The Elevator Pitch

On the October 21-22, I’m attending the New Jersey Romance Writers "Put Your Heart in a Book Conference." I’m not pitching, but several of my friends are. When I saw this article “Prepare Your Elevator Speech” by Margot Carmichael Lester, MonsterContributing Writer on Yahoo, it got me to thinking about how these five points could be adapted to work for an elevator pitch with an editor/agent.

1—Focus on the book

If you haven’t done so, come up with a high concept, one-sentence blurb of your book. The higher the concept the better. Think about what makes your book stand out, and yet, what makes it the same. Focus on the goals, motivations and conflicts of your characters.

2—Do your homework

Know why you want published or represented by this person. What makes him/her special? Have you taken a workshop with him/her? What makes this person your dream editor/agent or publisher? What books by this publisher have you read? Or if it’s an agent, do you read the authors he/she represents? You may not have to bring up any of this, but if in the course of your conversation, he/she asks any of these questions, it would be better to be prepared.

3—Be professional

This should really go without saying. We all have the knack of pointing out a fake. Don’t tell the editor/agent you’re best writer ever. Don’t brag and don’t kiss up. If you’re published, bring it up, but don’t make things up. Don’t blame others. I know, sounds like common sense. But we all know how that seems to be in short supply sometimes…

4—Keep it short

We are all busy people and editors/agents are some of the busiest. Keep your pitch focused and interesting.

5—Practice

The best thing you can do is write out your entire pitch. Then practice, practice, practice. Aloud and in front of a mirror. Pretend your reflection is the editor/agent of your dreams. Make notes of where you can improve. Try to reduce your nervous habits. Make it sound natural by varying your tone of voice. Become familiar with the script, but don’t become so focused on memorizing the script until you can’t think of anything else. This is where knowing as much as possible about the editor/agent is important. If he/she asks you a question, you’ll still be able to keep your cool and give an intelligent answer. Have your friends—writer friends who are familiar with what you are doing are best, in my opinion—to critique your pitch. It might even be a good idea to have them role play with you by asking questions about your story that are not covered in the pitch, or to ask you one of the questions mentioned in Number 2 to practice those answers as well.

Good luck!