The Elevator Pitch

Juliet Pickering writes on the "quick, snappy" elevator pitch writers should arm themselves with.

Many authors find writing a synopsis a tricky task. ‘How can I condense my 250 page masterpiece into just 250 words?’ they cry, their faces tortured already with the thought of the impossible job ahead…

But I'm asking you to do something even worse here: write an elevator* pitch, or two or three sentences that encapsulate your novel or your book quickly and accessibly. And make it sound irresistible too.

As an agent, I often have to come up with elevator pitches – or a one-minute pitch for each of the books I represent – so that I can excitedly tell an editor about the books I'm offering soon on submission that they might love. And editors and publishing teams must do the same to relay enthusiasm and information about their books to colleagues, readers and booksellers. In the age of Twitter we’re living in a world that has an ever-decreasing attention span, so these quick, snappy pitches are essential.

It might be that I've bumped into the editor at a party somewhere and I've got his/her attention for five minutes. Or that a scout has popped into Blake Friedmann's offices to hear from my colleagues and me about the books we’ll be selling at Frankfurt; we’ll get five minutes each to pitch up to five books whilst the scout furiously scribbles notes. That’s why I need an elevator pitch at my fingertips, and why you should have one too: so you can make the most of grabbed opportunities, and leave a lasting impression with a succinct summary. Next weekend I’ll be leading a workshop about honing your two-minute pitch at the Writers’ Festival in York; the Festival attracts scores of agents, and the networking events create the perfect place for the attending writers to pitch us their books, but there’s nothing worse – for either agent or author – than standing there awkwardly and fumbling through a 20-minute conversation about your novel, at the end of which neither of us is really any the wiser about the story that’s been written.

So how can you condense your entire book into a couple of sentences? Believe me, I do not underestimate the difficulty of this task! I’d suggest starting with a few lines and whittling them down. What happens, who does it happen to, and what is the book’s USP?

For example, look at the first two lines of Orion’s Amazon pitch for GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn:

Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears.

These two lines pitch the book in a very neat way: they pique our curiosity and make us think about our own relationships, hint at dark goings-on, and then deliver the thrill of a missing person, but a missing person who has seemingly been in a happy marriage for five years. We are also introduced to the two main protagonists, Nick and Amy Dunne, without our even realising it. Can you do the same for your book? What would your equivalent pitch be?

Once you’ve written your quick pitch, MEMORISE IT. I'm not joking! Have it ready to trip lightly off the tongue at all times. You never know where you might bump into a friendly agent (stalking is not recommended and neither is pitching on Twitter!); Ben from LitFactor originally got in touch with me to write this piece because he’d read my woeful tale of being pitched at in a jacuzzi. Whilst I wouldn't recommend hanging out in jacuzzis and wrinkling yourself like a prune in order to get your book published, if you’re in the right place at the right time with the right agent, an elevator pitch could be the best thing you've ever written.

Good luck!

*Strictly speaking, for us UK residents, this should be a ‘lift pitch’. Elevators are for ascending Americans.

Originally published on LitFactor, 10 September 2013

Carole Blake on Debut Fiction

Representing debut fiction now is just as exciting as it’s ever been.  Selling it is another matter.  An agent agreeing to take on an unpublished writer always ventures into the unknown. We must always be extraordinarily excited by the work, and sure there is a market for it before taking on a new client,: but even experienced agents are facing setbacks now with work they have taken on confidently. 

When publishers are as risk-averse and cautious as they are now about what they buy, agents have to be equally as careful about who they offer to represent.  The caution will inevitably make its way back along the publishing food chain.  It isn't  impossible to get a first time writer published now, but it probably is more difficult now than at any time in the past decade. Because authors can so easily publish themselves now, they are often less willing to wait for publication by the more traditional route. But self-publishing requires a huge amount of marketing and sales effort on the part of the author, and a thick hide too …

Ask any book business person – agent, publisher, bookseller - what they are looking for and you will hear phrases like ‘a fresh voice’, ‘a new take on a universal theme’, ‘something that surprises me’.  In those shorthand phrases lies hope.  None of us really knows precisely what we are looking for, but we all hope we will find ourselves reading a manuscript that truly excites us.  Whether an agent, or a publisher’s editor, we all want to read a manuscript that glues us to the page, entertains and informs, and leaves us needing to urge a friend to read it too.  And if that involves discovering a new writing talent, the adrenalin surge is quite extraordinary.

When I take on a new client (which is very seldom now), it’s because I can’t help it: I can’t bear to let that manuscript be handled by someone else because I understand it, I know exactly which editor will love it, exactly which publishing house – in a number of markets - will be able to sell it well.  For me it is crucial to believe there will be a multiplicity of markets for the work.

Fiction in particular, can be completely international.  By that I certainly don’t mean the story has to move from one country to another, with the central character spending half the novel travelling.  I mean instead, that storytelling is universal and a novel that engages the reader emotionally can be set in a village on a Norwegian fjord, but if readers empathise with what the characters are experiencing, they will trust the writer and embark on that journey.

My agency isn't daunted if we can’t get a British publisher right away.  We have several authors where we were able to sell them in more than a dozen languages before a British publisher made an offer.

The so-called ‘slushpile’ (horrible phrase) can yield gems.  Just some of the authors I represent who I've found among the unsolicited submissions are Elizabeth Chadwick, Beryl Matthews, Michael Ridpath, Julian Stockwin: a stellar crew.  Some have long careers, in multiple markets: one was 70+ when we began representation and is still publishing, more than a decade later.

So I stick by my comment that representing debut fiction is just as exciting as it has ever been.  Exciting, worrying – it certainly keeps us on the edge of our seats.  Both the storytelling and the business of selling it!

Carole Blake

Joint Managing Director, Blake Friedmann Literary Agency Ltd

Author of:
From Pitch to Publication: Everything you need to know to get your novel published, Pan Macmillan

First published in New Books Magazine, 2009. Revised text © Carole Blake 2014

Paul Mendelson's CS Forester trilogy starts 2.30pm 5th April BBC Radio 4

The classic twenties crime trilogy. Dramatised for the first time ever. Starting this Saturday...

CS Forester's  

LONDON NOIR

Dramatised by Paul Mendelson

Directed by David Ian Neville.

 with Sophie Thompson, Richard Lumsden, Tessa Peake Jones,  Sam Dale, Rebecca Lacey, Brian Dicks... and Greg Wise as CS Forester

Pick of the Day: Sunday Times 'Perfect' ...Mail on Sunday 'Heinous' ... Radio Times 'Gripping'

Saturdays April 5th, 12th and 19th, 2.30pm on BBC Radio 4.       

Anything can happen behind closed doors 

Most famous for his Hornblower series, C.S. Forester wrote three seminal psychological thrillers at the start of his career that took crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control.

In Payment Deferred set in 1926, William Marble, a bank clerk living in south London with his wife Annie and their two children, is desperately worried about money and is in grave danger of losing his house and job. An unexpected visit by a young relative with an inheritance tempts William to commit a heinous crime.

Plain Murder takes us into a 1930s London advertising agency. Morris, Oldroyd and Reddy, have been caught taking bribes. One of their colleagues threatens to blow the whistle on them. Instant dismissal will inevitably be the result, and at a time of severe unemployment, their future prospects are bleak. Morris, a menacing bully, offers them a road out of their dilemma - a perfect murder, cleverly disguised as a tragic accident. But is there such a thing as the perfect murder?

The Pursued is a dark tale of retribution.

When Marjorie finds Dorothy, her pretty young sister, lying dead with her head in the oven the obvious assumption is suicide.  But the girl’s mother, Mrs Clair, a tough-minded woman, is not convinced.  She believes that Dorothy was murdered by Marjorie’s cheating husband Ted. Unable to prove her theory, Mrs Clair begins to cook up a secret, terrible revenge.

Joseph O'Connor at Royal Albert Hall for President Michael Higgins’ State Visit

Joseph O’Connor will be performing on 10 April at The Royal Albert Hall for Ceiliúradh (Celebration), a concert in honour of President Higgins. This concert will be the cultural highlight of the 4 day State visit by President Higgins and his wife, Sabina, to Britain as guests of Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. 

Special guests include Paul Brady, Imelda May, The Gloaming and Glen Hansard. Also participating will be the renowned actress Fiona Shaw as well as journalists/broadcasters Dermot O’Leary and Olivia O’Leary, and surprise guests to be announced on the night itself. 

Irish Ambassador to Britain Dan Mulhall says, “Ireland and Britain are joined together by a two-way flow of influences in literature, theatre, music, song and dance. This event will celebrate the cultural connections between our two countries over the years.”

Joseph O’Connor is the author of the internationally acclaimed STAR OF THE SEA, as well as many other novels including GHOST LIGHT and REDEMPTION FALLS, and several short story collections. He was born in Dublin. His latest novel, THE THRILL OF IT ALL, will be published by Harvill Secker later this year.
 
Praise for Joseph O’Connor:

 ‘Joseph O’Connor is a fantastic writer…[STAR OF THE SEA] contains the whole echelon of society, as if Ireland actually is that creaking hull.’ -- David Morrissey, Actor, BAFTA winner

‘GHOST LIGHT displays an astonishing command of voice, using tones that are both tender and powerfully emotional, with a brilliant command of the period.’ – Colm Tóibín

‘Joseph O’Connor has the magic touch, he brings whole eras alive with a touch of his cycloramic pen.’ – Column McCann

Tony Pitts' SHEDTOWN series 3 starts Tuesday 1st April, 11pm BBC Radio 4

The third series of Tony Pitts' radio comedy show, 'big, funny, daft poem to the sea' SHEDTOWN starts tomorrow, Tuesday 1st April at 11pm on BBC Radio 4. 

Commissioned by Johnny Vegas' Woolyback Productions, the show is narrated by Maxine Peake and stars Stephen Mangan, Warren Brown and James Quinn.

Listen to Stephen Mangan talking about the show on BBC Radio 6 here.

Who hasn't thought about running away from it all at some time or other? Barry and Jimmy hadn't - until now. Friends since school days in a small town, they find themselves slipping inexorably and almost unconsciously into middle age.

Shedtown is a dream born out of quiet desperation. Throughout the series the wooden icon of escape and isolation 'the shed' becomes a symbol of possibility and change, a new community by the sea where Barry and Jimmy can circumnavigate the mundane, once and for all.

Reviews for series 2: “If you think of radio in colour this comedy comes in shades of sepia and charcoal with the occasional bright patch of green. It’s also pretty addictive, a floaty tale of people looking for new starts, picking themselves up from failed ones, seeking change and consolation.” – Radio Highlights, The Telegraph.

Reviews for series 1 “Dreamy and hilarious” – The Observer. “It’s a bit like Under Milk Wood with touches of Father Ted” – The Telegraph. 

Click here for more information and to stream it live or on demand after broadcast.