Writers in the Storm

Laura Drake is back for the second segment of Fearless Pitching! If you missed the first post, click here.

Before we get on to THE day, a bit of philosophy to remember when you look in the mirror that morning:

If you don't get a request for a partial, The Gatekeepers are not rejecting YOU.

They don’t know you. And from your pitch, they don’t even really know your book – they haven’t read it!

Think about it; if you're working a bake sale, and someone buys chocolate chip cookies instead of your oatmeal raisin, are your feelings hurt? That person just liked chocolate chips better that day, right?

Okay, gird your loins, put on your armor (business clothes), and and on to the appointment!

Tips for THE Day:

• Agents and editors are human. Listening to pitches all day is wearing. They want to make a good impression as much as you do – they’re representing their companies. So. Ask how their day is going. Ask if they’re enjoying the conference. Take them chocolate!  I’m serious. I fill my pockets with bite-sized, individually wrapped chocolate (I don’t use Hershey kisses, though…seems just a bit too suck-up for me.) Not only will you make a good impression, but the sugar rush will increase their attention span when they’re listening to YOU!
• Dress professionally, but comfortably. If you have the choice between two outfits, chose the one that you feel more comfortable in. Trust me, they’re not going to remember what you wore, and you’ll be more relaxed if you’re not worried about bulges, gaps, and sore feet.

Put on your attitude with your clothes. You are no longer an artiste. You are a business person, selling your product. Straighten your spine, walk confidently.

Behave as if.

You know what that is, right? Behave as if you are already successful. Honestly, this was one of my best skills as a CFO. No one ever knew I was afraid someone would call me out and expose me as a fraud. They looked at me and saw an executive. That helped me believe that I was. It worked for 25 years. Seriously, try it. It’s one of the little-known powers of the Universe.

• Warm up – You have introduced yourself, shook their hand, and sat. You asked about their day, and offered chocolate. They’ll make the next step easier by asking about your book. Before you launch into your pitch – tell them:
  • It’s complete at 'x' words
  • Genre
  • Title
  • Then start your pitch
  • After – Thank them for their time. They’ll let you know if you can send them a partial, and how to do that. Shake their hand once more, stand, walk away. You survived! But wait, are there more opportunities?

Most of my in-person pitching was done at the RWA National Conference, but I can’t imagine it’s very different at any other conferences. Every time slot had people chicken out (I know, I couldn't believe it either.) An agent/editor would then have to sit, cooling their heels, for an appointment slot. At RWA, they’d ask those sitting waiting for their appointments to see if anyone wanted to take this empty slot.

Why not pitch to them? You spent a bunch of money to go to the conference, and I’ll bet the pitching was one of the major reasons you went. Why wouldn’t you take the opportunity to get your book in front of more decision-makers?

After my appointment, I’d always stalk - lurk - um, wait to have additional opportunities. One memorable conference, I had two appointments, but pitched to ten agents.

They were looking for a different genre than my book? I pitched them anyway. Hello - they KNOW the other agents at their agency – if they liked my pitch, they gave me their business card, with the appropriate agent’s name on the back, and told me to tell the that person that I was recommended by them. See? It works!

At the very least, I had the opportunity to practice in front of real live agents, and got more comfortable with my pitch. Honestly, you do this ten times, and you’re going to be more relaxed on the tenth that you were with the first!

So, are you ready? Do you have any pitching stories that will help those going into battle?

Laura's second book, Her Road Home, will release August 1.  Romantic Times gave it 4 stars!

"A minor motorcycle accident leaves builder Samantha Crozier stranded in Widow’s Grove, Ca. While she recovers, she hires mechanic Nick Pinelli to fix her bike. But while recuperating in town, she finds the house of her dreams to buy and restore, and she realizes that Nick just might be the man to go along with it.

With realistic emotions and nicely depicted characters, this is a powerful story."

Want to pre-order the book? (You know you do!!) Here's the links:

Amazon (under $4 on Kindle)
B&N
Kobo

By Laura Drake

You all know me (Ms. 413 Rejections) so I’ll spare you the story. Just know that I have pitched a LOT in my life, and I’m here, fresh from teaching a Pitching class, smack in the middle of conference season, to give you some tips for pitching that will make your pitch so shiny the agents will be digging in their purses for sunglasses.

LOGLINES:

Do you have to have one? No. But they’re a great way to capture a gatekeeper’s attention fast. Your goal is to make them say (or think) “Ohhhh.” How to do that in 25 words or less? It’s not as hard as you might think. Because you’re NOT giving them the steak (the plot,) you’re giving them the sizzle.

Note: In case you need a breakdown of Loglines, Taglines and the like, click here.

There are a couple of different ways to tackle this – choose whichever one resonates with you and your story:

1. Protagonist, genre, inner conflict, outer conflict, and climax.
2. Hero, the antagonist, the hero’s primal goal and irony.
3. Character with a goal and a conflict.

Regardless of which you choose, it must show:

• WHO the story is about
• WHAT he wants (Goal)
• WHY he can't have it (Conflict)

Lee Nordling suggests using a template:

“This is the story about a _____ who __________________, only for _____ to discover _________________.”

 Names:

You only have 25 words, so don’t waste one on the character’s name. It’s much more powerful to use a description; an adjective and a noun:

• A free-spirit debutante
• An Alzheimer’s afflicted politician
• A manic-depressive clown

See how much more compelling that is?

Examples:

• A comedic portrayal of a young and broke Shakespeare who falls in love with a woman, inspiring him to write "Romeo and Juliet.” Shakespeare in Love
• An archeologist is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Other types:

It could be the intriguing premise, stated by combining two disparate references:

“Stephanie Plum meets the Underworld” ~ Darynda Jones, First Grave on the Right

There is a risk to this method, however. It depends on the gatekeeper having read/seen both. If they haven’t, you’re going to get a blank stare, which is NOT the reaction you want!

It could just be an intriguing line from your book – this is the line I used in my query for my debut novel, The Sweet Spot:

“The grief counselor told the group to be grateful for what they had left. After lots of considering, Charla Rae decided she was thankful for the bull semen.”

THE REST:

There are no rules for a pitch, except that it MUST be: Clear & Interesting

That sounds obvious, but the vast majority of pitches I’ve heard have problems with one or both of the above.

CLEAR

There are three parts to a short (also called a one page) pitch.

• The Logline. It’s the first hook. It’s critical. Place it front and center. It’s the first thing you say to the person you’re pitching to (after introductions.) If you’re doing a query, use italics. You may even want to center it. Your goal is to make them sit up and pay attention, or to read farther.
• The Setup. WHO are we dealing with? Tell us about the protagonist. What does he/she want? Who is the antagonist? What do they want? How does this thwart the protagonist?
• The Ending. This is where the paths of a pitch and a query diverge.

In a pitch, you have to tell the ending. This is not a time to be coy. The agent can’t tell if you have a good novel if you don’t tell them the end. Besides, your ending can hook them too!  Your query is different. A query is pure enticement. You’re trying to set them to read the synopsis (which does divulge the ending) and the chapters you’ve enclosed.

You have to convey:

1. Emotion
2. Stakes
3. Conflict

The above will ensure that your pitch is clear.

INTERESTING: 

• Match the tone to your book. If your book is funny, your pitch had better be. If it’s a drama, make it emotional. If it’s a thriller, it should convey high stakes, and tension.
• Don’t rely on plot. Think of your pitch as though you’re trying to catch a huge fish, using sewing thread. Sewing thread is not strong. If you try to reel them in using brute force; i.e. This happens, then that happens… they’re going to go away in their head. You’ve lost them. You want to pull them in, but very gently. You do this by instead, telling them why the story is interesting. Sell the sizzle, not the steak.
• Less is more. If this is a query, break up your sentences. Write short paragraphs. Give them small, interesting chunks – not one long, blah, blah paragraph. If this is an in person pitch, say, five minutes – your pitch should be no longer than three minutes. Leave them wanting more.

PRACTICE:

You’ve got to be able to say your pitch, without reading, without stumbling, and make it sound effortless, like normal conversation. Like a perfectly executed Gymnastics routine, that doesn’t come without LOTS of practice. Tell it to the mirror. Tell it to your toddler. Tell it to the mailman (and yes, I’ve done this.)

In my class, a brilliant student said she practiced by recording it on her phone. You can hear where it needs work.

Tomorrow, I'm going to share tips for what to do on your big day, but this is enough to digest for now.

Does anyone want to throw their pitch out there? Come on...be brave! We'll all offer unsolicited help and feedback.

Laura Drake is a city girl, who never grew out of her tomboy ways, or a serious cowboy crush. She writes both Women's Fiction and Romance. The Sweet Spot, the first novel in her, 'Sweet on a Cowboy' Series was released by Grand Central in May, and has earned a Top Pick from Romantic Times!

“From the cover and title you expect a sweet contemporary western, but this is a sensitive honest look at a family destroyed by loss, a family that must try to rise from the ashes of their old life and see what they are now – different certainly, but pieces or a unit? Drake’s characters are so real, and so like us, that you’ll take a look at your own life and count your treasures.”

http://LauraDrakeBooks.com  Twitter: @PBRWriter

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/LauraDrakeBooks

by Orly Konig-Lopez

After that headline a few of you are probably worried that my marble bag has a hole in it. You might not be wrong. But that's not the point of this post.

Rejections.

No one wants to get them, no one likes getting them. They sting. They make you triple guess your ability and quadruple guess your sanity. But rejections can actually be your friend (well, helpful acquaintances at least.)

I'm going to give you three reasons why rejections can actually be a good thing. Ready?

1) They serve as a badge of honor that you're putting yourself out there. Writing is hard work. But it's easy to sit at your computer, in your house, by yourself and write. Or plan to write. Or research agents. Or plan on researching agents. It's safe in the cave.

Actually hitting that send button on a query is excruciatingly hard. And then when your email starts pinging with rejections, yeah, that's worse than going to the dentist.

But if you don't send queries, no one will see your hard work. Sure, you won't develop a nasty case of queriers twitch and you won't rack up god knows how many rejections. But you also lose the opportunity for a request or better yet, an offer.

2) They are a gauge for the progress you're making. If the first batch of queries gets you mostly form rejects or no responses, chances are your query needs work. So you go back to the drawing board and rewrite your query. Now you're getting some requests and maybe a few personalized rejections. That's progress.

Perhaps you've moved on to another manuscript. You have a stronger query, a more enticing premise, those first pages are tighter than the previous manuscript. This time you're getting requests right out of the gate. And now you're also getting personalized responses, some with specific feedback on your manuscript. That's huge progress.

3) They are a valuable learning tool. Every rejection offers some little nugget of information. Form rejections could mean there's something wrong with your query letter or that the premise for your novel isn't unique enough. Your critique partners or trusted writing friends should be able to help you flush that out.

The moment you start getting personalized rejections, you've hit a gold mine. However (see the warning lights flashing?), don't get distracted by the fact that a real live agent sent feedback and dive into changes immediately. Even their suggestions are subjective. As with any critique, take time to absorb the feedback. If something resonates, bingo! If not, then you've gotten some valuable insight into what that particular agent is looking for (or not) for the next time you're ready to query.

If you're getting somewhat consistent comments, then you know that's an area to work on. And the next manuscript (or the revision) will be that much stronger and that much closer to a yes!

It's easy to get discouraged when the rejections are popping into your inbox but every no brings you one step closer to a yes. So take a deep breath and take another look at the rejections you've filed away. What can you learn from them? And what are you going to do about it?

About Orly

After years of pushing the creativity boundary in corporate communications, Orly decided it was time for a new challenge. Three women’s fiction manuscripts later (plus a handful of picture books), it’s safe to say she’s found her creative outlet.

When she’s not talking to her imaginary friends, she’s reading or at least trying to ignore everyone around her long enough to finish “just one more paragraph.” Orly has also joined forces with some amazing women’s fiction authors to launch the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

You can find her on Twitter at @OrlyKonigLopez or on her website, www.orlykoniglopez.com.