[Submitting] Pitching

Status
Not open for further replies.

AW Admin

Administrator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
18,772
Reaction score
6,285
What is a pitch session?

Anna Genoese said:
A pitch session is a five to fifteen minute (usually ten, actually) meeting with an editor (or agent), during which you "pitch" your project -- and yourself.

Will Pitching To Agents or Editors Sell My Manuscript?


"Better to spend your time polishing your book than your pitch."

Okay, let's talk about pitches.

Assuming that you're somewhere in the vicinity of the right ballpark (that is, you aren't pitching Extreme Porn Splatterpunk to an editor from Fluffy Baby Bunny Stories), 100% of the time you're going to get a request to send the manuscript because ... the editor won't be able to tell how good your book is from any pitch, no matter how polished, or unpolished, it might be. So, you'll send your manuscript, and it will be placed on exactly the same slushpile as it would have gone on if you'd sent it in cold.

And that is what your pitch buys you.

Better to spend your time polishing your book than your pitch. The editor won't remember you, because you're just one of a hundred nervous, sweating writers she's seen for five or ten minutes over the past two days. And if she does remember you? No matter. The manuscript trumps everything.

Practical Advice About Pitching from Anna Genoese

Anna Genoese said:
Remember that you know everything about your book. You wrote it. These are your characters. You have spent months, maybe years!, of your life with them. You probably love them all, even the evil ones. Seriously, remember that. Enthusiasm counts a lot. Enthusiasm tempered with professionalism and good humor counts for a million billion points. Practical Advice About Pitching from Anna Genoese

More practical advice about pitching form literary agent Jessica Faust and also here.
 
Last edited:

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 20, 2007
Messages
15,599
Reaction score
2,471
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Website
www.annazabo.com
I've pitched at conferences. But both times, I had loads of time. 12-15 minutes.

Still, what I did was prepare a three sentence pitch and then let them ask me questions.

I did get a request from an agent for pages. That lead to a full and then to an agreement, so sometimes pitches pan out! (mind you, it was almost a year from pitch to signing, so...)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.