Hook Readers with a Book Pitch - Guest Post

You ever wonder how to entice readers to read your book? You’d think it would be simple, tell them key points and bam they would read it. However, most of the time that is not the case. Your potential reader needs more. That is why you need to write a book pitch that will hook readers.

Today, I have Danielle Harrington, author of The Hollis Timewire Series, here to provide you with some information on writing a book pitch. Her insight has helped me tremendously writing my own book pitch so I hope you will be helpful to you all as well. Now, let me hand over the post to Danielle.

Pitching a book is an essential skill for authors to develop. A pitch takes a story and distills it down to its fundamental elements in a way that hooks a reader’s interest. It allows someone to understand what the book is about without giving too much away. And that can be a tricky feat! How are we supposed to take a 100,000 word novel (or any word count for that matter) and shrink it down to a succinct and compelling description that piques a reader’s desire to know more?

First, to learn what a pitch is, we must discuss what a pitch is not. A pitch is NOT a summary. It’s not an account of: and then this happens, and then this happens, etc. It’s easy to fall into this trap and just start dumping what we know happens chronologically in the story. We want to avoid this.

Next, a pitch should NOT be very long. We’re not writing another book here, we are simply taking the book we have and extracting the key pieces that are relevant to hooking a reader’s interest. A good rule of thumb (with wiggle room of course!) is 3 to 7 sentences written or 20 to 40 seconds spoken.

Lastly, a pitch should NOT contain an exorbitant amount of world-building. A reader doesn’t have to understand the entire history of the world to understand what the story is about.

Now let’s discuss what a pitch should include! A pitch should answer these 3 questions: (1) who is the main character, (2) what do they want, and (3) what are the stakes? A pitch should focus on the humanity of the situation. In other words, why should the reader care about what the story is about? Additionally, a pitch should highlight the concept that makes the story unique. Hook people! When someone is done reading a book pitch, they should easily be able to identify all of these elements. So let’s take a look at a few examples.

The pitch for THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins:

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weight survival against humanity and life against love.

Let’s break it down:

(1) Who is the main character? A sixteen-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen. (2) What does she want? To keep her little sister safe. (3) What is at stake? Her life.

And what makes this story unique? The concept revolves around a televised fight to the death.

This pitch is 6 sentences long and takes about 40 seconds to say (more or less).

The pitch for THE DISEASED ONES by Danielle Harrington:

Life is easy in 2647, unless you’re a Diseased One…

On the morning of her 16th birthday, Hollis Timewire receives the worst possible news. She can’t become a citizen of the world. She’s a Diseased One.

Born with a biomarker that bestows dangerous, brain-altering powers, Hollis is forced to hide underground with other Diseased Ones, who believe that the government falsified history to cover up their genocide. Now Hollis must discover the truth, and is willing to risk anything, including her powers, to go back home.

Let’s break it down:

(1) Who is the main character? A sixteen-year-old girl named Hollis Timewire. (2) What does she want? To go back home. (3) What is at stake? Her own identity and her belief in the government.

And what makes this story unique? The concept revolves around a battle or worldviews and a biomarker that determines who becomes a citizen. (Plus those brain-altering powers!)

The pitch is 5 sentences long and takes about 25 seconds to say (more or less).

Conclusion:

Whatever your story is about, you can distill it down to what matters. And while that may seem daunting (pitching definitely is!), it’s an essential exercise. It takes the spirit of a book and puts it in a presentable format so that readers can understand what they are getting themselves into.

Some advice! Don’t get discouraged, pitching takes practice, and it becomes easier the more you do it. So get out there and pitch your wonderful stories!

Thank you so much Danielle for such an amazing post. It is so full of great information on writing a successful book pitch.

Until next time, keep writing!