Anne Skyvington
  • Writing
    • Craft
      • Structuring a Short Story
      • Alternative Narrative Approaches
      • Genre in Writing
      • A Grain of Folly
        • Novel Writing
          • The Sea Voyage: a metaphor
          • How I Created My Debut Novel
          • What I learnt from writing a novel…
          • Short Story
            • At the Swimming Pool
            • The Night of the Barricades
          • Poetry
            • a funny thing happened …
            • An ancient mystic: Rumi
            • A Window into Poetry
            • The Voice of T.S. Eliot
  • Publishing
    • A Change of Blog Title
    • 5 Further Publishing Facts
    • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing
    • Highs and Lows of Self Publishing
    • A Perfect Pitch to a Publisher
    • A Useful Site for Readers and Indie Authors: Books 2 Read
  • Book Reviews
    • A Story of a Special Child
    • Discovering Karrana
    • A Young Adult Novel: My French Barrette
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • The Trouble With Flying: A Review
  • Mythos
    • Ancient Stories from Childhood
    • Births Deaths and Marriages
    • Duality or Onenness: The Moon
    • The Myth of Persephone and Demeter
    • Pandora’s Box
    • 7 ancient artefacts in the British Museum
    • Symbolism of Twins
    • The Agony and the Ecstasy of Change
    • Voices From the Past
  • Australia
    • A Country College Residence
    • A Kit Home Goes Up in Vacy
    • A Sydney Icon or Two
    • 5 things about Coogee
    • Moree and Insistent Voices
    • Things To Do in Sydney
  • Travel
    • A Bird’s Eye View
    • A Tuscan Village Holiday
    • Back to Cavtat in Croatia
    • Travel to Croatia
    • 5 or 6 Things About Valencia
  • Guest Post
    • a father’s tale … by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • A Guest Poem: “First Loves” by Roger Britton
    • A Love Sonnet by Ian Harry Wells
    • “Snakey” by Roger Britton
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • A Story of a Genteel Ghost told by Roger Britton
  • Psychology
    • Creativity and Mental Illness
    • Networking and Emotional Intelligence
    • C.G.Jung’s Active Imagination and the Dead
    • Psychology as a Field of Study
    • Western Influencers Down Through The Ages
  • Life Stories
    • Adriatic Romance … Rijeka to Titograd
    • Always something there to remind me…
    • A Well-Loved Pet
    • Candidly Yours…
    • Memoir Writing
    • River Girl: An Early Chapter of my Memoir in Progress
  • Welcome
  • Contact

Anne Skyvington

The Craft of Writing

  • Writing
    • Craft
      • Structuring a Short Story
      • Alternative Narrative Approaches
      • Genre in Writing
      • A Grain of Folly
        • Novel Writing
          • The Sea Voyage: a metaphor
          • How I Created My Debut Novel
          • What I learnt from writing a novel…
          • Short Story
            • At the Swimming Pool
            • The Night of the Barricades
          • Poetry
            • a funny thing happened …
            • An ancient mystic: Rumi
            • A Window into Poetry
            • The Voice of T.S. Eliot
  • Publishing
    • A Change of Blog Title
    • 5 Further Publishing Facts
    • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing
    • Highs and Lows of Self Publishing
    • A Perfect Pitch to a Publisher
    • A Useful Site for Readers and Indie Authors: Books 2 Read
  • Book Reviews
    • A Story of a Special Child
    • Discovering Karrana
    • A Young Adult Novel: My French Barrette
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • The Trouble With Flying: A Review
  • Mythos
    • Ancient Stories from Childhood
    • Births Deaths and Marriages
    • Duality or Onenness: The Moon
    • The Myth of Persephone and Demeter
    • Pandora’s Box
    • 7 ancient artefacts in the British Museum
    • Symbolism of Twins
    • The Agony and the Ecstasy of Change
    • Voices From the Past
  • Australia
    • A Country College Residence
    • A Kit Home Goes Up in Vacy
    • A Sydney Icon or Two
    • 5 things about Coogee
    • Moree and Insistent Voices
    • Things To Do in Sydney
  • Travel
    • A Bird’s Eye View
    • A Tuscan Village Holiday
    • Back to Cavtat in Croatia
    • Travel to Croatia
    • 5 or 6 Things About Valencia
  • Guest Post
    • a father’s tale … by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • A Guest Poem: “First Loves” by Roger Britton
    • A Love Sonnet by Ian Harry Wells
    • “Snakey” by Roger Britton
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • A Story of a Genteel Ghost told by Roger Britton
  • Psychology
    • Creativity and Mental Illness
    • Networking and Emotional Intelligence
    • C.G.Jung’s Active Imagination and the Dead
    • Psychology as a Field of Study
    • Western Influencers Down Through The Ages
  • Life Stories
    • Adriatic Romance … Rijeka to Titograd
    • Always something there to remind me…
    • A Well-Loved Pet
    • Candidly Yours…
    • Memoir Writing
    • River Girl: An Early Chapter of my Memoir in Progress
Publishing

A Perfect Pitch to a Publisher

written by Anne Skyvington July 1, 2017
softball-pitcher

What is A Pitch?

A pitch can be verbal or written and often a combination of both. Verbal pitches are for face-to-face meetings with an agent or publishers.

A synopsis answers the question of what’s in the novel, whereas a pitch tells the publishers why they should read the manuscript.

It should include the title, length and genre of your novel; a short synopsis; your target audience; where it fits in the market; and your bio.

Things to Consider For Your Pitch:

Which publishers are you pitching to? Do they have similar books to yours and have you read them? How can you simply describe what happens?  Where does it fit on the shelves of bookshops? Who is your audience? What’s unique about your book? From where/what did you get the idea? Tagline? The central conflict? Have you been published?  How might you assist with selling the book? Have you won any awards? Why should they read your book?

Who are your favourite authors?

Isabel Allende; Miles Franklin; Gabriel García Márquez; Stendhal; Hemingway; Milan Kundera; Salley Vickers; Tim Winton; Barbara Kingsolver; Emily Bronte; Jill Kerr Conway; Magda Szubanski; Helen Garner; Richard Glover

Which ones does your book resemble?

In terms of thematic content: My Brilliant Career; Wuthering Heights; Flight Behaviour; The Unbearable Lightness of Being; Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell; A Farewell to Arms

The Pitch

Your pitch should be short, interesting, and describe your novel’s best qualities. Read the blurbs on the back of paperback novels similar to yours, or on Amazon. That’s the level of detail you require, since a pitch would only last about 2-3 minutes in all. Ten or fifteen minute long appointments must also contain questions and small-talk. It must be kept short and snappy.

A good idea is to open with something short and catchy. You want a few sentences that describe your novel in the most compelling and intriguing way possible.

When Writing Your Pitch:

  • Lead with a hook or a tagline
  • one (or two) sentence description that boils it down to its essential dramatic narrative: who? what? where? when?
  • Genre?
  • Title
  • “Zingy” language, but an elegant presentation

A YouTube Video

The procedure is much the same as in the video above. Lucy Flynn, English literary agent is shown practising a pitch for a book, La Manciata, by an Italian writer, before a panel of judges.  Did she give away too much of the story?

This video was created and published by “Free Word” (Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London) in association with the British Centre for Literary Translation (University of East Anglia, Norwich):

[Free Word works internationally to bring together communities, organisations and individuals through the belief that words change lives. In 2009, Free Word moved in, and, after refurbishing in 2014, has become a vibrant hub for literature]

Practising the Pitch

President of New York Writers Workshop, Tim Tomlinson, who hosts several pitch conferences annually, advises that writers plan out a pitch of 90 seconds to two minutes that they either memorise or read during their session, leaving time for questions and answers at the end. This way, you know you’ll say everything you needed to say. You’re also more likely to be articulate and clear about your message. Besides, this material will then make up your cover letter to publishers or agents.

After the Pitch

Even if you aren’t successful, you’ve had the experience of meeting a publisher or an agent, and practising your pitch, which you can use again in the future.

 

A Perfect Pitch to a Publisher was last modified: February 11th, 2019 by Anne Skyvington
my favourite authorspractising the pitchquestions to consider when pitching your novelwhat is a pitch?writing a pitch for a publisher
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Anne Skyvington

I have been a reader/writer all of my life as far back as I can remember. Blogging has opened me up to another world, where I can share my skills and continue to create through word and picture. Writing is about seeing the world and recreating it for others to see through different eyes.

previous post
Serendipity at the 2017 Sydney Writers’ Festival
next post
John Cade and Australia’s Greatest Mental Health Story

You may also like

Print On Demand Publishing

September 5, 2014

Publishing Streams in Australia

October 19, 2017

To Publish Book or e-Book?

September 5, 2014

How to create an ebook in 5...

March 15, 2019

The Writer as Entrepreneur

October 5, 2014

Highs and Lows of Self Publishing

October 16, 2019

5 Further Publishing Facts

April 1, 2020

Self publishing a novel as an ebook

June 5, 2019

Self Publishing

May 3, 2019

5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing

March 23, 2020

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

Subscribe

Buy online from Amazon

In Australia you can purchase the book from Harry Hartog in Bondi Junction, from Amazon Australia and bookshops linked to IngramSpark

 

Included in Feedspot’s Top 30 for 2020

Top 30 Creative Writing Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2020

This blog is Included in List of 100 Best Writers’ Sites 2019

 

The 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2019

Connect With Me

Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest Linkedin Youtube Email

Recent Posts

  • The Night of the Barricades

    February 15, 2021
  • How I Created My Debut Novel

    July 4, 2020
  • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills

    May 7, 2020
  • 5 Further Publishing Facts

    April 1, 2020
  • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing

    March 23, 2020

Categories

  • Writing
  • Craft of Writing
  • Publishing
  • Australia
  • Childhood
  • Nature
  • Travel
  • Poetry
  • Memoir
  • Emotions and Health
  • Book Reviews
  • Guest Post
  • Art
  • Politics

I’ve joined ALLI

About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington is a Sydney-based writer and blogger. <a href="http://anneskyvington.com.au She has self-published a novel, 'Karrana' and is currently writing a creative memoir based on her life and childhood with a spiritual/mystical dimension.

Popular Posts

  • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills

    May 7, 2020
  • 5 Further Publishing Facts

    April 1, 2020
  • The Golden Ratio in Nature

    August 24, 2016

Subscribe

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin

Copyright @ 2017 Anne Skyvington. All Rights Reserved. Site by gina.digital.


Back To Top