Tipsy Tuesday - Pitch Heaven

I must give credit for the amazing content of this post to Susan. She directed me to Rachelle Gardner's blog where I found these awesome tips.

As promised, this is my first installment of oh-my-god-I've-got-to-pitch-to-an-agent-and-am-FREAKING-OUT. Catchy title don't you think? lol

Okay, so Rachelle has this wonderful post with tips for a successful pitch. (To read her whole post click the link)

First thing she says is not to dive right into your pitch when you sit down. Take a minute to introduce yourself, ask if the agent is having a nice morning, whatever. If you take just a bit of time for some small talk it will really calm you down.

I totally agree with this. I have, actually, met with an agent before, and can say from experience that the small talk gave me a second to readjust my mind so that I wasn't shaky and nervous. It also helped to have made some comments on the agent's blog, so I was able to reference a specific post and have that common ground between us.

Rachelle also says to be sure you have a tagline (20 words or less that encompass your story) ready at a moments notice. You've all got taglines right? They're handy for your query too.

The pitch. Rachelle says it should be 2 to 3 minutes long, and be sure to allow the agent to ask questions as you speak. That means it needs to be more a basis of conversation than a memorized speech.

Speaking of questions, be ready to answer them. The agent may ask things like:

What published author would you compare your writing to?
How does your story end?
What is your character's motivation?
Have you worked with a critique group?
Etc.

Wow, so that's just a brief overview of Rachelle's tip-packed post. I hope you find the information as helpful as I have! Have you all read any particularly helpful posts on pitching? Or do you have any tips you've learned first-hand? If so, share in the comments!