SCBWI Florida Workshop Part III- Share Your Perfect Pitch and Find Out How it Sells!

    This is my third blog post from the Florida SCBWI young adult workshop. Erica Rand Silverman is an agent with Sterling Lord Literistic and Jacquelyn Mitchard is a prolific author as well as an editor-in-chief at Merit Press. Click here for Part I and Part II.

Erica and Jacquelyn interwove their remarks
into a tapestry of great advice.

• Don’t over reach.  You can use the “X” meets “Y” as long as you use examples that haven’t sold million copies. If you do, use a title that is known, but not over-known.
• Don’t send a photo of yourself.
• Don't say a family member loves your manuscript. 
• Don't send with spelling or grammar errors.
• Do Be concise, simple, and straightforward. 
• Do List writing programs and classes you have attended as well as degrees and awards. Be relevant, current, and honest.
• Do “Nuggetize” your work. Erika said to ask, "What is my books' essence?" Jacquelyn said it this way: "Find the statue in the block of granite." 
• Do Try to include the character’s stakes in the pitch.
• Do reference a client's work you appreciate. 
• Do say why you are pitching to this particular agent.
• Sometimes: Writing the pitch before you write the book helps you to conceptualize it. But writing it afterwards can help too.

[My experience is that it is helpful to write a pitch at different points while working on a manuscript. Before, during, and after!]

Image courtesy of baseball-clip-art.com
http://www.baseball-clip-art.com/baseball_clipart/stock_photo_of_a_baseball_pitcher_from_the_san_diego_padres_0001-0503-1811-5741.html

After their presentation, Erika and Jacquelyn invited participants to write a pitch and read it out loud. Building on a previously-written pitch, I read the following:

Dear Erica, 

I am writing to you because I met you at the Florida 2015 SCBWI conference and heard of your interest in young adult books. The other books you represent, X and X are  Y. [Where "X" are titled of books Erica represents and "Y"  is the reason I like them.]

Against the backdrop of segregation and Southern debutante society, Half-Truths is a young adult novel about an unexpected friendship between two teen girls-- one white, the other a descendent of a slave. When they discover a family heirloom that belongs to both families, their friendship is tested and proved. In the process of confronting her prejudices and fears, each girl finds a place in the New South.

Written from alternating points-of-view, my first young adult novel is complete at 80,000 words. I am the author of two nonfiction books for adults as well as many articles and stories for adults and children. I coordinated a SCBWI critique group for over twenty years, have taught writing to both adults and teens, and presented at numerous educational, library, and writing conferences. I review books and share insights into writing at www.carolbaldwinblog.blogspot.com and co-publish Talking Story, a digital newsletter which promotes literacy.
 

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Guess what?

They liked it!