A critical key to landing a book deal is the presentation of your idea in such a way that the editor or agent is completely sold on the concept.
In musical terms, perfect pitch is the rare talent to name or pick out a note without having any reference point. This is illustrated by this youtube video where they clear your mind, then give you a tone, and ask you to name the note; most people fail this test. Just like most writers haven’t figured out the best way to pitch their idea.
Off Pitch
The pitches that are “off” are easier to reject. They aren’t “musical” at all. For example:
“I am a novice with an abundant bevy of stories, I am just happy for exposure.[sic] In the right hands I am sure my stories can be molded into gold.”
After naming several bestselling books the author wrote:
My book “is what you might get if you mixed the DNA of their mission and writing styles. I’ve taken the best of their bestsellers, married them, and now…are blended together to form…”
Received a pitch for a novel written from a dog’s point-of-view. That isn’t so bad. But the material was mailed to my office wrapped in a plastic “Dog Waste Bag.” I felt the need to wash my hands.
The cover letter included in bold print the sentence “I do not want my work involved with anyone attempting to dominate it.” In other words, the author was not willing to be edited. At least they were honest about it!
Another topped the last one with this sentence: “If you think there are errors, you are wrong, there are none.”
A Little Sharp
Sometimes an author’s tone takes a strident turn or makes unrealistic claims. For example:
“This book is nonfiction with a message that is so remarkable that it could quickly and justifiably become recognized as ‘the most important book ever written.’”
The subtitle of the book pitched is “You’re Not Who You Think You Are,” but the author is a collaboration of “by Holy Spirit and __author name__.” I won’t reveal the name. Only that their claim of co-authorship is a little much.
In the description of the novel, the author writes about how two boys, playing around, throw a “Molotov cocktail” at an abandoned shack for fun. To their horror they see someone is inside and is aflame. This terrible scene is vividly described. Therefore, what makes the pitch stop working? The last sentence of the pitch says, “A novelist I hired to help polish the book concluded: ‘It’s laugh-out-loud funny.’”
The pitch described their book in this way:
“My novel is in the Christian Western genre. By that, I don’t mean a syrupy Amish prairie romance where the worst thing that happens to some hapless townsman is that he gets ‘drive-by’ hollered at. There are no quilting circles in this story…feminine characters of this work do not neurotically torture themselves into sleeplessness over ‘Does he really love me?'”
A Little Flat
Unfortunately, I cannot provide examples of this kind of pitch since this is more commonplace. Just like when you are singing, it is more common to be flat that it is to be sharp.
The “flat” pitches are those that are okay, but they just lay there. They don’t have a unique storyline. Or a title that is “uninteresting.”
The hardest part is that the writing may be great. It is either the topic (for nonfiction) or the storyline (for fiction) isn’t strong enough.
Or the storyline or topic may be fine, but the writing isn’t good enough to support it.
Perfect
If you’ve ever watched the early season shows on American Idol or any of the other first-round competitions, you get to see what the judges see. The ones that are pretty good move to the next round, and we all cringe at the “flat” or “sharp” or “off” pitch musicians.
But every once in a while there is someone whose presentation is amazing.
I’ve had pitches like that presented to me over the years. Their pitch was perfect. There was a combination of passion, personality, and giftedness that caused the tuning fork in my brain to start humming.
My hope is that your pitch will soar and the editor or an agent begin singing along–in perfect harmony.
Great post, and something we all struggle with. Or at least I assume that all of us writers have trouble here.
I think that our difficulty has two parts; first, we’re too close to the work we’re pitching. It might be better to ask a writer-friend to read it…and then let her write the pitch. After all, the mechanics of the pitch are not that hard; it’s like coming up with an aphorism. But the POINT of it is what we so often miss, and as writers we have a functionally very different relationship with our work than would an a query-reading agent, an acquisitions-evaluating editor, or a reader.
The second roadblock we face is a simple lack of exposure; we almost never read pitches, except in a post like this one, and we certainly never have the chance to tie the attractive pitch to the book that invites representation, and a eventually contract.
The back-cover blurb on a published book is about as close as we can get, but we still have some inside information to use if that ‘pitch’ is imperfect; we can look inside the book to see if the writing’s good or dreadful, we can look up Amazon reviews, and there’s always word-of-mouth.
Tough job, really. I would imagine it’s one of the hardest steps in authorship, and perhaps the fence at which some very good books fall, never to see the light of day.
Using idols as a metaphor, the inevitable feedback from judges relates to song selection. They never say what a good selection looks like. Its a kind of “you know it when you see it” or je ne sais quoi. Good song selection is ambiguous but it invariably reflects a good sense of self, of what your voice can do and how to stay within yourself. It relates to another very powerful observation: the singers who seem to do best are often humble, compared to those brazenly claim from the outset that they will be the next idol. It goes to the expression, “if you went up the way you came down, you would have come down the way you went up”. So, to me the principle is be true to yourself, authentic with un-contrived humility, soft spoken, realistic, never presumptuous, an expressed willingness to work with an agent and not that you know it all conveying a sense of teach-ability, objectivity and manage-ableness, all combined with conviction about your offering – after all, if you don’t believe in it, why should we. How do we interview for a job or win a girl? Through much the same mannerisms. That said, Steve, I honestly have felt so inspired by God throughout my journey that I really feel very happy calling myself a scribe and the pen of ready writer. I think what actually offends is misusing God’s name to assume a right to be heard, the way silly young men would say to a girl, “God has shown me that you will be my wife one day”.
I have written a book inspired by God. If I can show that why shouldn’t I give God the credit. What I can’t understand is why the publisher, after years of experience, can’t grasp that. Why does the publisher panic when a writer asserts that?
Esmie,
You may benefit from reading my article on this question:
https://stevelaube.com/god-gave-me-this-blog-post/
Boy, this topic is eerily relevant in these my days…so, asking your indulgence…
I’ve got to make a pitch to God
for just a bit more time
before they lay me in the sod,
and I’ll have a go in rhyme.
The main thing, Barb’s not ready
to face life on her own.
I need to hold her steady
until her heart has grown
hard enough to meet the blows
that will follow my death.
She can strike the bravest pose,
but not yet draw that arctic breath
so fraught with loneliness and pain…
so ’till then, Lord, I MUST remain.
***
Too sharp? Don’t think I can afford too flat at this point!
Or maybe off pitch, showing an implicit distrust in God’s ability to see my wife through what’s to come?
Andrew, if my tears after reading that are indication, that might have been an example of perfect pitch, and I pray that the Lord agrees and grants you a perfect contract to remain with Barb (and us) for a long time. Peace and blessings.
Sy, thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart.
An excellent analogy! Clear and to the point. On pitch. Thank you, Mr. Laube. 🙂
Since few singers possess the gift of perfect pitch, would you dismiss the possibility of skill in someone with good relative pitch?Does someone, who has just learned that a fourth is “the wedding March” or that the seventh must resolve upward, not have the opportunity of singing before the jury because it’s their first time? Who knows, they might have a pretty good undiscovered voice behind that strange outfit they selected to wear before the judges. 😁
*grimaces* I really hope I can do better than those pitches XD