Pitching your work… authors often have difficulty with it. Even authors who have no trouble spinning a fantastic story may find themselves at a loss telling people ABOUT that story in a way that makes it compelling.
We cover three kinds of pitches — the one-liner or “elevator pitch,” the three- or four-paragraph explanation, and the in-depth synopsis. We also talk about the sorts of situations in which you’re going to need these.
Few skills are as important to new authors, and few weaknesses can be as career-limiting.
via Writing Excuses 6.19: Pitching » Writing Excuses.
Mary, my plan for my writing is evolving, and at this point is aimed pretty firmly at the indie realm. Would you say that the pitch holds the same importance for an independently published writer that it does for one aiming to pblish through a traditional house?
Without being an indie writer, I can only make guesses, but my guess would be — Yes. A pitch is every bit as important. It might even be more so for an indie writer, because you have to hand sell the book more than I do. I can tell you that I use my elevator pitch for Shades of Milk and Honey all the time, even though.
I’m trying to come up with a good one for Glamour in Glass, even though the novel is already sold, because people ask, “What is your book about? Having a pitch helps.
That coincides with the way my mind masticated the question. As in many things, the “easy” route is the one least likely to get you where you want to be. In this case, least likely to win you new readers. The current project is something along the lines of “Zorro in a fantastic Renaissance Italian city state on the verge of violent revolution.”