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

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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.

Query Letter Writer’s Block Anyone?

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Getting Pulbished, literary agent, Query Letter, Writer's Block, writers, writing

The Internet abounds with information on jump-starting your writing when you are paralyzed by the plague of writer’s block. Bookstore shelves groan under the weight of “How-To’s,” “You Should Try’s” and “1,001 Tips for Conquering Writer’s Inertia.”

I am fortunate in that I have never experienced writer’s block. Ask me to do a 500-word essay on paperclips, and I’m your gal. Ask me to write the all-important query letter for my first novel, and I freeze.

There is more information on the Internet about writing query letters than there are Justin Bieber photos. The problem is the articles coach and guide on how to do it, and then in the next breath say, “Don’t screw this up. You’ll never be published and agents from around the world will be laughing at you at their annual conference.”

The advice encourages and intimidates me. I have written dozens of query letters to only crumple them up and throw them into the fireplace. Environmentalists have a hit out on me for wasting paper.

My promise to myself this week is to write a perfect query letter, send it out, and start praying an agent thinks my book is worthy. I’ll keep you posted.

 

 

 

Publishing “World In Which We Live In”

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literary agent, self-publishing, traditional publishing

As we all know, the publishing industry is changing faster than Lady Gaga’s hairstyle. I don’t yet know which way to go. As the lyrics of the song “Live and Let Die” by Wings say – “this ever changing world in which we live in . . .” (Really Sir Paul? Horrible grammar. Ending your sentence in a preposition?).

My novel is finished and is in the hands of a few people whose opinion I respect and trust. While I’m waiting for their feedback, I am researching whether I should self-publish or attempt to find an agent and go the traditional route.

Information abounds about both options on the Internet. In fact, there is too much information. Some tout the wonders of self-publishing and others argue that with right query letter, I could be on the next flight for my book-signing tour. And yet others stand tightrope-walk the fence, explain the merits of both, and then simply say it is up to me.  Such advice leaves me scratching my head in an unbecoming manner.

At this moment, I am leaning toward finding an agent and indulge myself in daydreams about mobs of fans throwing themselves at my feet at Barnes and Nobles.

And now, back to my research. Wish me luck.