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As you know, I’m going to the SF Writers Conference this very week. (Tomorrow, by the time this blog comes out). There’s a lot of moving parts and ways that I’m trying to prepare. However, probably the most essential one is preparing a book pitch.

“What is a book pitch?” you might ask. Well, that’s a very good question, dear reader. I’m still figuring it out as I go along, but here is what I’ve got so far:

A book pitch is basically an elevator pitch to summarize what your book. Depending on what genre you’re in, it could include details such as the protagonist, setting, tagline, genre, audience, and more. Above all, the pitch should be punchy and aim to hook the other person’s interest. So far, I’ve seen that book pitches should be one-minute long, hence the elevator pitch. Though later on in this blog, I’ll explain why that isn’t entirely the case.

When I first started researching how to write a book pitch, I fell on this helpful page: HOW TO PITCH YOUR BOOK TO PUBLISHERS. It leads you through a list of questions before writing your book pitch.

Since my vignette collection isn’t one specific plotline, there were many questions that weren’t applicable to my book. However, it’s a great resource, because it helped me start thinking of my book in a marketable way. Specifically, what a literary agent might be looking for in a book pitch.

Here’s how I filled out some of the questions:

  • Who is your audience?
    • Female, New Adult, Early twenties, people who are getting back into reading
  • What’s unique about your book?
    • It’s a series of vignettes that are each their own contained stories. You can read a vignette a day, be fulfilled with that story, then pick up the book another day
  • Where does it fit on bookstore shelves?
    • Poetry, memoir, domestic fiction, coming of age
  • Which titles/authors does your work resemble (but not imitate)?
  • What is your book’s tagline?
    • A story a day keeps your mind at play. 
  • How can you quickly and simply describe your book/what happens?
    • In a series of miniature narratives, Songs for Mahalia explores the extent of early adulthood, coming of age, the mother daughter experience, and what it means to come home.  
  • What gave you the idea?
    • I was envious of musical artists and how albums are used artistically. In music albums, songs explore different aspects of themes and play off one another, which then culminates into this larger experience as a whole. Yet, each song can stand on its own.
    • I noticed that people treat reading like a competition, speeding through books and not actually remembering how they felt about it. I created this vignette series to combat that. Reading is more so about the emotional experience, rather than the sheer number of pages you read. In my manuscript, you’re meant to read one vignette a day and let the feeling sit with you. 
  • How would telling your pitch to 25 million people change what you say?
    • If I was pitching on TikTok, I imagine my copy would be:
      • Is it sad girl summer yet? Pick up Songs for Mahalia by Lauren Domagas. A series of mini stories that explore young adulthood, love, and coming back home after college. 
      • Getting back into reading? Songs for Mahalia is perfect for you. It’s a series of mini stories that explore young adulthood, love, and coming back home. I love reading one mini-story during breakfast before I begin my day.

Side note: Personally, I think book pitches are a little bit more straight forward for plot-driven novels (Though I won’t deny that it’s difficult for anyone to summarize their thousand-word manuscript into just one minute). I haven’t seen too much information on how to pitch a vignette collection. Truthfully, I think my manuscript doesn’t fall neatly into one genre or type of book. It’s somewhere between poetry, memoir, women’s fiction, etc. However, this page helped me realize that one of my selling points for this vignette collection is that it’s perfect for new readers, since each vignette is an entire story.

After filling out the questions, I wrote the book pitch (alongside the help of some very wonderful friends).

Do you remember returning to your hometown as a young adult? In the years you’ve been away, you’ve made all these mature and even difficult choices on your own. Yet– there’s something about your childhood home that brings you back to who you were at ten years old. 

Your hometown– it’s a strange place where all parts of your life seem to collide: childhood, teenage years, early adulthood. And upon walking through your town’s streets again, you can’t help wondering to yourself, who am I supposed to be now? Where am I supposed to go? 

My book, Songs for Mahalia, is a series of vignettes that explores that feeling of early adulthood uncertainty. Think Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, meets White Oleander by Janet Finch. 

Women in their early twenties would really connect with this book, because as a domestic fiction collection, it explores the nuances of mother-daughter relationships, love, and more.

The book is especially powerful since each vignette is a complete story. This is perfect for people who are looking to get back into reading and want to whet their appetite by reading one of the vignettes each morning during breakfast.

So this is great– I’ve got my book pitch ready to go and memorized it to a tee. I’m done, right?

Wrong.

I realized something felt off as soon as I started to recite it. It felt very stilted and performative (though I don’t mind a good performance). After a bit more research, I saw that most literary agents don’t exactly want to be pitched to, per se. Rather, a phenomenal book pitch is organic. It’s just two people talking about what they love most in the world. Hence, it should be a conversation. Which a good and bad thing for me.

I like to think that I’m a pretty good conversationalist. I’m curious about people in general and so I’m bound to ask a lot of questions, because I want connect with them. However, I’m not used to really talking about myself or even my own accomplishments, at least not with a sense of ease.

For example, when I practiced my book pitch with my brother the other day and treated it like a natural conversation, I kept thinking to myself ‘God, I’m taking up so much room in this interaction.’

*facepalm* For crying out loud, we’re supposed to be talking about my book! That’s the whole purpose of this exercise!

But you see where I’m coming from right? The biggest obstacle for this conference won’t be preparing and making sure that I brought everything I needed. Instead, it’ll just be talking about myself and not selling myself short. Maybe online I come across as easily speaking about myself, but that’s because I’m really forcing myself to; since I know it’s good for my future goals. Trust me, when the cameras off and I’ve just shared a post with me in it, I’m quite literally screaming into my pillow ‘It’s okay, it’s okay! You’re supposed to be sharing what you do!’

So, I think I should just remind myself that it’s okay to leave room in the conversation for my accomplishments or what I’m excited about. Even better, remind myself to not minimize it when people keep asking me questions. That’s a lesson that we all need to learn right?

Keep your fingers crossed for me for this conference. In return, I’ll remind myself that I’ve got this.