Pitching your Novel: Part I
I know a lot of my readers are aspiring writers themselves. Some just do it for fun or as a hobby. If that’s you, this post may be irrelevant to your interests.
But some of you want to turn your writing into a career. That means approaching agents and publishers, hat in hand, trying to make them take a chance and invest their time and money in your unproven story.
Yeah — we all hate this part. Writing a book is one thing, but selling that book is a whole other game. A crappy game. You can write the best and most exciting novel on the planet, but until you can craft a pitch that makes an agent or publisher want to read it…. well, it won’t make a lick of difference.
Here’s where I come in. Without further ado, I present: the cover letter that got me in the door with Talem Press.
Disclaimer: I won’t pretend to be any kind of expert on this stuff. And I don’t claim that my approach was perfect, or the only way, or even the best way. But hey, it worked, and that counts for something. I invite you to take this example and build on it. Make yours better! I believe in you.
The Cover Letter
Dear Talem Press,
I read on your website that you’re looking for stories with ‘unlikely heroines, mysterious magic and out-of-this-world story-telling.’ I think my novel might be right up your alley! Like Talem, I’m Sydney-based, new on the publishing scene, and passionate about stories that amaze, empower and inspire. This manuscript has not been seen by any other agents or publishers—ever!
The Price of Magic is a female-oriented young adult (or adult) speculative fiction novel complete at 120,000 words. It can stand alone or as the first in a planned series. Combining epic coming-of-age fantasy with modern genetics and space travel, it would appeal to fans of Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewtyn Chronicles, R. F. Kuang’s The Poppy War, or Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series.
If you know the name of the person you’re contacting, use it. Otherwise, generic is fine.
A personalised sentence or two that shows you’ve read the submission guidelines. Let the publisher/agent know you genuinely want to work with them and you’re not just sending out your application scattershot to every publisher in the country.
Good spot to create a connection, if you have some common ground with the agent/publisher. If you spoke to them at a panel or open house, etc, this is a good time to mention it.
If there’s a specific reason why you’re the perfect person to tell this story, mention it here! Do you have some unique experiences or background? Is it an #ownvoices story? Does it relate to something you’ve studied or lived through? I had nothing particular, so I just talked about what kind of stories I love. You may be able to do better than me here!
Obviously don’t say this if it’s not true. But you can mention that you’ve just started querying this month, or whatever. If you say you’ve been querying this book for twelve years, they’ll obviously wonder why nobody has picked it up yet. (If you have been querying for twelve years, don’t say anything).
Basic housekeeping: genre, word count, series potential.
Lol, I ended up dropping all this during edits. The novel you’re selling may not be the novel they end up buying! Don’t be too attached to anything that comes out of your brain.
Comparison titles! These are super important. You have to pick something that shows you know the genre (so not just the biggest and most well-known book in the genre). Don’t compare yourself to Harry Potter or another multi-billion-dollar series. Also, make sure at least one, or preferably all, of your comp titles are recent (last few years). Pick something you think might have a similar audience/readership/market performance as your book. I picked one that had similar content (Obernewtyn), a recent comp (Poppy War), and a blue-sky pick that showed the potential audience (fans of X might also like my book). I could have picked better ones honestly.
And there we have it: the cover letter. Short, snappy, and to the point. At this point, all you’re really trying to demonstrate is:
- You’re not a psychopath.
- You’ve read the submission guidelines and can follow them.
- Your story is potentially appropriate in its content, word count and genre (no 200,000 word sadist erotica to the fluffy romance publisher, please).
- You are literate. Check for typos!
- There is a market for the kind of story you’re pitching, and you the author understand that market.
But as you probably know, the cover letter is only the first step. Join me next time for the all-important synopsis. Summing up a 120,000 word book in a few hundred words? What could be easier?