Pitching at Conferences

Hey folks! It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog post, but I’ve been super busy in the two and a half months since I joined the agency. At the end of April I was at the Las Vegas Writers Conference, and only two weeks later I was in Atlanta for theirs. Then it was only two weeks to Book Expo America! This Friday I’ll be at the Philadelphia Writers Conference, so Philly-area writers should totally come say hi!

Claire Humphrey

Amid all that rushing to and fro,  I signed two new clients I’m very excited about! Go follow them on Twitter: Claire Humphrey (@clairebmused) and S. J. Sindu (@SJSindu). Claire is a rising star in Sci-Fi/Fantasy, with her short story “The Witch of Tarup” recently featured in the critically acclaimed anthology LONG HIDDEN by Rose Fox and Daniel José Older. Sindu is a writer for Autostraddle and my first literary fiction client. She writes gorgeously about the intersection of LGBT and South Asian experience.

S. J. Sindu

Enough bragging about my fabulous client list, though! Let me get to something I think would be helpful for those attending conferences, which is the right way and the wrong way to pitch an agent at an event like that. This is based on my entire experience attending conferences, and should not be construed as a reflection of the specific conferences listed above!

 

There are some obvious NOs:

1. Do not pitch the agent while they are eating dinner.

2. Do not pitch the agent while they are trapped in a vehicle with you.

3. Do not  pitch the agent by walking up to the table immediately before a panel discussion.

4. Do not come up behind the agent at a bar without warning and rub their shoulders, à la George W. Bush and Angela Merkel.

5. Do not pitch at the urinals. I am busy.

 

I’ll just assume we’re avoiding the above no-nos. Those aside, the essence of a good pitch comes down to the following things:

1. What is your genre? Don’t tell me you’re a genre-buster. That’s great, kudos, but give me the shelf at the bookstore your book would go on.

2. Who is your protagonist? Why do I care about her?

3. What is the conflict? I don’t mean the setting (“War is brewing in the Kingdom of Whatever!”), I mean the conflict (“The Princess of Whatever must negotiate peace terms before a fortnight is through, or dragons will eat everybody”). What is your protagonist striving towards, and what are the stakes if she fails?

4. Comp titles! What are some books you see as similar to yours, and how is your book different?

 

Don’t beat around the bush. You usually have only 5-10 minutes for a pitch session, assuming you want time for feedback. If you start reciting a long synopsis you’ve memorized, these key details I need to assess the work may get lost. I love hearing writers pitch in person — it’s an aspect of my job I really enjoy — but I will start grilling them with direct questions if I feel like I’m not getting the information I need. I’m not trying to stress you out, I’m just trying to get an idea of the manuscript before I give you feedback!

Good luck, and I’ll see you out there. Hopefully not in the lavatory.