Getting Your Pitch Right

What is a Pitch?
Components of a Great Pitch
How to Pitch
Pitching Your Project
Sample Pitches

What is a Pitch?

Michael Korda, editor in chief at Simon & Schuster, hit the nail on the head when he said, “If you can't describe a book in one or two pithy sentences that would make you or your mother want to read it, then of course you can't sell it.” - The Wall Street Journal, June 26, 1984

Components of a Great Pitch

Create dynamic sound bites sometimes called talking points. Susan Harrow, of Publicity Secrets, describes these, “… as the essential messages you want to convey. Describe out loud the most important ideas, concepts, and points of your book as they relate to the idea you are pitching. These memory nuggets consist of anecdotes, facts, statistics, stories, or something extraordinary, controversial, shocking, funny, humorous, romantic, poignant, moving, or dramatic.”

Jill Lublin, of Promising Promotions, teaches her clients how to develop 30-second pitches. Within these short pitches you must state the issue that's tied to your story and connect it to your audience. Why would they care? Avoid useless facts about your book, your background, topics you speak on, and other boring trivia. Pretend you have 30 seconds to convince your audience to book you on a radio show.

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How to Pitch

It is important to practice your pinch until you have it down pat. Practices it front of friends and other writers. Practice until it rolls naturally off your tongue.

"Imagine this: You're in the elevator with one of the producers of The Oprah Show. What are you going to say as you're zipping up nine floors to get them interested in you? That's your elevator pitch. A quick 1-2 sentence sound bite that will leave them hungry for more. If crafting this sound bite is challenging for you, consider this: it's not about your book, it's about what your book can do for your reader. Don't pitch the book, pitch the benefits because in the end it's all about the WIIFM (what's in it for me?) factor." - Penny C. Sansevieri, Author Marketing Experts, Inc. and From Book to Bestseller: An Insider's Guide to Publicizing and Marketing Your Book! and Get Published Today! An Insider's Guide to Publishing Success.

“I tell people they have to condense their wonderful stories, scenes and characters into one, or two, sentences. Editors and agents don't have time to listen to a twenty-minute, point-by-point, description of their plot. They need to "hook 'em" right off the bat. Here's the pitch I used for my first novel, After Anne: 'After Anne is the story of the friendship between two women... one is having trouble with her kids, one has breast cancer. It's about the power of friendship to get you through hard times.” - Roxanne (Roxy) Henke

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Pitching Your Project

There is skill in knowing how to pitch your book project. Jan Coleman, an author and popular conference speaker on the subject of pitching, shares from her experiences on pitching. She describes a pitch as, "A verbal query, your project sound bite. If you can't describe it, you can't sell it." Here are her tips:

What do Editors Look For?

• Fresh, salable ideas.
• Is the author passionate about project?
• Clear in describing it?
• Confident about message?
• Qualified to write it?

Preparing the Pitch

• Know your material. What your book/story will offer the reader. Know publishing house, their style & needs.
• Be familiar with magazine's features & format. Craft your pitch to what they publish & what the category it fits into.
• Know similar books and why yours is different, if possible.

Main Concept - What's it all about? What's the felt need? The universal theme?

• Nonfiction: Must go beyond your personal story. Narrow the focus. Faith is too broad; acting out faith in a hostile world, narrower.
• Fiction: What's the genre? Setup, conflict, resolution. No time for plot points. Intrigue the editor by the story description.
• Fiction try Hollywood High Concept; Tap into movies, best sellers. It instantly communicates the concept.
  - The Perfect Storm in an RV - a true adventure story in a fifth wheeler during Florida hurricane.
  - Gone with the Wind in World War II - NY heiress sells her soul to keep Long Island mansion.
  - Seabiscuit in the Yukon - three women find redemption as they train sled dogs for the Iditarod.
  - Monk teams with Colombo - two mismatched detectives thrown together to solve a murder case.

Tone & Pace 

• Nonfiction: What does project "feel" like? Anecdotal with contemporary stories. Informational and reflective with group study questions. Humorous and friendly. Practical and hard hitting.
• Fiction: A gripping literary novel with a complex character, a suspenseful page-turner, a light and humorous look at a mid-life marriage, romance and mystery in a high country adventure, tense drama of faith, a tender but forbidden romance.

Approach - What's Your Angle?

• What's your slant, the hook?
• What makes it stand out from others?
• Do you offer a fresh, unique approach to the topic?

Who's Your Reader (Target Audience)?

• Narrow your focus. Not too broad, not too specific. Women (hurting, professional) teens, (troubled) believers, (mature, seeking deeper meaning in life), men (sports buffs, boomers, X-ers), moms (young, empty nesters, stressed), postmoderns

Benefits

• Nonfiction: What will the reader take away? Challenged in faith, more joyful, better equipped, encouraged in despair?
• Fiction: What insight or spiritual lesson does the main character learn? Resolve what issue?

You - the Author

• Qualifications: speaker, teacher, pastor, ministry director. What's your passion? - “I was inspired to write the book after …” “I have experience in …” Any big name endorsers? Save marketing ideas for after the pitch discussion.

Practice 

• Until it's smooth and natural. Get comfortable “blurbing” with a conference pal first. If possible, memorize.
• Leave butterflies back in your room. Editors want to hear what you have to offer.
• Once you pitch, let him ask questions about your project.

Have an Open Mind

• If project isn't right for the house of your choice, just smile and move on.
• Accept honest feedback, helpful suggestions for reworking it. Be willing to learn, grow your craft, find your unique voice and God inspired message.
• When you get home, send a note expressing my pleasure in meeting the editor and pitching a few ideas.
• Look ahead to what God will do with your writing passion.

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Sample Pitches

Here are a few sample pitches from Jan Coleman. The source of each is identified. For more, check out book jackets, back cover copy, and publisher's catalogues for project descriptions to help form your pitch.

Nonfiction Pitches

After the Locusts uses the locusts in the Old Testament as a metaphor for the way a woman feels when loss has ruined her dreams. (concept/audience) It may be divorce, loss of a loved one, illness or personal failure, but this book takes her from the earthly view, "I have lost these years," to the Heavenly view, "The years will be restored and better than before.” It will leave her inspired to trust in God's promise to restore. (benefits) It's filled with insights from the Book of Joel and weaves my own experience with stories of women who've not only survived the locusts, but went on to thrive in spite of them. (approach) It reads like a novel, and its fresh, breezy style will engage the reader. (tone/pace) I'm a former journalist, published author and conference speaker. (Jan Coleman's pitch at CBA New Orleans 2000, contracted with Broadman & Holman, released 2002.)

Scandalous Grace is for women who need the grace of God to accept themselves and others. (audience) By God's grace we can let go of those areas that intrude on their quiet thoughts, from an extra 10 pounds to the mistakes of the past. (benefits) In my light, conversational style, I sprinkle deep theological truths throughout the book and connect them with the concerns of the modern woman. (tone) I approach the readers as girlfriends with honesty and openness and allow them to see my own continuing struggles and how God's grace enables all of us to accept the loose ends of life. (concept/approach) I'm a published author and speaker. (Julie Barnhill) (Adapted from a book blurb.)

In my book Becoming a Woman Who Pleases God, I tackle the difficult question of "What makes a godly woman?" (concept) In a warm compassionate style (tone) I challenge women to re-think their priorities, re-examine the position of the home, and re-work their definition of what it means to be a woman that pleases God. Each chapter contains group discussion notes. (approach) As a Bible study leader for many years, I've seen how women within the church are struggling to define their femininity. (author credentials) I edit our church newsletter and have published in several magazines. (Jan made this up)

Fiction Pitches

Like a ship stuck on a sand bar, Lynne Gordon's heart is still wedged in the past. (setup) When her first love died in Vietnam, she felt as if pages were torn from the story of her life. Eventually she married the boy-next door, but Sam is tired of competing with a shadow. It's now 1995, and Lynne and Sam's marriage is in trouble. (conflict) After an unplanned visit to the Vietnam Wall, Lynne is forced to confront her long-entombed feelings, resolve her secret anger at God and say goodbye to the way it should have been. (resolution) My novel, Torn Pages will appeal to women who grew up when milk came in bottles and doctors made house calls, those who remember the endless summers of the Beach Boys. (audience) I'm an author of four non-fiction books and a busy conference speaker. (From Jan Coleman's Torn Pages)

Lance Mitchell is on a quest to discover the secrets his grandmother cannot tell. (setup) The old villa in Sonoma holds the answers, but it is now owned by a proud young woman with skeletons her closet she doesn't know exist. As he works as her chef and gardener and pursues his family quest, their sparring creates a fierce and uncomfortable attraction. (conflict)  Secrets is an engaging contemporary romance of two needy people searching, who discover that God is real. (resolution) Kristen Heitzmann, Secrets. (Adapted from an amazon.com description of the book.)

In Breach of Promise Matt Gillen is a sometime actor in Hollywood who thinks he's leading the idyllic life with his beautiful actress wife and cute daughter. (setup) But when Paula gets a role in a famous Italian director's new movie, she dumps her husband for the director with wealth and power. (conflict) Suddenly Mark is in a nightmare custody battle that seems hopeless. Breach of Promise is a reality driven story of love, anger and hate. Through faith in God and devotion to his child, Matt finds surprising strength and the forgiveness to take his wife back and start again. (resolution) (James Scott Bell, adapted from amazon.com.)

My contemporary novel, Don't Hide the Moon is the story of Beth Adair, a successful, but emotionally distant woman with a strong faith in God until her grandson is killed in an accident while in her care. (setup) She is weighed with guilt. As the years pass, her faith slowly crumbles, and she withdraws from the world. (conflict) Soon her only companion is Mary; a mentally challenged woman the family had taken pity on in their youth. As family secrets are come to light through Mary, they bring Beth back to the world as well as to God. (resolution) (Not a real book)

Article Pitch

I'd like to propose an article for your magazine about bicultural families. (audience) The number of families where parents are of difference ethic groups has doubled in the last twenty years. (supporting stats) Parents face the challenge of helping their children find their niche in mainstream America and the church. I will offer tips on how they can help their children embrace both cultures as they learn to define who they are. (reader benefits) My 1500 word article will contain examples from bicultural families who are making it work, and resources for both adoptive and biological parents. (approach).

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