This blog post is coming at you a little later than normal, because instead of using the time I had planned to write my recap of the Kansas City Writing Workshop… I used that time putting together AGENT SUBMISSIONS.
You read that right, folks!
(I’m still internally screaming.)
Out of the three agents I verbally pitched to, all three were interested in reading more. Two of them requested the first three chapters–and one wanted me to send her the whole manuscript!
It’s so encouraging that they heard my pitch and wanted to read more. Not that I was expecting them to look at me and say, “Uh… That sounds… interesting…” But it’s nice to have received positive responses. One of the literary agents even told me that she feels like there is a good market for this type of story–which is HUGE. One of the biggest factors working against writers trying to get published is marketability and what kinds of books are currently selling.
Let me back up and explain how the pitch meetings worked. When I originally signed up for the conference, I read through the agents’ bios and read about what types of books they were looking to represent. Three of them seemed like they could be good fits, so I added 10-minute pitch meetings with those three agents onto my registration. (Full disclosure: It did cost extra to pitch.)
A few days before the conference, the event coordinator sent out the pitch schedule, and I made a note of what my pitch times were. Then, during the conference, when it was almost my time to pitch, I quietly stepped out of the presentation and practiced my pitch quietly in the hall.
Once it was time to pitch, I went into the agents’ conference room, found the agent I was supposed to be meeting with at that time, and sat down at their table. After introductions were made, I launched into my memorized pitch. Thank goodness for my old forensics (or speech as some schools call it) training, because I was able to treat it like a performance and didn’t stumble over my words–too badly, anyway.
Then, the agent asked questions (which were different based on the agent), and I did my best to answer them. Some were further questions about the story of Veritas, the characters, why I chose to write this novel, and further inquiries about me and my career goals and experience writing.
Overall, it was a really good experience–even if all three read my work and say, “No thanks. This isn’t a good fit for me.” It’s still really encouraging that they wanted to read anything at all! Not to mention that it’s good practice for me to be able to sum up my novel in one minute, and it’s good to put myself out there. And hey! Even if they say “No,” maybe they’ll have some really good feedback for me.
Weekly Writing Update:
Last week, almost all of my creative energy was spent preparing for the conference on Saturday. Not only was I memorizing my pitch, but I also was re-reading Veritas in order to have the story fresh in my mind in case the agents asked any follow up questions. I managed to get a little writing in here and there, but I didn’t record it. (Oops!) I’m still counting it as a writing habit win though, since I spent time every day working on either re-reading or my pitch (or both).
Britnie Jenkins 