Pitching Your Book

Writing your book is one thing. However, getting it published is quite another. It's all well and good to say that you want to write for the sake of writing--you need to love this career if you want to make any money, however, it is still nice to....actually make money. And if you want your book to be picked up by a publishing company, you're going to have to find a way to make it stand out.

Here are two main pieces of advice.

1) Elevator Pitch.
Imagine you're traveling in the elevator with someone and suddenly the lift freezes and you are both stuck there. Now normally that's horrible, but let's pretend that the one other person you are stuck with just happens to be working for a major editing company. And since they're trapped with you, they HAVE to listen to your idea for your book! There is no escape for them! (laughs manically)

...Ahem.
However, because you also want to make sure that your friendly book editor does in fact, become interested in your book and not just feign interest, you want to work on your pitch. Find a way to summarize your story in 30 seconds or less. The first part of these 30 seconds should be based on summarizing the exact plot, and in that short time you need to mention three things--the conflict, your character, and what makes it unique.

Remember these three tips--short, sleek and sexy.

Then the next part of your thirty seconds should be based on emphasizing your tagline. What would that be? Well you know how everyone likes to say, "It's the next Hunger Games!" or "It's Star Wars meets Harry Potter!" As eye roll inducing as these can be, they say a lot about your story and what makes it unique.

After that, the only thing that matters is combining the two and trimming them down. After all, you're going to be trapped in that elevator for likely only a short time, and you want to make sure that you leave the editor with something.

And that's how an elevator pitch works. Now you'll be ready for when you meet with your potential publisher. Even if that exact circumstance will probably never happen. Unless you.....arrange it yourself.

NaNoWrimo

It's that time of year again you guys. The singular month where authors stay up in the wee hours of the night, trying to reach that elusive word count. Where writer's block seems to enjoy toying with us more than any other time, and the cries of despair echo as authors realize they have fallen at least two weeks behind by this point.

But it's not all bad. Don't get me wrong, I love NanoWrimo. It's one of the biggest gatherings of authors online that can be found, each of them encouraging each other, offering advice on plotlines and characters, with plenty of shoulders to cry on. (Believe me you'll need them.) And even though I believe things would have been much better if this event took place in July (seriously who was the idiot who decided to set a challenge to write 50,000 words in the middle of the school year) by November 31, chances are good you could be holding the first draft of your book.

Here are three steps to help you achieve that goal.

1) Love Your Novel: When I say love, I mean LOVE. Like the kind of obsessive love in which you can't focus on class because you are busy daydreaming about your plot and your characters. You are going to be writing 1667 words per day. You need to love your work or it is going to drive you crazy and you will end up hating it.

2) Vague

I made this mistake the first time I tried this November madness. I believed I needed a fully outlined plot so that I would be able to write properly each day.....I didn't feel "ready" to start writing until the third week in November. You don't need a fully outlined plot. You don't need to know much about your characters. Trust me--very few people here do. You just need to love what you have and work to build on it. There are dozens of forums on the Nanowrimo website that can help you generate ideas and discuss issues with your novel with hundreds of people. And besides, even if you do have a whole plot in your head--this is still only a first draft. Don't worry about it being perfect cause it won't.

3) NO TRENDS.

I cannot stress this out loud. If you are writing a book because you want to write the "next Hunger Games"--take your hands off that keyboard. Don't get me wrong. If you have a really cool idea, for example, for a dystopian or vampire novel...go ahead. Write it. But only if that's the story knocking around in your brain. If all you're trying to do is try and imitate Stephanie Meyer because "that's what people like" you will fail. Readers can tell. And trends don't last forever.

And finally, here's a helpful tip for the writing itself. There is a wonderful program called Scrivener. It is God's gift to authors. Instead of having dozens of documents to keep track of, the program has a folder and sections for your research, the ability to split a chapter into several scenes--even reorganize these scenes if you have inspiration for later moments. I'm really not doing it justice, but it's definitely worth a look, especially since students get a discount and only have to pay 30 bucks.