Ok, so I’m blonde. But I’ve become a little savvy about pitching after sitting in front of my share of professionals. I’ve been rejected, too. Quite a few times, in fact. But that didn’t discourage me one bit. In fact, it was just the opposite. I’ve kept every rejection note and email to remind me that I needed to better my work. In the end, my work did get accepted and published, and I am ever grateful to every editor, agent, and publisher who made me work harder at giving them the best I had.

I wish I’d known just a couple of things starting out that would’ve made my journey a bit easier. So I’ve decided to share a few tips and lessons that might help someone else—another newbie like I was.

1. 1.Create a log line. That’s a one-sentence attention grabber; you have only a few seconds to get them to ask more questions about your story. Here was mine. I got a boat-load of business cards with this one.
   

Twenty-seven-year-old Emily Evans stands over her father’s coffin, lifts her arm, and punches full force into his face. “You’ll never be dead enough,” she whispers. “Never.”

Doesn’t it make you wonder why she’d do such a thing? That is why your log line is so important. With the little bit of time you usually have to pitch your story, make it worth the readers’ while.

2. 2.Now write a “pitch.” For those unfamiliar with that word, it’s the “story” you want the editor or publisher to know. It comes right after the “log line.” It should come off the top of your head after many, many rehearsed hours. It should sound as natural when you share it with “them” as it does when you tell a friend about your manuscript. And it’s still a manuscript until it’s published, so don’t go and show your “newbieness” off by calling it a book.
   

Here’s the written part of my pitch for RUN, RIVER CURRENTS, my new release, and how I broke it down so I’d remember it.

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The rage-filled act sets Emily on journey to rediscover the peace she’d lost as a child at the hands of her father. Memories of her father’s brutal attacks battle the lessons of hope and forgiveness she’d learned at her grandfather’s side along the banks of the Tobique River. As she recalls the summer tent revivals and baptisms, the harvest of the forests and potato fields, the drowning of her best friend, and the fly-fishing excursions with her Bible-toting grandfather, the weight of her present life choices balance precariously between the horror of her past and the uncertainty of her future. Emily is at a crossroads. No longer able to live with the rage that boils inside, a rage she has taken out on her husband and her siblings, she determines to end her personal struggle beneath the waters of the Tobique. She wades into the river and, taking one final breath, presses beneath the rushing flow. Will the Tobique finally cleanse her of her past, or will it take her life? The manuscript ends with Emily’s renewed ability to forgive.

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I kept in my head Who? What? When? Where? and How?

Who? - Emily, her father, her mother & her grandfather

What? - She had to find an escape from the memory of her father’s attacks and her mother’s emotional abandonment

When? - She had to act now

Where? - Emily had to return to the good memories of her youth

By categorizing what I needed to say, I was able to present my thoughts seamlessly in a conversational manner, instead of stuttering or talking too long—both of which are things that agents and publishers really prefer you not do.

Sure, it’s not the perfect pitch, but it did let the intended listeners know that the story was a balance of good and evil and had a strong “sense of place.” I also told them the ending. No one who considers publishing your manuscript will want to read the whole thing to know the conclusion of the crisis.

3. 3.Work up a short bio. Publishers, agents, and editors need to know a bit about you. Don’t make it long, but make it pertinent to your story.  Here’s mine:
   

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Although a fictional story, many of the happenings in the manuscript are based on true events as I grew up in the north woods of New Brunswick, Canada, the setting for Run, River Currents. I’ve recently graduated from Wilkes University with my MFA, and interned with Etruscan Press. I was a reader for the 2011 James Jones First Novel Award, and a judge for the East-West Writing Contest. I travel over 160,000 miles per year teaching business courses at colleges across the nation.

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By giving your audience a peek at your knowledge base, (i.e., based on true events - I grew up there; I have learned the craft of writing and I have read and critiqued others works; and I have an established foundation in marketing because of my travel,) you let the person see why you are the best person to write this particular story.

So, there you have it. A one-two-three guide for pitching your first story. I call it The Simpleton’s Guide—because, after all, I’m still blonde.