Pitches can be nerve-wracking!
It’s not so easy to boil your work down to its salient themes and summarize the main plot points, to make sure you give the right information and the right amount of it…and then present all of it to a real live literary agent in a concise, coherent way. What if you emphasize the wrong thing? What if you completely stumble all over your words, take up too much time–or not enough time? What if you forget everything and freeze up?
These are just some of the potential worries you might have, going in. And you’re not alone.
MWW’s Agent Fest Online is designed to not just provide you with opportunities to pitch to agents, but ways to prepare and practice your pitch. Each morning we’ll have Practice Pitch sessions where you’ll be able to pitch in front of your peers and receive feedback from some of our knowledgeable, experienced board members. Even if you don’t want to pitch in front of us, we recommend attending so that you can hear other pitches and the advice being given.
To help you prepare–whether or not you plan to attend the conference–we’ve compiled a few pointers to help get you started preparing your pitch (just a few; this is by no means an exhaustive list), and provided some resources for you to check out.
- Make sure you include the pertinent details: title, genre, setting (place and time), word count. Introduce the protagonist and the challenge they’ll be facing, what sorts of things they might encounter along the way. What kind of voice does the book have?
- Show that you’ve done your homework: offer a few other books you might compare it to (you can even throw in a movie title or TV series).
- Why are you the right person to tell this story, and what sort of readers will be drawn to it?
- Why do you think that they’d be a good agent for you? Take a look at some of the other books and authors on your agent’s list, if it’s available. Line up a few questions you might ask them if there’s time or opportunity.
- Be enthusiastic about your work! If you’re not, why should they be?
- Rehearse your pitch (memorize it!). Practice saying it out loud, in front a mirror, to your dog, to your roommate…
- Remember that a literary agent is a human, and that they *want* to hear your pitch!
(This is how we run our pitch sessions, so that you can envision the space and best prepare for you time with the agent.)
The worst thing that can happen is they pass on the work. Try not to be overly discouraged or take it personally (and don’t get defensive). It’s possible that they’re just not the right agent for your project. You might find that you need to refine your pitch, or even revise your work some more. Be open minded and take the pitch session as a learning opportunity.
Here are some resources on pitching:
- Bloomsbury Publishing: “Five Ways to get Ahead When it Comes to Pitching Your Book”
- Jane Friedman: “How to Pitch Agents at a Writer’s Conference”
- Writer’s Digest: “Pitching to Agents at a Writer’s Conference”
Which agent is right for you?
Take a look at our Agent Faculty for their bios and wishlists
Check out the schedule!
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