7 Advantages of a Verbal Pitch

Nervous WreckI’m blogging at Books & Such today. Here’s a preview:

Writers’ conference season is in full swing, and many of you are preparing for the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) conference in September. One of the most anxiety-provoking parts of a conference is knowing you’ll need to verbally pitch your book (which I’ve previously covered in Creatively Pitching Your Project and Secrets of a Great Pitch).

Several writers have asked me, why pitch verbally at all, when it’s the writing that matters? Why is so much importance put on the verbal pitch?

Both the query and the verbal pitch serve as an introduction to you and your project, leading the agent or editor to make a decision about whether they want to read some of the manuscript. While the writing matters most, the in-person connection has some advantages:

1. The verbal pitch allows you to express yourself not only with words but facial expressions and gestures.

2. The verbal pitch allows a conversation to develop, in which the agent can ask questions and probe for more information if needed.

Click HERE to read the entire post at Books & Such.

Rachelle Gardner

Literary agent at Gardner Literary. Coffee & wine enthusiast (not at the same time) and dark chocolate connoisseur. I've worked in publishing since 1995 and I love talking about books!

1 Comment

  1. Pitching Your Project | allbettsareoff on August 16, 2013 at 1:01 AM

    […] Several writers have asked me, why pitch verbally at all, when it’s the writing that matters? Why is so much importance put on the verbal pitch? Click here to read the rest of this great article. […]