Dear Author, It was lovely to meet you at the conference last week; thank you for emailing me those photos! I would love to read more about the manuscript you are currently pitching. Can you send me your pitch, first few chapters, and synopsis?
—Signed Agent McAgent
Logline. Elevator Pitch. Query Pitch. Plot Synopsis.
The terms thrown at hopeful authors can be overwhelming. To make matters even more confusing, the definitions of these terms vary depending on whom you ask. It’s enough to make an author throw their manuscript at a wall.
And after you get your mind around the differences between these terms? How do you create them? What are the rules? What do agents and publishers want?
The good news is that there are no hard and fast rules. The bad news is that different agents often want different things. The great news is that there are steps you can take to create an appealing logline, elevator pitch, query pitch, and synopsis that will cover all your bases. They don’t have to be so mysterious.
Ask yourself, “What are you trying to achieve?” Are you trying to determine if your book would appeal to the agent? (Step One) Or are you trying to convince them to read your book? (Step Two)
Too often, authors tend to rush right to Step Two. Instead, take the time and go through the first step, determining the
