Yesterday, I went to a writer’s group meeting to listen to an agent, who will not be named here, speak to the group about whatever agents like to speak about. Unfortunately, the agent, whose name I won’t mention, couldn’t attend. The grand scramble began as the officers of the writer’s group put together an impromptu program. They did a fabulous job. We had mini-workshops conducted by each of the officers. I attended a workshop on pitching. Not the baseball kind, the literary kind.

How do you pitch to an editor at a conference in the miniscule time slot you have with him? First, do the pleasantries, introductions, and show how well you fit with the agency. Do this quickly, before his eyes glaze over. Next, do a one to two line pitch for your book that will make the editor sit up and ask for more.

“What?” we all looked shocked. No, we were frightened. “We can’t condense a 100,000 word book into one sentence!”

Actually, we can. We did. We practiced on popular movies that we all know. The hardest part of this workshop was finding movies we all have seen and know the plot well enough to pitch. We settled on “The Little Mermaid.”

Here’s the winning pitch: “A beautiful young mermaid longs to become human after she falls in love with a prince, but she must give up everything she knows to be with him.”

This pitch works because

• It is short and to the point.
• It has an emotional hook. Without the emotional hook, it would fall flat.
• It touches on a universal theme, in this case, sacrifice.

The rest of the workshop we practiced on other books and movies. In closing she gave us homework, which I now pass on to you. Hey, I was taught to share.

Each time you watch a movie or read a book, when you finish, make a pitch for it. Be sure to include the main conflict and an emotional hook. Let your family and friends know what you’re doing, or they’ll probably quit asking you to watch movies with them. With practice, you’ll be able to pitch anything, even something you’ve just come up with as a story idea. Best of all, you’ll be ready when you attend your next conference and meet with the major league editors.