Pitching and Business

Helen commented, "Whilst I haven't pitched books before, I've done plenty of pitching over the years as part of my career in professional and financial services. What's worked for me is firstly,

• ensure the target already knows you or is aware of you before you even try and pitch."

I don't know how many pitches a business person receives but they say a literary agent receives thousands of partial submissions a year. If I lived in London, where most agents seem to congregate, then meeting them at a conference or party would be possible, but even then I suspect they get mortally tired of being approached by would-be authors talking work over an alcoholic beverage. I should think the best we can do is read their websites. Some give lots of detailed instructions on how to approach them, others give very little; but at least we can check that they are seeking new authors, which is vital, and that they want stories in the genre we are writing.  Then it is sensible and polite to address them by name - with the correct spelling - and introduce ourselves in the covering letter. Does that fit your suggestion or miss it by a mile?

"Secondly, really understand his/her work style and preferences (you could even ask them long before you pitch)."

 That’s a difficult one. Looking over their author list gives some idea of their past choices, but isn't foolproof as each title is so different. Making contact with an author who works with the agent would be one way of getting the information. Some agents are quite specific and say what they require on the website – and of course, the sensible person matches those requirements.

• "Finally, understand their next steps in the the pitch process (e.g. is his/her next step to present to a committee, board etc). By understanding this stage you will be able to prepare your pitch in a format that makes their life a little easier"

Here we seem closer. If the agent accepts you  and your story, then s/he has to pitch it to editors of publishing houses, who then has to convince her colleagues that her story is the one they should take on. It follows that if we provide a killer title, a succinct tag line or selling blurb that really works, then it makes their job so much easier.

 "Just my observations - not sure if they translate from the business world to the wonderful and exciting literary world."

It was good to see them, Helen, and thank you. Do tell if you think I'm missing opportunities!

Pitching

The Matterhorn. 

It's that stage again. The one I keep avoiding, putting off and then forcing myself to do as a necessary chore. Then, of course, I don't do a very good job. How nice if I could learn to love pitching my novel to an agent!

Here's what some of the experts say - first of all Blake Snyder, the Save the Cat man

• the pitch should be somewhat ironic (huh? don't get that, especially as he's American and there is this great myth that Americans don't get irony at all)
• paint a compelling mental picture (I try, I try!)
• give an idea of genre and market (Well, OK, but my book isn't like any other book out there. And it seems a little conceited to liken my work to Sansom or Gregory or any other successful novelist. Can anyone imagine a mix of Sansom and Gregory? I'm not sure I can.)
• give the work a killer title (Yes, of course. Easier said than done. When I look at the half dozen titles my wip has had over the last three years, I feel like throwing myself under a bus. No, change that - I'll toss my wip under a bus.)

Other experts say: state who the hero is, his goal, why he needs it and what stops him attaining it. Focus on the conflict at the heart of the novel. (A little more practical than Snyder's instructions, so I'll remember this)

Rachelle Gardner asks:

• what's the story? RG has a blog post which claims that pitchers often tell her the emotional theme or journey of the hero but don't tell her THE STORY. H'mmm. Food for thought there.
• Give your protgonist's choices, and the conflicts he faces
• Consequences - what happens if he doesn't attain his goals

I know the answer to all those bullet points, but putting them all together in vibrant exciting prose is going to be hard going. Sigh. It's got to be done. Wish me luck.

PS Have just heard the York Minster does not want Richard III to be interred there. It's quite happy for Leicester to have him. I guess York just can't cope with any more tourists than it already has.

Switching and pitching

The cold weather is back again, and this cold grey pic of the Tyne estuary says it all, I think. My toes are cold while I sit here in our smallest bedroom (easiest to keep warm, and my study) and type this because we are trying not to use the central heating overmuch. It is expensive now to run it like we used to. I am trying to ignore the fact that I have to visit the dentist this morning. I can safely say I am not looking forward to that.

So, I concentrate on working. I have three completed stories and I'm working on them all.
It's not exactly revision, except for Shadows. An e-publisher in the States has asked if I can escalate the internal conflict between H/h, so I'm going through and giving the pair of them a tougher time. Keep Trust lacks plainly stated goals/motivation on the page, according to my critique group, and I think they're right, so I'm going through and doing that before (I hope!) I get any bites from the partials out on the story.
Happily I finished my final revisions on Till The Day Go Down yesterday and it is with my publisher awaiting his comments. So now I'm working on two stories instead of three. It works quite well, for switching, I find, prevents boredom.

I read an interesting comment yesterday about the difference between marketing and publicity. The former is mostly selling what you don't have and teasing peoples' interest in it. The latter is selling something you do have. So once a book is published, Marketing becomes Publicity.

Marketing is the interesting bit. We're told to Pitch to Editors - should we ever see these rare creatures. If I lived in London it might be a possibility, but here in Tyne & Wear I doubt there's two to meet together. There is a poetry publisher - Bloodaxe Books - and I remember the man who runs it was at uni when I was there. There's also Myrmidon and Ed Handysides, but I hear little of them and he is not into publishing romances.

Back to the main point. Pitch to Editors. Boil our story down to a couple of sentences we can tell others and get them interested. Invent a catchy slogan or a tight logline that hints at the beginning, middle, and end of our hero’s adventure, and this will give a better chance of selling the project. They say the discipline of doing this makes the writing of the story so much better as well, but since I haven't come up with a good logline yet for any of the three books I've written, I can see that disaster looms on the horizon.
So, life was never so easy as to cross a field.

Sound bites and elevator pitches

This gloomy doorway is the exit from the kitchen at Beynac Chateau. Sixteenth century, and built on as a "modern extension," it looks as much like a torture chamber as a kitchen. It makes me feel very grateful for modern appliances!



I hear some weird and wonderful expressions around these days. I am reliably told that LOG LINES, SOUND BITES AND ELEVATOR PITCH all refer to the art of pitching your novel to an editor in the shortest number of sentences and yet still managing to make it sound riveting. "Imagine you are in an elevator and that's all the time you have to make your pitch," chirrups an American author. They should be so lucky. Don't they know that in the UK a tall building is all of eight floors and by the time you've realised who is in the lift with you, you've barely got two words out before you've arrived? If you live in London you might be luckier, I suppose. There's always the GPO tower, but then, what self-respecting editor would be fooling about there?

I saw these on a friend's blog - and howled. Thank you Ginger

APPALIACHIAN-AMERICAN (hillbilly)
BREASTED AMERICAN (babe or chick)
LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY (dumb blonde)
HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE (easy)
PREVIOUSLY ENJOYED COMPANION (has been around)
LOW COST PROVIDER (two-bit hooker)
VERBALLY REPETITIVE (nag)
LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY (beer gut)
OVERLY CAUCASIAN (a bad dancer)
RECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION (acts like a total ass)
REAR CLEAVAGE (butt crack)
FOLLICLE REGRESSION (balding)