One of the things I like to do as an agent is give back to the writing community. I once benefited from publishing professionals who spent their time educating and encouraging writers, and it’s a joy to pass it on. All of the agents of Books & Such do this on a regular basis- whether it’s through the weekly blog you’re reading at the moment, our monthly podcast, our Writing Intensive, our Pitch Parties, or serving writers at various conferences and events throughout the nation.
We want writers to feel supported, equipped, and successful. One of the ways I give back to the writing community individually is hosting “Pitch Me Days” on Threads. I enjoy the Threads writing community, and I try to offer publishing insights each week that will move writers along the path to publishing. Since I began hosting pitch days, other agents have joined in to offer their own, with varying rules. One of the other agents opened hers to allow other agents to review the pitches, and writers the ability to practice their pitches even if they weren’t quite ready. This time, I decided to do the same. After all, how can one agent represent everyone? I might as well share the wealth of writers who are seeking an agent.
I knew there would be a good turn out, there always is. What I didn’t expect, was to receive over 700 pitches in 24 hours. SEVEN HUNDRED. I knew this pitch day would be different, as in the first hour, I had over 200 alone. I spent most of the day reading, considering, and scrolling through pitch after pitch…after pitch. I woke the next morning to find about 100 more and did the same.
Some common themes emerged during this marathon pitch fest, especially surrounding the reasons that writers weren’t chosen to move to the next phase (sending their proposal or sample chapters). I thought it might be helpful to our readers if I outlined the top three reasons I passed on a pitch:
The pitch was for a genre I don’t represent
By far this was the top reason I did not request more information from a pitch. This was of course due largely to the fact that I opened up this pitch day to those who were hoping another agent might contact them as a result (and this did happen!). I also appreciated those writers who put their genre at the beginning of their pitch, so I could see right away whether it was one to consider, or keep scrolling. If I had to say what percentage fell into this category to give an idea of just how prevalent this reason for passing was, I would say these made up about 65% of the pitches I didn’t select.
The pitch wasn’t compelling/the hook was weak
Successful pitches are evocative in the best ways. I think to myself, “That’s a different way to frame that felt need,” or “I wonder what decisions that character makes” or “That seems like a world I could disappear into for a while.” Good pitches make me want to learn more. Even during pitch days, I invest my time into researching a writer’s social media pages, learning about who they are, what they’ve written before, and how they’re growing their platforms. Writers may not consider that an agent looks at those even at the pitch phase, but many of us do.
The wording of the pitch indicated the writing needs work
Some writers may become frustrated with me on this- after all, it’s such a short amount of text. How can an agent tell if the writing isn’t where it needs to be from so little? Word choice, especially in smaller word-count situations like a pitch (or the dreaded synopsis) is paramount. When a pitch is well-written, I know that time was spent considering each word that efficiently tells me what the book is about while also sparking my interest to learn more about both the project and writer.
How about you, have you ever taken part in a virtual or online pitch? What do you like about them, compared to in-person pitches?
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