Wind Up and. . .Pitch!

“So, tell me about your book.” What a great invitation – whether it is from family or friends or (gasp) agent or editor! You finally have their attention! Be ready with your PITCH!

Pitch/logline is one amazingly compact sentence the relates the essence of your story, specifically the plot.

Well, that sounds easy – until I try to write one! There are two good places to find examples.

1 Book description on Amazon or another book seller.

Many times, an original pitch to sell the manuscript is fleshed out to become the book synopsis or back cover copy. I am currently pitching “We’re Getting a Dinosaur!” I looked at board books about dinosaurs and new babies. I found back cover copy:

“A big sister anticipates the birth of a new sibling in this warm and funny stage-by-stage picture book tour of all the sizes of a growing baby, from teeny-tiny poppy seed to giant watermelon. (My Brother Is an Avocado by Tracy Darnton (Author), Yasmeen Ismail (Illustrator). Margaret K McElderry, 2023.

“A big-kid dinosaur can’t wait to teach the new baby everything in this funny, tender, joyful take on becoming a big sister or brother.”

(How to Grow a Dinosaur by Jill Esbaum (Author), Mike Boldt (Illustrator), Dial, 2018.

“It’s not easy being a big sister, especially when your new baby brother is a dino-baby!” (Dino-Baby by Mark Sperring (Author), Sam Lloyd (Illustrator). Bloomsbury, 2013.

2 ChatGPT generates loglines.

It is NOT compromising your authorship to let AI help with pitches!

I typed in: “kid thinks new member of household will be a dinosaur. Shocked with baby in pink blanket.  Baby is like dino – loud, messy, and runs the house.”

AI came back with: When a young child eagerly awaits the arrival of a new family member, they’re convinced it’s going to be a dinosaur. But when the baby finally arrives, wrapped in pink, they realize she might just be the wildest dinosaur of them all.

So I asked AI to rewrite the pitch for a board book. 

AI sent back: In “Dino Baby Adventures,” a child eagerly awaits a new family member, expecting a dinosaur but instead finding a wild, messy baby girl wrapped in pink. Could she be a dinosaur in disguise?

3 Find the common thread or buzz words.

They are upbeat and funny, succinct but piquing curiosity. Many have SEL education about accepting a new baby.

My final pitch is: A child’s dream of a Dino Sized Romp is shattered by the arrival of a baby in a pink blanket, but she has dinosaur traits: loud, messy, and rules the house. Maybe it’s a Cyndi-saurus!

This month look at book blurbs and mess with ChatGPT (the free version). Then experiment with writing pitches for your WIP. You are ready to meet an agent in an elevator!

Next month I’ll take pitching a step further with “X (formerly known as Twitter)” contests and above the slush pile opportunities.

Multi award winning author Robin Currie holds a Master of Library Science from the University of Iowa but learned story sharing by sitting on the floor during more than 1000 story times! She sold 1.7 M copies of her 40 storybooks and writes stories to read and read again!