How to Pitch a Book & Not Freak Out [5-Step Guide & Template]
If you’re reading this, you’re ready to take the next step in your career as an author. You’ve finished the story you’ve longed to tell, and you’re keen to get it published.
First and foremost:
Finishing a story, regardless of whether it’s a 3k word nugget of flash fiction or a whopping 190k word space opera, is no small feat. Congratulations. Pat yourself on the back, dang it. Right now.
Now bring that patting hand back here so it can scroll into the reason you’re here. You’re ready. You want to tell your friends. You want an agent and/or a publisher. Which means you need to get your pitch ready for showtime, and I’m thrilled to be the showman showing you the way.
This step-by-step guide showcases best practices, actionable tips, and a template for how to pitch a book to agents, publishers, and the people closest to you. This is the guide I wished existed when I began my publishing journey 10+ years ago. I’ve been applying its lessons as a pitch doctor for the last year, helping authors at every stage of their careers hone the message they’re taking to market, ensuring their stories sing loud and clear. Now, I’m taking my approach global, because The Internet and because I Like To Help Writers.
So, let’s get started.
What is a Book Pitch & Why Does it Matter?
A book pitch is what sells your story. It captures and conveys the story you’ve told in just a few sentences.
A pitch is distinctly different from a query because, in most circumstances, a pitch is done live. A query, in contrast, is digital. You typically email or submit queries through a form, which, boy howdy, is WAY EASIER for most people (*raises hand*) than pitching live.
Some people will use “pitch” and “query” interchangeably. For the purpose of this post, we are treating “pitch” as the live act of articulating your story to others and “query” as the written submission to an agent or publisher.
Your pitch usually fits nicely into a query letter, but it won’t be 1:1. Why? Because we speak differently than we write. Queries are this-is-why-you-should-pick-me letters personalized for the agent or publisher being queried, while pitches are spoken-word proclamations of why you love your book and why someone else should, too.
So, why does a pitch matter? Put simply, a pitch tells a story. You have to tell your story to sell your story.
Different Types of Book Pitches
When it comes to pitching a book, there are two different types of pitches, and each has its own time and place. First, there’s the elevator pitch, which is a bite-sized version of your story. When people ask me at a party what I’m writing, I usually give them this version of my pitch.
On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the back-of-book pitch. It’s longer and showcases more of your characters, plot, tone, and themes that someone can expect to find in your story.
The Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch earns its name because you can deliver it in the time it takes you to ride the elevator; roughly 20 to 30 seconds. That doesn’t mean you should rush a ton of words out in the time you have. Rather, you should choose a handful of impactful words that can be spoken at a natural pace. This bite-sized pitch should be memorable, unique to your story, and leave the person who hears it going “I want to know more!”
An elevator pitch is sometimes referred to as a “hook” and it should do just that. You don’t want to get into the guts of your story. You want to take the heart of your story and trim it down to roughly 20 to 50 words.
I know, it sounds brutal. It is brutal. It’s also essential.
Writer’s Digest has an amazing post showcasing 60 examples of elevator hooks for recently published books. We’ll explore what goes into making a good hook, tips for editing, and all the ins and outs of Hooking 101 in the next section - How to Write a Killer Hook. First, though, the blurb...
The Back-of-Book Pitch
A back-of-book pitch is sometimes referred to as a “blurb” and it gives you a bit more room to work with than a hook. A blurb should capture your story’s genre, wordcount, plot, characters and the challenges they face, as well as who YOU are. The “about you” portion of a pitch can be omitted if you’re pitching a friend or family member, but an agent or publisher will want to know why you’re the right person to tell this story.
A blurb can be anywhere from 100 to 300 words, and this is the part of the post where I declare: MORE WORDS DOES NOT EQUAL BETTER!!
If you’re pitching an agent at a conference, usually you have a set number of minutes (anywhere from 4 to 10, depending on the format) and you DO NOT want to use all that time ranting through the plot of your story. You want to give the agent time to ask questions. You want to show them you can succinctly tell the story you love.
Brevity is a strength, my friends.
Aim for 90 seconds. Time yourself. Be ruthless. If you need 2 minutes, then take 2 minutes. The rules are not rigid, but the time you have to make an impact in a pitch block is.
The majority of this post will focus on how to build and deliver the best dang blurb possible, but before we get into that, we’re going to focus on the hook. Why? Because your hook should fit nicely into your blurb. If you have a solid hook as a cornerstone, you can more easily build a solid blurb around it.
How to Write a Killer Hook
It would be so nice if there was a simple template to follow for writing a great hook. The first time I had to write one, I found myself craving a good Mad Libs format that I could just plug-and-play. I was also an impatient 19-year-old managing an attention disorder as best I could at the time.
Flash forward 15 years and I’m still doing my best, but now I have something I didn’t before. Experience.
I spent almost a decade building and growing a marketing agency before throwing myself into full-time authorship, and I learned SO much about pitching in that time. Lessons I’ve since taken to conferences and workshops to share with others, because even if I’m not pitching well-funded tech companies out of the Bay Area anymore, the lessons I learned from doing so can be applied just as effectively in the pursuit of authorship.
When you only have a few breaths to capture someone’s attention - to close a sale or save a deal - you make every word count. You respect the time someone’s giving you. Because if you don’t, you lose the deal, and you don’t get another shot.
So, how can you maximize your impact in two sentences or less? How can you hook someone’s attention? How do you leave them craving more?
Simple.
You use emotion. You wrote your story because you felt strongly about it, and now you get to share that strong feeling.
Because every story is different, every hook will be different. There are commonalities between them, though, strands that you can weave into crafting your own hook. Below I’ve bulleted out a few best practices for writing a good hook for your story. Try a few of them out. Don’t latch onto one straight away. This is an excellent exercise, and you’ll likely surprise yourself!
Open with a Bold Statement
It can be controversial (ie: “Birds don’t exist.”) or shocking (ie: “The angels fell on Sunday.”) possibly a line from your book that was specifically written to make your reader gasp. In some cases, this might even be the first line of your book!
Ask a Question
Questions get people thinking. They can be a strategic lever when played at the start or close of your hook, but only if they’re provocative.
Remember, an elevator pitch is meant to quickly capture someone’s interest. If your question doesn’t make someone’s eyes widen, it might not be impactful enough.
Be Vague (But True)
Avoid getting in the weeds with your elevator pitch. Stay in the guts. A good hook shouldn’t showcase your protagonist’s eye color or favorite food or anything that isn’t ESSENTIAL to the journey they’re going on in your story.
Stick to what matters most. You can wax more in your blurb if it’s relevant waxing, but your hook has to be tight.
Strike for the Heart
You MUST form an emotional connection for your hook to be successful. If your elevator pitch doesn’t tug on the heartstrings in some way, shape, or form, then it isn’t impactful enough.
What is one emotion that runs through your entire story? Is it love? Is it anger? Latch onto that thread and lace it through your hook from start to finish.
For my hook, I combined two of these elements. I went vague (but true) with my characters and their struggles, and I struck for the heart with my closer by showcasing it as a love story — and, by golly, you’d better be ready for a love story.
When an unlicensed alchemist accidentally kills a desperate man’s fiancé, it traps them both on a cross-country road trip to find a necromancer. Along the way, they find love.
That’s 29 words. Three breaths, when paced right. It tells you exactly who my characters are, what kickstarts their journey, and what readers can expect if they come along for the ride.
Actual footage of the final scratch of my hook. Blocking out the parts of your pitch with different colors, at least for me, is EXTREMELY helpful.
How to Blurb Your Book in 5 Steps
That’s right. That’s “blurb” as a verb. If you’re reading this, you’re either steps away from blurbing or a few steps into having blurbed.
Each blurb will be slightly different, and it’s important to remember that this back-of-book pitch is designed to be spoken. A well-crafted blurb can overlap and bleed into what you’re crafting for your query letter, but you should always remember that you’re pitching LIVE. Blurbs will read differently than they’re spoken, so make sure you’re practicing your back-of-book pitch aloud. The more you practice - with other people listening, when you’re ready - the more solid your pitch will be.
“But Fitz! I don’t have a pitch ready!”
That’s okay, friend! I don’t either! At least not for the project I’ve just handed off to my amazing beta readers. It has a query letter and an elevator pitch, but blurbs take a lot more time and focus than I’ve had the opportunity to give.
In other words, we’re in this together — you, me, and thousands of other writers gearing up for writers' conference season.
For the rest of this post, I’ll walk you through the 5-step approach I’ve helped writers like yourself hone their stories into pitches ready for showtime. Along the way, in each step, you’ll see an “**ACTION TIME**” heading. Think of these as checkpoints. They’re meant to be opportunities to pause and apply the lessons each step spells out, that way you can progress into the next step with all the building blocks necessary to assemble a well-rounded pitch.
Step One: Ask Yourself “What’s the Point?”
Not of life. That’s not why we’re here. Ask yourself what’s the point of the story you’ve written. What do you want readers to take away from reading the back of your book? Whether it’s “f*ck the man” or “friendship is magic” or “kindness is free and jerks will pay” or something wildly off the beaten path, it should feed into the heart of your pitch.
If you’re not 100% sure what the point is, or if you have, like, 10 different points, that’s okay. As writers, oftentimes we’re too close to our own work to see the obvious. That’s where having a group of peers to sounding board off is helpful.
**ACTION TIME**
Take a few moments right now to jot down themes present in your story. At least one, but no more than five. I’ll wait.
…
Okay, how did it go? Did those come super easily, or was this exercise surprisingly challenging? Here’s what I came away with:
Love is worth fighting for
The system is broken
Self-worth is not tied to wealth, power, or blood
Lies are easy; honesty takes work
See how they’re all high-level enough that they could literally apply to any genre of work? That’s what we’re looking for at this point. If you box yourself in too tightly with this step, you’ll feel far too restricted as you build out the rest of your pitch. Hold onto all of the themes you wrote down as you head into Step Two.
Step Two: Spell Out the Essentials
There are certain essentials that you want to include in every single live book pitch. How you weave these elements in is ultimately up to you, whether you get explicit right in the very first breath or save it for the mic-drop closer, but they MUST be included:
Title
Genre
Target Age of Readers
Wordcount
Setting
Main Character(s)
Their Goal (and Why It Matters)
The Thing Standing in Their Way
Comparable Titles
If you don’t include these items, the agent or publisher you’re pitching will be left without critical information. You don’t want their first follow-up question to be, “how long is it?” You do not get a lot of time with an agent in a pitching session. Your pitch can help you make the most of the time you have by clearly providing agents with all the industry-standard essentials they need to maximize the impact of your time together.
Recall your themes from Step One as you noodle on how you define your character’s goals and the things standing in their way.
**ACTION TIME**
Take a moment now to jot down brief answers to each of the bullets above. Most of these can be one or two-word answers.
For the longer items, such as characters, goals, and obstacles, try to keep your answers to two sentences. At this point, we just want the essentials.
If you don’t have your comps on hand right now, that’s okay. You can always add those in later - just make sure you add them.
Not sure how to pick comps? Ask yourself what appears on the shelf beside your book. Ask yourself what elements your book shares with others. Subscribe to my site to stay in-the-know when I inevitably drop a post about how to find comps!
Step Three: Define Your Tone
Is your writing cheeky? Are your characters sarcastic little darlings? Putting your finger on the overall tone of your story can sometimes be tricky, because there’s how we wrote it and how others read it.
If you have a critique group, this is an excellent opportunity to reach out to them and ask “hey, how would you describe the tone of my work?”
If you don’t have a critique group, then you should find a critique group! They’re amazing, and I’d be lost without mine. Here’s a condensed version of what they said when I asked them the very question above:
“The first word that comes to mind is: arch, in the sense of mischievous and roguish — not in the sense of ironic or sardonic… Maybe in the sense of teasing. Next would be flirty … And last, it’s very clear that [MAIN CHARACTER] doesn’t like himself and [LOVE INTEREST] doesn’t like himself. So that immediately brings to mind antipathy or self-loathing … I’m betting you gave them each an arc. I’m betting they find ways to love themselves when they learn to love each other. If that’s the case, then it would be: arch, flirty, and redemptive.”
Their response aligns with my own thoughts about the tone of this project, which solidifies my confidence in approaching my pitch with the same tone.
You want your pitch to reflect the tone of your story because it gives readers, agents, and publishers a sense of what to expect if they read more. If your book is giving big raunchy space opera but your book pitch is giving day-old cereal left on the counter, you’re doing your story a disservice! Lean into the tone of big raunchy space opera if that’s what you’re selling!
**ACTION TIME**
If you have a critique group or anyone who’s read the project you’re pitching, take a moment to text them. Ask them how they would describe the tone of your work.
While you wait for them to reply - or, alternatively, if you don’t have a critique group or readers of this project - jot down some ways you’d describe your story’s tone. Not how you speak, but how your project reads and how you want others to read it.
Step Four: Assemble Your Building Blocks
There’s this weird instinct to start at the beginning. If you want to dive right in at this point, then go for it! If you’re someone like me, who color-codes and roadmaps everything, you might want to take a brief moment to roadmap your pitch.
Here’s a tried-and-true best practice outline for crafting a book pitch:
Hook (might be - but doesn’t have to be 1:1 - your elevator pitch)
Character and Setting
Driving Action
The Plot / The Stakes
Title, Genre, and Wordcount
Comps
About You
Personally, I jump around in filling out this outline. I might have a solid understanding of the plot but not a great sense of how I want to present it. I focus on my main characters instead, perhaps, where I feel way more confident. In writing that, I might see an opportunity to transition smoothly into the stakes / the plot.
The hook is the most important element of any pitch. It’s the first thing out of your mouth, and it sets the stage for everything that follows. It’s okay to have multiple hooks you’re workshopping. Take them to your friends, to your critique group, to anyone who’s in your target market, and ask them what they think.
At the end of the day, it’s your pitch. You can take or leave any feedback you get, but you should absolutely seek feedback.
**ACTION TIME**
Using the best practice outline provided above, take a moment to draft a few sentences that succinctly answer each item. Do not attempt to string a full pitch together right at this moment. Instead, answer each item individually with standalone responses.
Once you’ve done so, you should begin to see where they can be connected. Perhaps you need to rephrase your character introduction (Answer #2) to make the stakes (Answer #4) slap even harder. The outline you fill out gives you the bones you need to build a solid pitch, but it’s on you to connect it all together!
If you’re struggling here, and you want a bit more guidance on a specific section, a bit further down I provide a Book Pitching Template. It uses the same exact building blocks, but it expands more on what goes into each block and provides examples where appropriate.
Step Five: Practice, Practice, Practice - Out Loud!
Practice is the difference between a good pitch and a great pitch. You can have all the right words on paper, but if you don’t practice your delivery of them, you’re selling your story short. The more you practice, the better prepared you’ll be when the time comes to tell the world what you’ve written.
It’s okay to not have your pitch memorized. Print it out. Write it down. Read the words straight from the page if you need to, but read them aloud.
For years now I’ve been going to writing conferences and asking fellow writers if I can pitch them. I time myself. I get anxious as heck, complete with chills and stress sweats, but I get the words out and I keep breathing. At the end, I ask for feedback. I try to get specific with my asks based on where I think there’s room for improvement (ie: what did you think about THIS PART where my protagonist’s THIS THING was introduced?) Afterward, I ask if the person I pitched would like to pitch me, and I celebrate the ever-loving heck out of them.
At the PNWA Conference last year, I must’ve pitched close to 50 writers before I crossed paths with the publisher from Tor I was there to see. I felt so dang confident by the time I sat down to pitch Ali Fisher (who requested the FULL) and it was all thanks to the feedback and support of the writers I’d spent a day and a half doing pitch-swaps with.
You don’t have to wait for a conference to practice. Go to writing meetups. Ask your critique group if you can pitch them at your next session. It will feel awkward at first, but it’s a necessary skill to learn if you want to pitch your book to an agent or publisher.
That said, you can absolutely still get published without ever pitching your work live. If the thought of pitching makes you queasy, you always have the option to cold query agents virtually through sites like QueryTracker. There is no one-way-to-rule-them-all when it comes to publishing!
**ACTION TIME**
It’s time to practice. You’ve been replaying the pitch in pieces in your head for a while now, maybe muttering it quietly into your fist as you scowl at your screen. Find a private place. Read it aloud where no one can hear you. For the first read-through, just say the words aloud, as you’ve written them, from start to finish.
Once you’ve finished your first read-through, take a dang breath. Pat yourself on the back.
Grab a different colored pen (if you’re on paper) or engage the suggesting tool (if you’re on digital) and leave a mark of some kind anywhere you heard yourself trip, didn’t like the phrasing, or just wanted to feel something else.
Once you’ve marked the places that didn’t hit right, pick one and start tweaking it. Be ruthless. Give yourself options and practice them all. Repeat this process as much as necessary, and save anything that makes you go “oh, that’s interesting…” because you’ll want to hang onto options - that way you can try them out again on others!
Book Pitching Template
There is no rigid formula you have to follow with pitching. Your ultimate goal with a pitch is to get someone interested in learning more about your story.
If you have a way of doing that, and it deviates from the steps outlined above, my advice to you is to test your pitch out on a dozen people. If everyone followed it and loved it, then maybe you’re onto something. If half the group got lost along the way, though, you may want to workshop your pitch a bit more before you take it to market.
While there is no be-all-end-all for pitching templates, there are best practices that are widely accepted as industry standards. Below, I’ve provided a book pitching template that you can use to begin building your version.
Opening Hook
Not necessarily your elevator pitch, but should evoke the same intrigue and emotion. Strike for the heart!
Primary Protagonist Introduction
Who’s the star of your story? Where do they begin their journey? What’s their goal and what stands between them and achieving that goal? The obstacle can be a person, the setting, or even the protagonist themself.
[Optional] Secondary Protagonist Introduction
Is there a co-star of your story? Briefly introduce them the same way you introduced your primary protagonist. This is vital if you’re writing in the romance genre or have a dual POV.
Define the “Oh Sh*t” Moment
What kicks your story into high gear? Is someone murdered and your protagonist is the lead suspect, suddenly on the run from the law? Are they surprised by an engagement they can’t say no to?
Spell Out the Stakes
What must your protagonist do to come out as a “hero” on the other side of this journey? What happens if they fail? The higher you can raise the stakes as you close out the guts of your pitch, the more likely someone is to lean in and ask “what happens next?”
Finish With Housekeeping
This includes title, wordcount, genre, and comps. Some people put this at the very top of their pitch. Personally, I recommend you open with impactful content and close out with housekeeping, and only if you’re pitching an agent or a publisher. If you’re pitching a friend or family member, they really don’t need these details.
A good boilerplate for this section is:
“[TITLE] is a [ADJECTIVE] [GENRE] complete at [NUMBER] words. It is perfect for fans who loved the [NOUN] of [COMP #1] and anyone who enjoyed the [NOUN] of [COMP #2].”
Additionally, this section is your opportunity to very briefly tell an agent or publisher a bit about yourself. If you have relevant credentials or qualifications worth mentioning, you’ll want to tout them here. For example, if you’re pitching an army spy thriller, and you were an army spy for 15 years, you’ll absolutely want to mention that.
Book Pitching FAQs
Over the last year, with the encouragement of my wonderful writing community, I’ve leaned into branding myself as a pitch doctor. When I returned to authorship full-time after taking 10+ years off to focus on my career in marketing, I realized I’d developed a unique set of sales, branding, and communications skills that most writers don’t have ingrained in them. More importantly, I realized I wanted to help writers.
Thus, this guide. My approach is not the be-all-end-all, and I’ve mentioned multiple times that there is no one-and-only way to get published. This guide exists to showcase how I’ve found success and helped others do the same.
This final section is solely focused on FAQs around pitching, and I will continue updating this section as I continue working with writers in their publishing journeys.
How Long Should a Pitch Be?
Anywhere from 100 to 300 words, or about 90 seconds. If that’s impossible, do you absolute best to keep it under two minutes.
Can I Pitch a Book Before It’s Finished?
You can, but you shouldn’t.
If you haven’t finished the book, it means you haven’t even begun to edit the book. Agents and publishers are taking pitches with the expectation that what you’re bringing them is ready for the world to read.
Personally, I encourage writers to close out their pitch with something like “TITLE is an adult romantasy complete at 100,000 words” as a little bookend, that way the person you’re pitching knows your work is finished.
What’s the Difference Between a Pitch and a Query Letter?
A pitch is something a writer delivers aloud with the hope of an agent or publisher requesting material.
A query letter is a brief, formal letter sent to agents and publishers, typically virtually, in which a writer seeks representation for their work. A query letter is submitted alongside a set number of sample pages, with the number of pages specified by the agent or publisher’s submission guidelines.
Should My Pitch Reveal the Ending?
Absolutely not! While a synopsis should reveal the ending of your story, your pitch should not.
Oftentimes, though, when a pitch is well-delivered, an agent or publisher will ask “how does it end” — so be prepared to answer!
Do I Have to Include Comps in My Pitch?
It’s widely considered a good best practice to include comparable titles in a pitch these days.
That said, if your pitch is pushing 2 minutes in length, and your pitch block is only 4 minutes long, you may consider leaving comps out. Agents and publishers will sometimes use the extra time available to ask questions like “where do you see this fitting into today’s market” — which is an excellent opportunity to mention your comps.
What Should I Tell an Agent / Publisher About Myself?
ONLY relevant things.
They don’t need to know you’re a proud plant parent (unless your story is about plant parenting) or that you have a collection of vintage glass (same note).
Instead, consider answering the following: Is this your debut novel? Have you published anything (traditional or others) prior to this? Has your writing earned awards? Do you have a professional background in a field tied directly to the story you’re telling?
How Do I Manage My Nerves When Pitching?
This one comes up a lot. Not explicitly, but in quiet “I’m so nervous” asides in conference hallways. Everyone will have their own methods. Not every method will work for every writer.
As a high-functioning extrovert who spent years in therapy learning to embrace my anxiety, I usually focus on breathing and do as much prep work as I can. I practice, practice, practice until I feel confident in my messaging. I celebrate the people around me and do my best to make connections that last long after the conference ends.
Most importantly, I remind myself that agents and publishers are there - taking our pitches - because they want to be. They are actively looking for new stories from new authors, so don’t be afraid!
What Questions Might Agents Ask After a Pitch?
This is such a wildcard. While this is not an exhaustive list, some common questions you’ll want to be ready for include:
What happens next?
How does it end?
Is this a standalone?
Why did you write this story?
Why are you the right person to tell this story?
Where do you see this story fitting into today’s market?
Looking for more tips on how to sell your story? Check out this post showcasing insights from agents, publishers, and other writers I interviewed last summer!
Already have a story out in the world and trying to drum-up more interest in your brand? Check out this SEO for Authors Guide and start tightening up your brand today!