If you have a book ready to be submitted, there's some kind of event on Twitter today. Learn more about it HERE. (I don't know the blogger. I just kyped the link from Alexia Chamberlynn.)
Anyway, it's a Twitter pitch party using the hashtag #pitmad and it runs today from 8am to 8pm EST - so there's plenty of time.
I'll be getting something together later - like after the thought of throwing a pitch out there stops making me feel like I want to hurl.
GOOD LUCK!
Update 1:31pm MST: Two different pitches for Djinnocide out there in the Twitterverse. Wish me luck. And if you're participating, chime in. Or friend me and we'll see what each other are up to.
Showing posts with label pitching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pitching. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2013
Monday, December 3, 2012
Guest Post: "This Book Will Never Sell" by JB Lynn
“This Book Will Never Sell”
Now I don’t know about you, but I have that exact thought
every time I write a book. (I think it multiple times every single day.)
Then again, if you’re like me, you must believe in a corner
of your heart, that it WILL sell, because why else would you put yourself
through the torture that is Pursuit of Publication?
When you query an agent, it feels like “not a fit for my
list” really means “this book will never sell”. But that’s not what it means
because an agent would never say that, right? Right??
Wrong.
A number of years ago, I had that very thing happen to me.
Now I don’t know about you, but the idea of doing a
face-to-face pitch with a literary agent is wayyyyy worse than sending an anonymous
query letter. I panic. I get tongue-tied. I babble like a stream during a
Spring thaw.
Still, I’m a believer in putting yourself out there in
pursuit of your dreams. (If you ask me, it’s a pretty stupid belief.) Following
this belief had led me to pitching to agents at conferences. (Yes, it has
always been just about as miserable as I imagine it will be.)
Now for the most part, agents are nice people. They love
books. They try not to let their eyes glaze over as they listen to
poorly-delivered pitch after poorly-delivered pitch. They scribble notes (which
may very well be their shopping lists). They drink caffeinated beverages. They
suck on lozenges. They use a lot of hand sanitizer.
They smile. They’re polite. They tend to be encouraging,
even while they’re rejecting you.
Or, like the agent I pitched to, they look you dead in the
eye and say, “This book will never sell.”
She didn’t say she couldn’t sell it. She said it would never
sell. To my face.
Once I got over my shock/outrage/depression, I mentally
thanked her because she did the best possible thing possible for me. She pissed
me off.
I landed another agent (who I later left) with that book and
I rewrote it for two different publishing companies before I got that “yes” I’d
been pursuing. Every time I thought I
couldn’t take another “no” I remembered how much I wanted to prove that agent
wrong and I pushed a little further. THE FIRST VICTIM was published by Carina
Press….and no, I didn’t thank the “This book will never sell” agent in my
acknowledgments, but I was tempted.
What’s the worst thing you’ve heard as you pursue
publication?
AUTHOR BIO – JB Lynn
JB Lynn is
the author of THE FIRST VICTIM, CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN
and FURTHER CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN.
She is a
compulsive reader, a runner (of sorts), an enthusiastic cook (who doesn't get
the appeal of the Food Network), and someone who has an irresistible urge to
eavesdrop at all times.
JB has a
great love of her husband, dogs, coffee, purple ink, spiral notebooks,
running gear, hot showers, and '80s music. Given enough time, all of these
things will eventually show up in her books.
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Website: www.jblynn.com
KILLER CHICKS: http://www.killerchicks.org/
Edited to Add: We didn't plan this but just for kicks this morning, I got a wild idea. Comment and be entered to win either a hardcopy of Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman - the first book in JB's series - or any one of her Kindle ebooks. (U.S. only on the ebooks, I think. They don't let you send those things to other countries - damn them. And U.S. or Canada only on the hardcopy. I'm not made of money. :wink:) Any comment before next Monday's post goes up - one comment per person.
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