When attending a writers’ conference, sign up for a 10-15 minute appointment with a professional––agents, publishers, mentors, critique coaches. These provide face-to-face time to pitch your work. It’s the same process whether you are a fiction or nonfiction writer. Since I write Christian Thrillers, I attend conferences geared to fiction writers.
Appointments have differing purposes, but all give you another connection with the industry. From a mentor or a critique coach, you gather information. Come with questions. Take notes. Be teachable.
Appointments with agents and publishers are like job interviews. You want to be signed by an agent and picked up by a publisher.
What happens during appointments?
Fair or not, the writer has one chance with that particular professional to get it right. Be prepared. But how?
Place your business card and one-sheet on the table in front of you. Hopefully, the professional will take them or at least look at them and ask questions. One-sheets are an advertisement for your book. It contains a graphic, a brief summary of the book, genre, word count, and your headshot with a brief bio pertaining to your writing experience.
Come with an elevator pitch.
A pitch is stating the heart of your book in one to two sentences. Literally, the time you have riding an elevator. Memorize it, but don’t be a robot. Be conversational. Don’t meander. Be brief.
Your pitch must hook the professional. This is your chance to grab their attention and stand out from the other 40 authors they’ll talk to that day. And the 120 plus authors they might see the entire conference. My Thriller is based on a real person and a true story. That’s my hook.
My pitch went something like this. “Based on a true story…TWO SENTENCE PITCH…and the rocket scientist was my father.” On my website, www.PJGover.com, go to Books, then click on Time of Long Shadows. Read my one-sheet and you’ll get the gist of my pitch.
FYI – Book concept is all important. If they don’t like the concept, your appointment will be over after the pitch. Before you choose your topic and spend hours writing, consider how the topic will grab a reader, an agent, a publisher.
After the first 45 seconds are over, then what?
If the professional asks questions, that’s a good sign. Be confident. That comes with knowing your story inside and out. Think through your plot, characters and their motivations, dialogue, the research, location or name choices, and marketing plan. What makes your story unique? How is it different from the millions of books out there? Why are you the one to tell this story?
You don’t want to be stumped by a question on your own work!
Appointments end in one of three ways.
One, a rejection. Your work doesn’t meet their needs, it’s not what they’re looking for, the concept isn’t unique, they already have an author doing the same type of book, or you need more practice clarifying the pitch. Normally, you won’t know why you’re rejected. Thank the professional for their time, gather your card and one-sheet, and walk away. You may feel dejected for a time, I have, but learn from it. Maybe it’s how to conduct a better interview or how to make your work more compelling or perfect your pitch.
Two, they ask for a proposal. Great news. You’ve piqued their interest. Send it ASAP.
Three, they ask for a proposal and the entire manuscript (MS). The best news! This means you hooked them and they want to read your story. Send it that day.
Next time, I’ll answer your questions and talk about that scary proposal.
Questions? Send them in the box below. Till next time, happy writing!
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