Words for Writers

Business: How To Create a Pitch Package - Updated

It's been half a decade since I last posted about pitch packages, and what you need to do to make your novel query-ready, so it's time to update my advice!

What is a Pitch Package?

Also called a Query Package, or a Pitch Doc, this is a collection of very specific documents and write ups. You'll need to have these documents along with you as you quest through the query trenches, and adventure along the publishing and marketing journey. But why?

Because agents, editors, publishers, and marketers are going to ask for it.

The documents that you create for this package will help a publisher or agent decide whether they'd like to take you or your book on. But after you land an agent and publisher, these documents will also have a second life in supporting the work done by your publicist, marketing team, and even yourself when it comes time to hype your book sales. It can even have a third life as being the basis for a pitches used by your foreign rights agents and / or dramatic rights agents, and if you snag a dramatic adaptation option, as a part of the film / TV Bible or Pitch Doc.

In short, they're dead useful, if... extremely involved to create. But trust me, it's worth it. You'll thank me later when someone asks for something specific, and you can just reach into your folder and offer it up with a smile.

Things You Will Absolutely NeedThe manuscript

The totally complete (betaed, edited, polished) manuscript. If you're not done writing the book, don't bother pitching or querying it. You never know when someone is going to ask for the full within hours of you submitting the query, and if you don't have it ready, you're not going to look very professional, and thus worth taking on.

You only get to make a first impression once, so make sure that first impression is impeccable.

Manuscripts should generally be formatted as:

-Title Page with Title of book, your name, your address, phone number and email address, the wordcount
-Headers which include your Surname, the title of the book, and the page number. (I format it as FREY | BOOK TITLE | ##)
-In a very widely used font, like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Courier New is also okay, but unnecessary if you don't prefer it.
-1″ margins all around the page.
-Double spaced.
-Bolds in Bold, Italtics in Italics, Underlines in Underlines. (no need to * word * or _ word _ like in the olden typewriter days).
-If you're feeling fancy, you can set up an Outline or Bookmark chapter headings in Word/your writing program to make it easier to navigate between chapters, but it's not necessary.
-No need to include dedications, acknowledgements, maps, or character lists in this version – the point is to let the book speak for itself. You can, however, add that stuff to the end of the book if you think it will make it easier to read.

Manuscript Samples

Some agents / publishers ask for writing samples instead of asking for the whole novel all at once. Make sure you have a few files separated out of:

–just the first chapter
– just the first three chapters
– just the first five chapters
–just the first five pages (double-spaced)
–just the first fifty pages (double-spaced)
– and just the first hundred pages (double-spaced)

Ensure they are super-polished. These are the chapters that will speak for the whole of your novel, so make sure they're on their best behavior. Generally speaking, I find you can start straight at Chapter One, with no Title page so long as you ensure your Name / Title of the Book / Page # are in the header of the document.

Synopsis

I've already covered how to write a synopsis pretty extensively in, so go have a look-see at that article when you're ready to write your Synopsis. Make sure you write one in all three lengths (single spaced 5 pages, 3 pages, 1 page) as you'll want to have them prepared for whatever size is requested. It's very important that you include how the book ends in the synopsis–surprise the readers, not your agent.