Without Wings: Pitch Contest and New Summary
(Cross-posted from kwriterly.com)
So, I got an email the other day from the folks that run Authonomy.com about a pitch contest.
(For those of you - including me, once-upon-a-time-only-a-few-months-ago - who aren't familiar with publisher world jargon, a pitch is the book summary you throw out there to entice readers to give your book a try. Usually, there's a short blurb of 25 words or less - this is your "hook" - and then your pitch which can be a maximum of 200 words. As you can guess, it's rather a challenge to master the fine art of writing a compelling description within those extremely restrictive parameters.)
Anyway, the contest is for women's fiction and after a chat with my proofreader (who told me to go for it even though Without Wings might not be, strictly speaking, women's fiction) I spiffied-up my summary and sent it in. If my pitch is a finalist, I'll get a free, signed copy of a bestselling author's new book. (Which is kinda neat.) If my pitch is judged to be The Best, however, that author will look over the first 20,000 words of my book and critique it. (Which means I guess I'd better get around to making those changes my proofreader and I discussed months ago. Whoops!)
But regardless of what happens, the pitch is perfect-ish and I like it a lot more than the old one. Yay! Now I just need a cover to put it on!
The New-and-Improved Amazing Without Wings Book Summary
[If you click the link, it'll take you to kwriterly.com]
So, I got an email the other day from the folks that run Authonomy.com about a pitch contest.
(For those of you - including me, once-upon-a-time-only-a-few-months-ago - who aren't familiar with publisher world jargon, a pitch is the book summary you throw out there to entice readers to give your book a try. Usually, there's a short blurb of 25 words or less - this is your "hook" - and then your pitch which can be a maximum of 200 words. As you can guess, it's rather a challenge to master the fine art of writing a compelling description within those extremely restrictive parameters.)
Anyway, the contest is for women's fiction and after a chat with my proofreader (who told me to go for it even though Without Wings might not be, strictly speaking, women's fiction) I spiffied-up my summary and sent it in. If my pitch is a finalist, I'll get a free, signed copy of a bestselling author's new book. (Which is kinda neat.) If my pitch is judged to be The Best, however, that author will look over the first 20,000 words of my book and critique it. (Which means I guess I'd better get around to making those changes my proofreader and I discussed months ago. Whoops!)
But regardless of what happens, the pitch is perfect-ish and I like it a lot more than the old one. Yay! Now I just need a cover to put it on!
The New-and-Improved Amazing Without Wings Book Summary
[If you click the link, it'll take you to kwriterly.com]