Have you ever been asked to summarize your book on the spot? Are you hoping to pitch your book to potential agents and publishers? This article shares six things that authors need to master in order to deliver an effective pitch.
I finished drafting a manuscript in September. It felt amazing—for about ten minutes. Then I realized that I’d unknowingly begun the transition from writing the story to selling it.
While my manuscript was with my editor, I decided that I would register to pitch the book at an October writing conference we were planning to attend. I knew I needed something to help me get out of my comfort zone, and a three-minute in-person fast pitch sounded like one of the scariest things a writer could do. I booked three slots.
Leading up to the conference, I had some book pitch training from NYT and international bestselling author Angie Fenimore, and then I spent the entirety of October writing, revising, practicing, and memorizing my pitch. I pitched it to my husband, friends, and family many times.
At last, the day rolled around. One publisher had to cancel our pitch session at the last minute. Another had a scheduling mix-up and couldn’t attend any of the pitches. But I sat down with the third, gave her my best pitch, and received a full manuscript request. Win!
It wasn’t until later in the day, however, that I really started feeling grateful for my preparation and training. The publishing rep with the schedule conflict showed up for lunch and afternoon classes. She sat at my lunch table. She mentioned the missed pitches in casual conversation and I assured her we’d all be more than willing to reschedule for a time that fit her availability—but she asked me to give my pitch right there at the lunch table! Despite feeling flustered (especially with other acquisitions reps at the table), I managed to deliver a decent pitch and get a second request.
I chatted with a fellow conference attendee who was also pitching his book, and who received manuscript requests from all five of his pitch sessions. He gave me some tips that also helped me to be successful, and now it’s time to pass along the things I’ve taken away from this experience.
Without further ado, here are six things that you need to master for your book pitch, with examples from the one that got me two requests. I’ll also add a note about social media pitching events toward the conclusion.
1: Keep Salutations Succinct
This addresses both the greeting and the farewell of your pitch. It is crucial that you express appreciation to the representative for their time (because they are very busy people and their time is valuable), but do not drone on. When you begin your pitch, stick to something along the lines of:
Hello! My name is Hannah Ackerman. Thank you for your time.
(Substituting your own name, of course.)
If you’re feeling a particularly big onslaught of nerves, it can also do a lot for you to acknowledge it briefly. Saying something like “I’m a little nervous” is perfectly acceptable and allows you to move on to your hook without worrying about hiding it. The representatives are generally considerate. They know you’re nervous, and they understand that many of us are better writers than public speakers.
2: Write A Captivating Hook
The hook of your pitch and your book could take up an entire article all on its own (which I’ll end up writing, one way or another). Let’s take a look at my hook, which isn’t the best, and talk briefly about what works and what needs cleaning up.
An old sailor’s ballad spun destruction as the people of Tohkadan sang the words in the taverns late at night: To enter is to perish, to falter is to cry, but to rot in the dark as people have been is to sentence the world to die.
Strengths: it uses words like “sailor,” “destruction,” “tavern,” and “perish” to introduce the setting and genre of the book (YA Viking-esque fantasy). It also tells us a little about the culture in my book and that the fate of the world is at stake.
Weaknesses: it’s much too long and complicated. I panicked the night before my pitch and rewrote the hook completely, so I ran out of time to simplify it, but the golden rule in pitching (and querying!) is that less is more. We want to cut out as much fluffy prose as possible.
Your hook should be just one sentence that encapsulates the center of your story. One of the strongest hooks that I still remember from the training (even though it was several weeks ago now) was this:
“Would you give up your dream life to save the life of another?”
Doesn’t that just strike you? It’s phenomenal. The gentleman went on to pitch his book about a girl who moves to college, finds freedom, falls in love with a young and irresponsible guy, then finds out she’s pregnant and loses all the support she thought she had. All the details came later, but the hook really, well, hooked me.
3: Give Them The Stats
Now that you’ve said hello and got them hooked with that first one-line teaser, it’s time to actually tell them where your story is at. You need to give them the stats about your manuscript, including:
- Working Title
- Genre (including subgenres, if applicable)
- Standalone, Series, or Series Potential
- Intended audience
- Comp Titles
- Length (in words, rounded)—this can be an estimate!
- Timeframe (a few weeks out? a few months? Or is it available upon request?)
Here’s how I shared my book stats with the publishing reps in a fairly standard format:
My book, titled THE GIRL MADE OF NORTH STONE, is a YA Viking-esque fantasy novel and the first installment of a planned duology reimagining the legend of Atlantis through the eyes of a Norse- and Celtic-inspired culture. It takes the haunting but whimsical retelling style of both Hannah Whitten’s FOR THE WOLF and Rachel Gillig’s ONE DARK WINDOW and adds a dash of Icelandic influence as seen in Caroline Lea’s THE GLASS WOMAN. The manuscript is in developmental revision at 100,000 words, and I expect to be ready to submit within three months.
Some important additional pieces to point out here. There is a good chance that the representative won’t recognize your comp titles (and that’s okay). Pull the common characteristics from them to help paint the picture anyways. Do your research on picking comp titles; do notuse massive hits like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, or Star Wars. This comes across as very amateur. Instead, show them you are well-read in the genre you’re writing. (Make sure the comp titles you choose are contemporary, a.k.a. published within the last 3–5 years, and that they sold decently well.)
Lastly, let the rep know where the manuscript is at and when they can expect to receive it. It is perfectly acceptable to say it’s in “developmental revision,” “final revision,” or “beta read.” Just be prepared to have a full, polished manuscript ready as soon as possible if they do make a request.
4: Streamline The Pitch
You’ve only got three minutes to include all of this information, so every single sentence of your pitch body needs to be serving a purpose. Here’s the body of my pitch, which introduces the character, the setting, the conflict, and the cliffhanger without giving it all away:
Tohkadan is a place of secrets, from the smallest mysteries of a mother gone missing and a horse with a strange ailment to the larger looming threats of a usurping lord and whispers of a sunken civilization. When fate calls for blood and power, a farmer’s daughter is the last one the world expects to answer—but her secrets might be just enough to save them. Khona’s only wish is that her father Tolluk would tell her what really happened the night her mother disappeared. When he rejects an invitation to the coronation of a usurper, she begins to uncover just how much he’s been hiding. As her village is raided and burned, Tolluk has only moments to shove his most closely-guarded journal into her arms before he’s dragged away. The home Khona’s never left suddenly becomes the one place she cannot stay, and she flees into the woods. With the gods as silent as the grave, Khona knows that her only chance of saving Tolluk is by finding the allies he wrote about—but there’s a reason her people don’t hunt this far north. Dark eyes watch in the shadows between the trees. Khona is kidnapped for asking the wrong questions, enlists the help of a shady stablehand with haunted eyes, and discovers her father’s old allies are plotting a war that will end in death. She stands at the crossroads between love and duty, for it’s not just Tolluk who needs liberation, but all of Tohkadan. Long-kept secrets about the true fate of the sunken city, the gods, the kings, and her own family are coming to light. Darker evils and dormant magic are stirring beneath the surface; Khona will have to come face to face with magic, monsters, betrayal, and darkness incarnate if she is to save anyone before history repeats itself.
Strengths: All the necessary elements of setting, character, conflict, and cliffhanger are there. I also know how my book ends so if they ask for it, I can answer. Almost every sentence is multi-purpose and adds details while prompting intrigue. My subplots are hinted at, but I don’t spend too long describing the world or side quests.
Weaknesses: The rep at the lunch table mentioned that it takes a little bit too long to learn who the main character is. After all, it’s her eyes that we see the story through. If I pitch this book in-person again, I will revise it to introduce Khona right away. It also doesn’t give her age, and sounds more like a dark adult fantasy than a YA Viking fantasy. Make sure to iron out the tone of your pitch.
5: Provide A Brief But Relevant Bio
The bio is a fun part of the pitch. You get to share a little about yourself so that as the rep is considering your manuscript, they can also get a glimpse of what it would be like to work with you as a client.
But your bio, like everything else, needs to be succinct. Include only the details about you that give you credibility (such as education, training, or previous publications) and show the agent why you are the best person to be telling this story.
Here’s the bio and conclusion I shared with the reps:
Khona’s character was born from my childhood years on a farm in the remote northern forests of Idaho, where I was raised on the stories of my Scottish and Scandinavian ancestors. My work has since been published in a variety of different writing contests, and I have received a degree in Editing & Publishing from BYU. I’ve written for multiple publications and I’ve generated an online audience of over 3,000 people who are already following both Khona’s story and mine. Thank you.
Why did I include the detail about my Instagram followers? When publishing reps are listening to your book pitch, they are listening for details that tell them your book is marketable. By mentioning that you’ve already been putting in some effort to market your book, you demonstrate that 1) you are committed to your story, 2) your story resonates with readers, and 3) you are an effective marketer who will help generate sales. Both indie and traditionally published authors are expected to promote their own books; that’s part of the business.
6: Demonstrate A Positive Attitude
Perhaps the most important part of the pitch. Above all, be confident in the work that you’ve done to bring this story to life. Approach the pitch as a conversation that you’ve prepared well for (not so much a ‘presentation’) and let your passion for the story shine through. Be gracious and considerate of the rep’s time and attention.
All these elements put together are your standard format for formal, in-person pitches: saluations, hook, stats, body, bio. If you’re pitching fiction, it’s recommended that you follow this order. For pitching a work of nonfiction, your bio and qualifications carry more weight, so you’ll want to start with salutations, then bio, stats, body, hook. Always end by thanking them.
A Note on Virtual Pitching
Last month I also jumped in on a Twitter pitching event known as #PitDark. In this event, writers tweet pitches for their novel throughout the day as frequently as every hour. Agents watch the tag feed and “Like” pitches that they want to see manuscripts for. (Fellow writers, editors, and bookish supporters refrain from liking the pitch posts, but they comment and reTweet to show their support.) I pitched THE GIRL MADE OF NORTH STONE during the event and got an additional manuscript request from an agent!
The formatting of a social media pitch is certainly a little different than traditional pitches, but can you spot the elements? Hook, character, conflict, setting, cliffhanger. Comp titles. Stats (the tags at the bottom that classify genres). Consider this your challenge to participate in a virtual pitching event and see how it goes! I’ve got #MoodPitch on my calendar for next Thursday (November 9th); here’s a page with more details about that.
Hope this was helpful to you, no matter where you might find yourself along the writing-pitching-publishing route. Happy pitching!
Hannah L. Ackerman
Hannah L. Ackerman Portfolio 
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