Pitches vs Blurbs

[Pamela Jo]

I am entering a competition. They want first 3 chapters and a pitch. (agent) Do I write a blurb and use that for my pitch? It's the first time I havent been ask for the 300 word synopsis.

Competition Time – DA Summer Reads!

Calling all women’s fiction authors! We are thrilled to announce our Darley Anderson Summer Reads Competition! The Darley Anderson Agency is on the lookout for the next bestseller in commercia…

darleyandersonblog.com

 

[Mel L]

I am entering a competition. They want first 3 chapters and a pitch. (agent) Do I write a blurb and use that for my pitch? It's the first time I havent been ask for the 300 word synopsis.

Competition Time – DA Summer Reads!

Calling all women’s fiction authors! We are thrilled to announce our Darley Anderson Summer Reads Competition! The Darley Anderson Agency is on the lookout for the next bestseller in commercia…

darleyandersonblog.com

This is tricky! Depending on what they mean by 'pitch' and perhaps this is one for @AgentPete ?
From what I've seen, it's often used to mean the elevator pitch, or one line summary of your idea. If that's the case, this chart, while tongue-in-cheek, does provide a handy list of terms that can be used to create one. This Handy Chart Automatically Generates a Pitch for Your New Novel - Electric Literature

 

[AgentPete]

It’s a bit vague, isn’t it?

I’d interpret “pitch” in this context to mean “blurb” (see seminar, esp re length).

We do use Elevator Pitches in publishing, see below. However the concept came from film/tv. You get into an elevator with a top studio exec, by “accident”, which gives you x seconds to pitch them until they arrive at the floor with the executive washroom...

That sort of thing also happens in publishing, but in a slightly different way – it’s at least as much about an editor lobbying for internal support for a project as anything else (notably, you couldn't easily engineer this sort of “chance” encounter during lockdown, several pubs lamented the fact to me).

Elevator Pitches when written down can be very dry / generic, i.e. “Jaws in space” which was Ridley Scott’s famous EP for “Alien”. I’d go for something a bit more substantial, i.e. a blurb.

 

[Pamela Jo]

It’s a bit vague, isn’t it?

I’d interpret “pitch” in this context to mean “blurb” (see seminar, esp re length).

We do use Elevator Pitches in publishing, see below. However the concept came from film/tv. You get into an elevator with a top studio exec, by “accident”, which gives you x seconds to pitch them until they arrive at the floor with the executive washroom...

That sort of thing also happens in publishing, but in a slightly different way – it’s at least as much about an editor lobbying for internal support for a project as anything else (notably, you couldn't easily engineer this sort of “chance” encounter during lockdown, several pubs lamented the fact to me).

Elevator Pitches when written down can be very dry / generic, i.e. “Jaws in space” which was Ridley Scott’s famous EP for “Alien”. I’d go for something a bit more substantial, i.e. a blurb.

Thank you. I have done several elevator pitches (brief, chance encounters) that got positive reactions, but nothing but good advice came of them. ('Write it as a novel -dont try to sell it as a screenplay if you want to make money', from a producer, and from an agent about a novel ' Learn to rewrite. Your ideas are good, but your writing isn't up to it yet.'

One agent's wish list: "And as for the animal adventure, we are due a new huge world setting series; imagine Game Of Thrones meets Animals of Farthing Wood." Isn't that Brian Jaques?

 

[Pamela Jo]

This is tricky! Depending on what they mean by 'pitch' and perhaps this is one for @AgentPete ?
From what I've seen, it's often used to mean the elevator pitch, or one line summary of your idea. If that's the case, this chart, while tongue-in-cheek, does provide a handy list of terms that can be used to create one. This Handy Chart Automatically Generates a Pitch for Your New Novel - Electric Literature

OH MY... That chart. I always see shying a wonky coconut at milk bottles when I think pitch. I feel lucky. Maybe, I'll throw them a curve with a blurb.

 

[Hannah F]

When twitter do #pitch contests - for agents to give likes to what they'd like to see more of - what they're looking for is a blurb.