One of the most important bits of your query letter, when you write a memoir or a novel, is your pitch. This is a very brief description of the story designed to get the interest of your agent and it is a difficult part of the query to write, perhaps the most difficult. It isn’t easy shortening your novel down to a couple of paragraphs but it must be done and, to help you, use these 7 tips:

Keep it Concise

Keep your pitch to between 5 and 10 sentences at the most. Any more than that and you run the risk of rambling too much.

Never Tell The Ending

If your pitch reveals the ending, the agent doesn’t have anything to look forward to! Write it like the back of the book; give away enough tempting details to invite intrigue but don’t give the game away.

Look at Samples of Pitch Text

They are all around you; on the back of a DVD, on the back of any book. Read those that relate to your specific genre and get some ideas on how to write your own.

Your Pitch Needs To Be Specific, Not General

Using specific elements is what will bring your pitch alive; using generalities will just spoil it. Instead of saying something like “ Amy has had many lows in her life”, describe what it means. Don’t be vague; you need to paint a picture in the minds of the reader and your agent.

You Need To Bring Out Emotion in Your Readers

The voice you use, the style of your pitch, must be reflective of your book content. You have up to 10 sentences to sell your story, to elicit some kind of emotion in your agent. Preferably, the emotion should be excitement, a frisson that tells the agent they have something special in their hands. How you do this depends on your genre. For example, a quirky humorous tale should give your agent a laugh while a dark horror or paranormal tale should contain chills. If your agent feels that emotion, he or she is likely to ask you for more.

Beware Of Too Many Subplots and Detail That isn’t Necessary

Pitches that ramble are full of elements that are really not needed. The best way is to cut the details and stick to the main plot and the main characters. The rest isn’t needed.

Practice Writing Your Pitch – Several Versions if Necessary

Read your pitch out to other people and get their thoughts. Even go down the road of hiring a critique or joining a critique or writers forum; run your pitch past them and see what they have to say. Write a couple of versions if you need to and send them to different agents – do note which agent gets which pitch though, to save embarrassment later down the line. You will know from the responses which pitch is the best. It isn’t easy to squeeze a pitch for a novel into 5 to 10 sentences but, provided you are careful and take your time, you can do it.