Are You on Pitch?

Writing a pitch for a story or book is a tricky thing: it’s short, it needs to interest the prospective reader and it needs to express the essence of the story without giving away the storyline.

It’s short. Write the pitch for your current project. Can you do it in 100 words? 50 words? 25 words? or like an elevator pitch’s 4-seconds?

It’s interesting. Could what you write become the grabber listed on the back cover? Your choice of nouns and verbs is critical.

It’s an overview. The pitch needs to hint at setting, main character and the story problem.

Recent national critic comments posted in books leave a lot to be desired. They hint at nothing! Time was you could get the essence of the book through their critiques; now it’s “high praise for his latest spy story” or “the language sings”, or “another story to grab your heart”. We must depend on the author’s pitch for clues into whether we will enjoy the story or not. So write a great pitch now, as you write your book. Edit it as the story grows and changes and you’ll be ready to write your own back cover and influence your in-book critiques with details to attract readers.

Question of the day

Share your pitch here. Solicit responses if you wish.