Recap of My #pitmad tips

As some of you know, I'm a #pitmad success story. Back in 2013,  I attracted the attention of Meredith Rich of Bloomsbury Spark with my pitch for my novel THE SWEET SPOT. That's not the book that I ultimately ended up writing with Bloomsbury, but it started our relationship. Link

Needless to say, I love #pitmad. This past week, I got to help out Brenda Drake by co-hosting the most recent. I spent the day tweeting tips, so I thought I'd put them all here in one place.

I'd love to answer questions about pitches. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about my experience!

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Be professional on twitter. An agent during #pitmad mentioned being turned off by someone's negative tweets & chose not to favorite. #pubtip

Tweets are public. Expect industry pros to look at your feed and bio. Act accordingly if you expect to be treated professionally. #pitmad

#pitmad tip. Now that you have your pitch, practice it out loud so you can answer "what's your book about?" in line at the grocery store.

If agent is open to queries and reps what you write, query traditionally, even if they don't favorite. #pitmad.

Pitching today during #pitmad? Be sure you have a MS ready to send in case someone "favorites" it! Be prepared to submit!

#pitmad tip. Change your pitch to focus on different angles of the story. Include specifics.

Share the #pitmad love. If you like a pitch, retweet it. Leave stars (favorites) for the pros. Total heart attack for the author. #pitmad

The best pitches are specific. MC, goal, stakes, and genre. Hard to do, but worth the effort. #pitmad

After the Twitter Pitch Contest Request

So...you participated in #pitchmas or #pitchmad or some other twitter pitch contest. Halleluiah, an agent or editor favorited your pitch!!

This is a great way to start a dialogue with publishing pros. Be aware, now that you're on their radar, they are going to be looking at your twitter feed, and likely your blog as well. Be sure you're presenting yourself in the most professional way possible. The way you conduct yourself online might make or break you at this point.

Jump up an down. Have a glass of wine. Be excited. But wait...Oh my gosh. Now what do you do?

Clearly you had a great short pitch. But here's what you need to do next.

Take a breath. You don't need to get them something the second after they request. However, you do need to get them something within a professional period of time. My rule of thumb would be within a couple of days, maybe a week at the most. This is why you really want to be sure your work is complete before you pitch.

After someone requests your work, you need to have something to send them.

1. You need to have a query letter--yes, you still need a professional query/cover letter.
2. You need to have a completed manuscript -- please make sure you have a completed MS before you pitch!
3. You might need a synopsis, not everyone requests a synopsis, but it's a good idea to have one.
4. When you're ready, send the query and whatever the requesting person has asked for (partial, synopsis, etc.). Be sure you mention the #pitch request in your subject line and the query. Be specific--there are a lot of these things happening these days. Remind them of the date and the hashtag. 
5. It's okay to send to your work to more than one person. If you have editors requesting, as well as agents, be sure to disclose that. I'm a big believer in full-disclosure.
6. As a general rule, you shouldn't be querying editors and agents simultaneously. My only exception to this rule is when something is specifically requested--but use your best judgement when it comes to submitting. In other words, if you're querying agents, and an editor requests from a twitter pitch contest, I would submit it to them and then tell the querying agents that it's with an editor as requested.

Now you wait. Good luck!

As a congratulations to anyone getting a request from a pitch, I'll do a query critique for someone who comments on this blog! I'll do a random number selection on Christmas Eve -- Tuesday -- at noon.




Kristine Carlson Asselin is a writer of contemporary YA & MG fantasy. She's the director of SCBWI-New England 2014. Her debut YA is due from Bloomsbury Spark in 2014--and the initial contact with Bloomsbury came from a twitter pitch contest. She is represented by Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

The all-important Elevator Pitch

Or log line.

Or pitch line.

Or whatever the heck you want to call it.

Yesterday, for the first time in a very long time, someone asked me what my novel is about. I stalled. I stammered. And finally I blurted out..."it's about a girl who plays golf."

Really, Kris? After all this time? And that's the best you can come up with?

The NE-SCBWI conference is in 40 days. I really need to be able to describe my novel better than that. Yes, I have an agent. No, I'm not querying. But it's vital that I can describe my book better than that! Because, people WILL ask.

Back in 2010, I won an agent pitch contest with the following:

With the family golf course on the verge of bankruptcy, Kate Anderson decides she's going to be the first girl to win the Junior State Championship to draw the crowds back, but her plans are derailed when her best friend and crush is accused of vandalizing the course with a blowtorch.

Yeah, that rocks. But it's hard to say to someone out loud. It's great written pitch. It worked great in queries, but not so much in person. 


I'm thinking about: 

Kate Anderson has to win a local golf tournament to save her parents failing golf course. Along the way, there are blow torches, British boys, and kissing.

Of course, I've got nothing for the middle grade novel. Best start working on that one...

Do you have an elevator pitch?

Four on Friday--things I learned at NESCBWI

Remember to go over and follow AFTERGLOW BOOK REVIEWS -- there's a mega Start of Summer Giveaway starting on Monday.

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I still can't believe the NESCBWI (New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) is over. My crit group had been looking forward to it for months--we don't get to see each other in person all that often. And now it's over. :( But I did take away a few things I wanted to share.

1. As I've mentioned before, be prepared to answer the question "What's your book about?" anytime, any where. Call it your pitch, call it your log line, but know it and be prepared to say it out loud, to friends, agents, and anyone else interested in hearing about your writing.

2. "Show don't Tell" has a fancy scientific name--"Elision." And Janet Fox can talk much more intelligently about it than I can. Just know that it's all about the space between the words, sentence structure, and leaving things out. Read her article to find out how to add to your manuscript during the revision process.

3. In order to be successful at this writing thing, you have to DO THE WORK. Lin Oliver, co-founder of SCBWI, shared success stories from the vaults. And they all had one thing in common--you have to DO THE WORK. Which basically means, Butt in Chair, Hands On Keyboard.

4. Publishing isn't really a solitary activity. Writing might be, but once you're on the path to publication, you're a part of a team. You've got to be a team player; Divas can be spotted a mile away and no one wants to be their friends. Be a team player.

There were tons of other things I learned, but these are the four that come to immediate mind--so I'm going with them. :)

I can't wait for next  year.

Live Pitching

I posted about pitching a few weeks ago (P is for Pitching). Little did I know that I would be posting about it again so soon!

Even if you haven't attended a writer's conference, you probably know that agents and editors (not to mention fabulous and talented authors) often serve as conference faculty. They always often offer critiques by appointment. Critique will probably cost you a few bucks, but it's worth it to get written comments by a professional. But make sure you have your elevator pitch ready also.

As someone who found her agent through an email query, why was I thinking about pitching? Well, you do realize that anytime you're asked about your book, you have to give your pitch, don't you?

Any time you have a chance to give your pitch, you should do it. Regardless of how nervous you are.

So anyway, on Friday night, there was a celebration. In a tight location. Lots of people. And cake. (Is that an agent over there? Yeah, it is. OMG it's Chris Richman from Upstart Crow. Go talk to him. No, you go talk to him. Maybe we should all go.)

If you're not an assertive person, find a friend who is. There is no reason not to talk to an agent. Say hello. Ask him how he's enjoying the conference. And then maybe your confident friend will ask if you can all give him your elevator pitch. Sound terrifying?

Yeah, it was. But in a really good way. Chris didn't mind at all (after all, he's at the conference to scope out potential new clients.) I was thinking--I've got nothing to lose here. I have an agent. So why were my knees knocking together? But there were a few people in our group of six who hadn't heard my pitch. So I was pitching to potential readers, too.

Over all I think I did pretty well. But I know I can do better. Time to start practicing in front of the mirror. Oh, and by the way, Chris Richman was thoughtful and enthusiastic to all of us--if you write what he's looking for (check out his sub requirements!), I bet he's an awesome agent to work with.

P is for Pitching

My agent, Vickie Motter, posted something about pitching agents a few weeks ago -- read it here.

To me, doing a live pitch, sounds terrifying. And I made a flip comment on her post. But here's the thing, as Vickie describes it, several comments later:

Though you've bypassed the pitching, you might want to prepare yourself for what comes after. Every time someone asks "What is your book about," THAT'S a pitch. So writers, whether or not you plan to pitch in person to agents or editors, make sure you have a one line pitch ready. Just in case.

Oh. Right.

This happens to me all the time. And I almost always say, well, it's about a girl who plays golf...blah blah blah boring. Holy Cow, I've got to come up with a pitch that I can rattle off--this is the beginning of my marketing! I need to be able to tell people what my book is about. I need a pitch!

I have a log line that I used in my query. But it's a little cumbersome to roll off the tongue. But I need to practice for NESCBWI, because sure as sugar someone will ask me what my book is about...and I'm the best one to tell them.