The Art of the Pitch

Guidelines. Who is your audience? Momentum in a tough market. Tips from a best selling author.

Busy as a bee

The point of the pitch letter is to demonstrate that you’re a good fit, a good bet for the agent/publication, that you can shoulder the responsibility of coming through for them with a reliable product that will be in demand. Think of it as a tasty appetizer to whet the appetite of all who read it.

The best pitch is probably a soft pitch. Don’t be overly familiar or overly polite, no boasting, no flattery or chattiness, don’t ask for an appointment, mention a follow up, or say you’re pitching other places.

I say probably because how the letter is received depends on who is reading it.

Pitches with a very high likelihood of success provide something the agent/publication knows will be in high demand, but is not so plentiful in supply. A member of the original Attic Writers Workshop, fresh out of college, took the initiative to interview a member of ETA, the terrorist group in Spain that has since put away its arms, like Ireland’s IRA. With that accomplishment, he applied to AP and got a position as a reporter.

No jokes unless that’s the job you’re aiming for

For a long time Joan Rivers tried to become a serious writer. She would go into the offices to hand deliver her pitches and would always tell the executive assistants a joke so they would remember her. She always left them in stitches, but never got a response for her writing. Finally an assistant asked if she had applied to write for a comedy show. Well the thought had never occurred to her! She applied, got a job as a writer on “Laugh In” and the rest is history.

A friend wrote a silly script for “Beavis & Butthead” and added a joke at the end of his pitch letter: “If you don’t select my script I’m going to put my head in the oven.” They thought it was a hilarious pitch letter and bought his script.

Pitch Guidelines

• Don’t repeat your synopsis in pitch letter. Come up with 2 or 3 original, pithy sentences max to convey the essence of your work.

• Give the tentative title of your book/article

• List the genre(s) it belongs to — there are many new genres now

• Always do the work for them — give a clear idea of what you can offer.

• Always write to a person. Do your research to select to best person for your type of work: literary agency websites.

• Each pitch should be tailored to each agent. Let them know why you’re contacting them.

• Keep it short. 3 paragraphs should do: 1) about yourself; 2) pitch your book — mention a similar book or two; and (3) why this agent. (The order is up to you.)

• Leave out everything else! (Bizarrely, in Spain I had to sit through a very well-known American magazine editor going on and on about the “hilarious” pitch letters he received about people telling him they are minorities. It sounded like he didn’t even read their work. He’s since died.)

Last word of advice, if it’s important, get a professional editor or published writer look over it.

“Great things don’t just happen by impulse, but as a succession of small things linked together.” —Vincent Van Gogh