I’m usually good for about 90 minutes of pitching. After that, I tend to tire out. Lately I’ve been offering to lead workshops in lieu of that third hour of appointments. I actually really love workshops–they’re (usually) less stressful for writers and you can have more fun in them. You can also disseminate lots of information widely.

The speed-dating aspect is also for the authors! There are thousands of agents out there, so if you don’t make a connection with the agent across the table, you can cross her off your list and move on to the next one.

My regional conference does a pitch fest the evening before the agent/editor pitch sessions. They assign a pubbed author to each small group. We can practice and get input before the real thing takes place the next day and I found it to be very helpful–I got 3 requests for fulls.

Do you think regional conferences are better to pitch at than nationals where there are a zillion others pitching? Or maybe it doesn’t make a difference–a good idea is a good idea.

I feel for you hearing all those pitches over and over and over! I’ll bet your mind is numb at the end of the day. Speed-dating, that’s funny! Speed dating where everyone wants to date you.

I spent yesterday working on the pitch and came up with about 5 one-sentence summaries to try out how it feels to say them aloud. I’m still crafting the language, but I’m closer than before.

Thank you for this dialog and thank you Emmanuelle Alspaugh for the intriguing column.

Learning a lot here!

(NOTE: This is for the 10 minute pitch appointment. Do not attempt this in an elevator. Doors will close, and I don’t mean just the sliding ones on the elevator car.)

Good luck!

Start with the characters and see if you can come up with a few one-liners. Look at the back-cover copy of comparable books for inspiration. Figure out the genre by spending time in the library or bookstore–a lot of time–and reading books with similar themes, settings, writing style. Tell the librarian your theme and ask for recommendations. You’ll rule out some titles right away but keep looking. Finally, consider getting a critique partner or two, writers who are going through the same thing you are. To find them, join Backspace (bksp.org) or a local writers org. Good luck!

I’m really struggling with the pitch. I’ve written a novel (no, really, done!) and I’ve never seen anything like this..I’m struggling come up with the pitch. When prompted yesterday by a friend to summarize, I launched into an odd, evasive theme-based collection of words that didn’t describe much.

I’d pay someone to read the first four chapters and help me work out a pitch. Any recommendations on how I can get some assistance with this? What kind of activities I might do to clarify and summarize a unique piece? I can’t even quite figure out the genre!

Actually, that sounds intriguing. Something new.