Writing a Pitch for a Book

Who's idea was it to condense a 100,000 word book into 300 words or less? Well, whoever you are Mr. or Mrs. Pitch you are no friend of mine. I guess editors and publishers need a quick way to  assess their interest in a book. Still writing a pitch for a book can be a tough task. I am currently pulling brain muscles trying to write a pitch for my newest book A Dozen East for the ABNA (Amazon Break Through Novel Award) in February. Today I used several things to help me not "pitch" a fit.

• Jordan Smith's Finding the Core to Your Story. Teaches you how to write a logline (one sentence summary) for your story, book, screenplay, etc.
• On-line Articles.
• Writer's Blogs.
• Samples of Book Pitches. Amazon put three pitches from ABNA contest winners on their site.

The book pitch is important. It is the first thing and maybe the only thing the people you submit your book to will see. That puts huge importance on your content, quality, clarity and strength of your pitch. MOst imprtenty there should be know spelling or grammar mistakes. For instance for ABNA in the first round judges will only be reading the pitch.

Here are some things to guide your pitch:

• Explain the novel's concept, protagonist and setting.
• Show off the strengths of your novel.
• Be Clear & Confident.
• Capitalize on your Originality.
• Convince them to read the book.
• Show your Passion about the book.
• Ask others to read it and give feedback.

Hopefully this helps you. In time I am CONFIDENT that I will improve my pitch writing and not agonize over them.

What are your tricks of writing Pitches?
Do you have resources that help you?