Overview: Write a Pitch for Your Book

Now that you have a title for your book and you know what your book is about, it’s time to write a pitch. This is your “elevator speech,” the one you’d give to an agent or an acquisition editor if you happened to meet them in an elevator or at a conference.

Writing a pitch shouldn’t be too difficult after going through the steps I’ve outlined previously. If you know what your book is about and you know why someone should want to read your book—what benefits it will provide and why it is unique*—you should be able to write something pithy in 50 words or less that describes your book perfectly. (If you need some help, read this post.)

Why the word limit? If you can’t tell someone what your book is about in fifty words or less, then you don’t know what you are writing about.

So, try your hand at a pitch. Include your book’s benefits, its unique qualities, why someone would want to read it, the problem you are going to solve, the value it will add. What makes your book special? At its very core, what is it about? What is its message? What is its purpose? Fit all this information into the most creative 25-50-word sentence you can write.

(Okay…I know you can’t get all of that into one 25-50-word sentence; just get the most important points into the pitch—the ones that tell someone the main things you want them to know about your book’s subject. You’ll include the rest of it into an overview, which you’ll learn about tomorrow.)

 

If you don’t plan on pitching your book to an agent, write a pitch anyway. It will help you hone your idea to the max. And once you’ve written the pitch, your book will naturally flow out if it. You’ll find writing it much easier.

The pitch also provides you with a great marketing tool. You’ll use this pitch to tell people what your book’s about…to convince them to buy it.

*If you don’t know exactly why your book is unique, no worries…yet. In the near future, I’ll show you exactly how to figure this out. Hint: It involves knowing your competition.

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