the book. It educates your agent/editor how to promote your story as well as helps sell your story to the public.
After twelve total re-writes, even more revisions, and feedback from the agent I came up with my pitch, which still feels too long: Andy Abbott is 12 and escapes problems through art, but the school Science Witch banishes him from reality. Now he must defeat the Nightmare Stalker to avoid being trapped in his nightmare for life.
I need to finish my manuscript before I can pitch this particular story (SOOO close), but I have a few others that I can and will be pitching and soon. I haven't been great about following the Twitter threads, but I am improving. I am constantly learning and will continue to share as I learn things. I hope you're doing well on your publication journey. Let me know how things are going or if you have any great tips!
