Happy Mother's Day!Warning-lengthy post. This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Romancing the Rockies conference in Denver. Wow! What a fabulous experience. CRW is not my RWA chapter (I'm in Arizona) but let me tell you, they made me feel like it was!
I had the lovely surprise of receiving an honorable mention for Twist of Fate and was awarded not only a certificate but a big hug from the presenter, whom I had only just met.
When I went downstairs Saturday morning to pitch my very first pitch ever in my life to- hey no pressure- Margaret Marbury, executive editor of Mira, I was flipping like a pancake. The CRW crew talked me down. I'll tell you all about my pitch experience as soon as I can. Right now gotta go catch a plane. Back later today with all the dirt on pitching.
I'm home. Let's continue this by starting with the pitch outcomes (you guys know I couldn't tell a story without jumping around if my life depended on it). Four pitches, three requests. That's right- I said four pitches. How did I get four pitches? By attending a small, well-run conference. Lesson number one: Small conferences rock when it comes to pitching opportunities.
Lesson number two: Practice with a friend. Practice with a friend. Practice with a friend. Leigh and I started rehearsing our hooks turned pitches on Thursday. Kept practicing Friday. Then I got up early and practiced solo on Saturday. This made a huge difference in the final product and no doubt the outcome. Working with Leigh was ideal because she's not only a friend but a CP. Since we've read each other's entire manuscripts we were able to help each other boil the heart of our stories down into a few precious sentences.
We also practiced answers to questions we thought we might be asked. To pitch or not to pitch that is the question. Whether 'tis better to have a cozy, chat or use a spiel. I chose a spiel and it worked well for me.
Oh, dear. While attempting to add the photo of my card for Beth, I deleted the bottom half of the post and cannot seem to recover it. Ah well, it was mainly about how nice the editors and agents are.
Here's the spiel again for those who wanted it:
Hi, my name is (real name)(extend hand). First let me say thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I really appreciate it. I wanted to mention that I'm an Avon FanLit finalist and that the book I'm pitching today recently placed second in both the Sheila and the Great Expectations contests. Twist of Fate is more than a secret baby reunion story. As the name suggests, it has a great twist.
After a thirteen-year separation, starry-eyed Dr. Gwen Andrews and cynical Dr.Christian Benson face off on Stranded, the latest, greatest, reality TV series. The lush island setting ignites the flames simmering between them, and their passionate past resurfaces, braiding old desires with new respect.
Bring on the secret baby, Chrissie, now a delightful teenager with her father’s crazy tiger-eyes. Christian snaps…and he’s not the only one. Nor is Gwen the only one with a secret. There’s an eco-terrorist on the island, bent on destroying Stranded. When he kidnaps Chrissie, Gwen and Christian must stand together. They must learn to fight for what matters. They must learn to forgive.
Don't forget to visit Leigh's blog for more pitching tips and notes on Kristin Nelson's advice on email queries. Just click Leigh's name on my blogroll.
26 comments:
Oh, hurry home and do tell about this pitching.
I'm looking forward to it!
Alice
Congratulations on the HM, Amy! And please do tell us about pitching!
Congratulations on your HonMen and successful pitching! Can't wait to hear all about it.
OMG-- I am so HAPPY for you!! Thanks so, so much for sharing this information with us, and wow--It will be good to know that someone might actually say "Um no, I don't care for ---" You are one professional lady, lady :)
Man, I just cannot wait to hear the responses for your story. You must be high as a kite--good luck sleeping tonight :)
Acckkk! I was so busy being excited that I forgot to ask---what did They ask You??
Especially, did they ask the "what else do you have" question?
congratulations, India! I am very happy for you. Three out of four is amazing! And it sounds like a great book.
Wow, Amy - thanks for the detailed report! So when they asked you about sensuality level, what did you say? Were they looking for a comparison to a pubbed author's work, or just a general term like "sensual" or "erotic" or "hot"?
Thanks for the congratulations. It's so good to see you all here, Alice, CM, Tessa, Beth-and welcome Terry!
Yes, I was asked if I had anything else, and I was sorry to have to say I did not. I mentioned that I was working on an idea for a new book but that went nowhere. Really, where can it go at that stage? But, I expected a negative reaction to admitting that this is my first manuscript. I got the opposite response. Both the editors and agents were impressed. Later, Kristin Nelson said in a workshop that when people tell her they have written numerous manuscripts, she wonders why they haven't published already. I found that surprising.
I was asked about the heat level of my manuscript twice. And Rose Hilliard asked me quite a few questions about FanLit. How did it work etc.
Kristin Nelson asked if I considered my book romance or women's fiction. I told her it was a romance but that there was some stretching of the genre boundaries due to multiple pov characters, nonlinear structure etc.
No one asked me anything like what's the internal and external conflict, the themes etc. I think if you do a formal "pitch", your questions will be in response to what you've said, not out of the blue.
I didn't mention length or completed status in my pitch because I thought it was understood that it was completed and an appropriate length. Margaret Marbury asked the length and commented that 400 pages was a long manuscript. Again, that surprised me.
Someone, not sure who, asked if I thought it might be a category romance because of the secret baby. I explained it wouldn't fit category romance because of the multiple pov, nonlinear storytelling, and elaborate plot.
Rose Hilliard was definitely not crazy about the "secret baby" but was interested enough to request anyway.
Oh, and Margaret Marbury said she "loves" nonlinear stories. No one seemed to have any problem with that aspect of it, despite all the warnings I've had that this type of thing is difficult to sell. Of course, it hasn't exactly sold. But still, no one is complaining about that aspect of it.
Tessa, I responded that it was "hot", maybe hot plus". I got this from Leigh who said RT uses a scale of Hot, Scorcher and some other terms that wouldn't apply to mine. I don't know if this is what they were looking for, but it seemed to answer the question to their satisfaction and they didn't ask for further elaboration.
Three outta four!!! You go girl!
That's awesome!
The idea of pitching terrifies me - I've got a bit of stage fright...
I'll definitely be making everyone practice with me in Dallas!
Way to go! Did they ask for partials or completes? Let us know what comes of the submissions.
Alice
Wahooooo!
You hit a home run :-)
Thank you so much for sharing all of the gory details. It gives hope to those of us still in the "getting ready" stage.
I'm especially envious of your session with KN -- she's one of my top three 'dream agents,' some day.
Sara, we will definitely practice pitching over some dessert wine (CM's bringing) :-)in Dallas.
Alice, they asked for partials. That's great by me because I believe in endless revisions and that gives me more time to obsess and revise the full. I just decided Saturday to eliminate one of the secondary characters and now I have to write him out of the book. That's right folks, say goodbye to David. Maybe he'll show up in a book of his own someday, but likely not.
Chris, I didn't really hit a home run. We'll call it a triple. I am psyched. And as for Kristin Nelson, I have no idea if she'll like the book, but I will tell you she's seems genuinely nice. I'm sure she would be delightful to work with. I just can't see myself with a snarky agent, no matter how "high-powered".
Another thing I forgot to mention was the issue of cards. I designed my own and went "fancy" with a tropical island graphic and the name of my book on the card. The editors took the cards and Margaret Marbury even read it and said something like: "Oh, HQN is looking for ultra-contemporary romances." (My card uses the word "Ultra-contemporary" to describe my book).
KN said she didn't take cards and handed it back to me with a smile and an explanation that if she liked the pitch she would give me her card-which she did-YAY! So my advice is take cards for those who like them, but don't get bent out of shape if you see it in a trash can later in the day.
Can you scan a picture of your card and post it?
Three! Wow! Thanks for all the details and the pitch template. Hey, I'll cheat if I have to. Good luck with everything. You really did have a Rocky Mountain High!
Great stuff Amy. And 3 requests, even better.
Beth, I've posted my card at the bottom of the blog. I deleted my phone and email for this post, but of course you would want that on your card.
Thanks for the kind words everyone, and Maggie, of course I want you to use whatever info is helpful. I think that pitch format worked fairly well.
To clarify, my son and daughter and I designed the card, and really it was mostly the kids' design.
Wow, congrats on the requests, India! Glad you had such a productive trip, and thanks for sharing all these wonderful tips!
India- I thought your cards were great. I didn't give out as many as I thought I would.
BTW- I bought mine at
'www.vistaprint.com' Really not expensive at all.
I wish I was going to nationals with you! I feel like old pros now.
Beautiful card! Thanks for letting us have a look-see :)
Three requests out of four pitches?!?! I'm so tickled for you, way to go. Definitely a nice thing to drop in and read, that people you knew would go far, are indeed going far.
Cheers,
Sarah
Oh, I'm so thrilled for you!!! A triple ain't bad!
Leigh, you have no idea how much I wish you were going to Dallas too! We had such a great time, didn't we?!
Beth, thanks for asking me to post the card. I learned something new in doing so, although I did make a bit of a goof!
Sarah! I'm perfectly thrilled that you stopped by. I know Avon keeps you busy, but please, don't be a stranger. We all want to know what's happening with you. Has Bloody Rose turned into a manuscript yet?
Lindsey, Terry, Ericka, thanks so much for the well wishes! I appreciate them!
Congratulations! I loved your pitch--it's easy to see why you were successful. Twist of Fate sounds great!
Post a Comment