Pitching your Manuscript to an Agent

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literary agent, Pitching your Manuscript, Pitching your Novel, Query Letter, Writer's Digest Conference 2012, writers, writing

(Photo credit: FindYourSearch)

I joked (here) about having “Query Letter Writer’s Block.”

If you need 500 words about the wonders of the paperclip, I’m your gal. Ask me to write a query letter and I get as far as, “Dear Scary Agent.”

If you ask me what my novel is about, I freeze. The most intelligent words I come up with are, “er, uh, hmmm, well, you see . . .”

I’m fairly bright (Hey you in the back. Quit sniggering.) and I know what my novel is about, but I get an uncomfortable version of writer’s stage fright when I talk about it. It is the strangest thing.

I can hear you yelling at your computer screen, “For Pete’s sake, Robin. There are hundreds of books published and articles on the Internet on writing query letters and how to pitch your book.” I know, I know. I’ve read every one of them. No help.

However, all of that changed when I attended the 2012 Writers Digest Conference. Phew.

Katharine Sands from the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency presented “Pitchcraft!” during one of the conference’s sessions. She boiled down how to pitch your manuscript to an agent in three elements. I now think and talk about my novel in a fresh and clear way. I hope her advice helps you too.

Place:              Where and when does the story take place?

Person:           Give a thumbnail sketch of the main character(s).

Pivot:              What is the turning point in the story? What struggle causes the main character step off the path they are on and follow a new one? What did they learn? What transformation takes place?

Granted, this brisk formula doesn’t leave room for subplots and minor characters. There isn’t enough time in a 90-second pitch to cover everything and everyone.

Ms. Sands suggested pretending you are a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show to promote your newly published masterpiece. What questions would you want her to ask you about your book? Write them down and play the interviewer/interviewee game.

She wrapped up her lecture with, “The agent needs something to takeaway and remember about you and your manuscript.”

Easy peasy, right? Nope. It wasn’t for me the first 20 stabs at it. I would attack the first element, but by element two, I reverted to the old blah, blah, blah I used before. I forced myself to answer elements one, two, and three in bullet points and then, bingo, I saw what my story is about.

This formula worked for me when I pitched my book to Ms. Sands the next day of the conference. Nervy of me, right? But I figured that since I threw myself into the literary agents’ lion’s den, I might as well have a chat with the head lion. She, and the one other agent I pitched my novel to, asked me to send them partials.

Writing a query letter is a different beast than an in-person pitch, but they are related by marriage.

I’m curious . . . does this cut the “pitch-advice” clutter for you like it did for me?

P. S. No wonder we writers are a skittish lot . . . during a panel discussion at the conference,” an agent said, “If you aren’t published, you haven’t written a book. You’ve written a manuscript. If you aren’t published, you aren’t an author. You are a writer.” Rather snarky, don’t you think?

P. S. S. Thank you for the well-wishes while I’ve been attending to my dad. It means a lot to me.

An Update on M.I.A. Robin

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writers, writing

Hello folks . . . gosh, I miss you all. Let me bring you up to date on what is going on and why the Military Blog Police are looking for me.

In the 45 days since my dad came down with pneumonia, I’ve been away from home for 30 of them. I embrace change, travel, and diversity in my life, but right now I crave stability, home, and a routine.

This post will be like a Christmas letter from Mrs. I. M. Annoying. You know the kind I mean . . . she tells you precious Johnny received straight “A’s” in his Housefly Wing Removal class and precocious Susie won her preschool’s Gold Medal in the 500-meter macaroni necklace-making contest. She goes on to tell you Grandma Lucy delivered a litter of puppies. You hope that Grandma Lucy helped the dog deliver the puppies and didn’t actually give birth to Schnauzers herself.

We are moving Dad to a nursing home in Portland on Monday to be near my sisters and a boatload of other family members. I am headed to San Jose on Friday, one last time, to help with the transition. The cruel, yet at times merciful hand of Alzheimer’s Disease has made it so Mom doesn’t remember how frail Dad is.

Our daughter, Amanda, finished Basic Training and is now at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey where she is learning Arabic. I had one more of her letters from Basic to share with you, but at this point, I’ll just give you what she wrote about your letters to her Platoon:

“I got your package of letters on Friday, Madre. It was the coolest thing ever. We spent personal time reading the letters out loud. Everyone was so nice and sincere. It really made us feel important. It also reminded us why we are here . . . the letters gave us perspective. After eight weeks in Basic Training, that was very important. Please thank your blog readers on behalf of all of us.”

A couple of weeks ago, my husband attended a conference in Las Vegas and I tagged along. Freightliner Truck invited us to their annual customer appreciation party at the Bellagio. They host a party that blows the doors off all other parties. Knowing I hit a rough patch in the road, Keith Urban, the kind soul that he is, volunteered to be the entertainment so he could cheer me up. Wasn’t that nice of him?

My buddy, Keith Urban

Last weekend was the Writers Digest conference in Los Angeles. The speakers covered the craft of writing, pitching your book, and the rapid-fire changes in today’s world of publishing. The experience was fantastic, and in a future post, I will share snippets of what I learned.

In the “Pitch Slam” session at the conference, twenty literary agents sat at tables around a conference room. We attendees lined up for the opportunity to give a 3-minute pitch of our book to as many agents as we could during the 90-minute session. The tension in the air was electric. Bottom line . . . I pitched my book, In Search of Beef Stroganoff, to two agents and both asked me to submit partials of my manuscript to their agency.  I am thrilled beyond thrilled.

I hope that by next week I will be able to return to my blog . . . and to yours . . . and peace will return to the land.

Take care . . . Robin

Parenting our Parents ~ Part 3

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Alzheimer's disease, parenting our parents, writers, writing

Are you there world? It is me, Robin.

Robin is MIA from this photo too. I came along six years later.

I thought I should give you an update on why I am missing-in-blog-action.

I haven’t fallen off a cliff, but it feels like I did. My life is not my own right now, which means I am away from blogging, reading blogs, and about a million other things.

My dad is still in the hospital and his condition is serious, but I am happy to report he is making slow progress. His pneumonia led to a series of complications. It seemed that when he got over something, a new health concern reared its ugly and scary head.

I spent the last week with him, which was his fourth week in the hospital. We hope he will move to a nursing home for rehab next week. And from there, when he is strong enough, we want to move him to the nursing home in Portland where my sister works. Fingers crossed.

We moved my Alzheimer’s mom to Portland to live with one of my sisters. We did this for three reasons: it was emotionally and physically hard on her traveling back and forth to the hospital, it was trying for me and my sisters dealing with her and the worry about Dad, and it was tough on Dad to have Mom visit in her addled and agitated state.

I shared many sweet moments with my dad last week. Two of them are worth sharing as a testament to Dad’s love for my mom. I asked him, “Why didn’t you tell us how bad Mom’s Alzheimer’s progressed over the last four months.” He said, “Because I didn’t want to believe it was true.” And, I said, “I don’t know how you managed to take care of Mom.” He said, “I managed because it is my job.”

Between trips to be Dad’s health advocate and companion, a business jaunt with my husband, and the upcoming Writers Digest Conference in Los Angeles, I am likely to be away from blogging for several more weeks.

I miss you guys, your blogs, your humor, and your insight. I hope to be back soon.

Take care,

Robin

Related articles

• Parenting our Parents (robincoyle.wordpress.com)
• Parenting our Parents ~ Part 2 ~ So this is what feels like to die. (robincoyle.wordpress.com)