Pitchfest: Details and Instructions
Elana RothHello everyone,
Thanks for all your great responses so far on this week's pitchfest we'll be hosting here at CJLA. As promised, here are the details and rules of how to participate.
- Post your pitch on the CJLA FORUM (www.johnsonliterary.com/forum) on Thursday, January 28th. This means 12AM until the following 11:59PM. No exceptions. Any pitches posted outside of those time stamps won't be responded to. (We have to draw the line somewhere.)
- Your pitch should be no more than 100 words long and tell us the overall concept/hook of your book. We do not want to hear the whole plot. This is good for us, and good for you. (For tidbits on how to pitch tightly, please see this previous blog post of mine.)
- You may only pitch one project.
- You may only pitch to one of us. (Since we overlap in YA, please take a closer look at the types of YA Caren and I each represent. She tends toward more paranormal and romance, I tend towards more speculative and high-concept.)
- Your book needs to be finished, because we'll be requesting material from this session.
Other things:
- We don't care what country you're in.
- Pitching a project during this session in no way precludes you from querying us on another project in the future. So if we don't request your book this time around, the door is not closed for you to approach with another one via the usual submission process.
- If you're confused about what categories we're accepting, just look over our list again, and go with your gut.
Caren and I will be responding live on Friday beginning at 10AM. We hope to get through them by noon (fingers crossed), but that will of course depend on how many pitches there. So please check back then.
Also, we will be giving some general feedback and advice, so be prepared for that. We hope this will help you in your pitching skills, so that even if we don't request your book, you'll be able to go out and find the right agent for you more confidently.
Any other questions? I'll answer a limited number of them in the comments to this post.
Good luck!
~Elana
Reader Comments (26)
If we've heavily revised a project CJLA has passed on, can we still pitch? Will completely understand if the answer is no. Just think the contest sounds great.
Hi there ! Just wanted to ask about being already self published/self printed (single one off run of 1000) but that I am without any representation or contracts otherwise. Can I still pitch?
Once we submit our pitch, will it be available for public viewing?
Hi all, sorry for just seeing these questions:
Kathleen - if we've requested it and passed, then we'd rather not see the pitch again. But it was only a query, you can try again. No promises though.
Matt - Sure. Just pitch it without that info though. We're only interested in the hook of the project for these purposes.
Sarah - yes. The pitches are being placed in a message board-type forum, so they will be visible, as will our responses.
Thanks for responding, just a follow up question regarding public viewing. Once pitchfest is over, will our pitches stay on the message board for a long period of time? I guess my concern here is privacy issues/protecting our creative work. Thanks again!
Nope. After all the pitches have been read and responded to, the boards will be made private, and no longer within public view.
Should the title or anything else be inside the 100 word pitch? And after reading the pitch advice post about "Knowing What You're Selling", would a very short pitch be acceptable here or are you wanting a little more meat or should we just go with our gut? I'm over-thinking this, I think!
Hey guys, thanks a lot for this - us writers really appreciate the chance to get noticed.
I'm kinda having a hard time figuring out who to pitch to. If, for example, I pitch a book to Caren, and she thinks Elana would be more interested in it, would Caren forward it to her?
Again, thanks for doing this. All the best.
This is probably a really dumb question, but must the manuscript be completed when we pitch? What if you have a very strong grasp of how your story is going to go, you're a good ways through, but not quite finished? Thanks! Even if I don't get to take part in this, this is a wonderful thing you two are doing for aspiring authors!
Hi all,
If you want to include title and category that wouldn't count in your word count. We're not going to be THAT anal.
As for pitching either Caren or Elana, we might share, but it'll depend on how strong the concept is. Just take a closer look at our YA. There are definitely differences in what we each like.
And yes, we do ask that the book is FINISHED, because we'll be requesting what we like on Friday. But please feel free to query us in the future even if the book isn't done just this minute.
Question: In the forum, the instructions say to include your pitch below your posts, but it says that the thread is locked, so we can't. Will the thread be unlocked? Or should we select New Post ?
What a great opportunity. I wish I had something you were looking for!
Will you be requesting partial or full manuscripts from those you like?
Yes, we locked the threads to prevent people from posting prematurely. I will unlock them at midnight tonight, when the clock officially turns Thursday EST.
And yes, we've said a few times we're requesting material. Whether it's a full or a partial will probably be determined on the spot and may vary between agents.
Got it, thanks :)
Last minute question... Do you want the word count posted in the pitch?
Nope! Just the pitch :)
What's the advantage to pitching on the forum instead of sending a typical query letter?
Thanks so much!!! : )
Sweet! Thanks for such a quick response <=
Hi Elana,
I recently queried and have yet to hear back, but would rather do the pitch fest instead. Is this okay? Or would it be best to just skip the pitch fest?
Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to pitch to Elana!!!!!!!!!!!!
It says paste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where??????????????????
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I am a wanna-be author/illustrator. I have a few manuscripts, but no dummies. Can I still pitch or would you rather that I wait until I have dummies to send?
Miko - We're not currently accepting pitches for picture books. If you are an author illustrator, please review the submission guidelines for the regular process.
Everyone else, if you've already queried, no need to do the pitchfest. We'll get to the queries at the usual speed.
Hello Elena Roth,
I love the idea of this pitchfest, but I don't feel comfortable pitching to an agent that I haven't read at least one book from. My current manuscript is a high-concept fantasy geared towards YA. I was wondering if you could recommend a book you or Caren have sold, so I could see if you're agency is a good match for my book?