This happens more often than I’d like to admit: I’m sitting around with friends or acquaintances or random strangers, and the fact that I’m a writer comes up. (I never noticed before just how often people say, “What do you do for living?” until I started answering that question with “I’m a writer.”) From there the conversation usually moves to what genre I write, what I’ve published, when my next book is coming out, and then like a hand grenade tossed into my lap: “What’s your book about?”
I freeze. My brain sets off alarms that sound all over my body. Panic sets in. I try to buy time by saying, “Wellllll,” and “Uuuuummm,” and “Okay, sooooo.” My first book was published seven years ago, my fourth novel is coming in August, and this still happens every time someone asks me what my book is about. When I received a PR Q&A from my publisher with the question “what is your book about?” I may have yelled out loud, “Don’t you people have a whole sales department to tell me what my book is about?”
Part of this difficulty is related to many writers’ struggles with query letters and elevator pitches. After you’ve spent months or years crafting a complex and nuanced story, now you’re supposed to boil it down to a few sentences? I’m terrible at this in part for the same reason I write novels instead of flash fiction.
The other part of why this question is so hard for me is about the panic and how my brain responds to it. More than one person has suggested that I should just memorize my official pitch word for word. Sadly most of the time the panic wipes my brain clean, and all I can find in my Things I’ve Memorized file is a few random Bible verses and the Pledge of Allegiance. Even on the occasions when I successfully regurgitate what I’ve memorized, I just sound like a malfunctioning robot. If I’m supposed to be selling my book to potential readers, that is not the way to do it.
I wish I could tell you that I have found the solution to this problem, and that you can read about it after the jump, but the truth is I choked on my one and only attempt to pitch a novel to an agent in person twenty years ago, and I choked again this last week.
I was at a gathering of booksellers and inevitably I was asked the question about my forthcoming novel. Cue panic, followed by me opening my mouth and having a few hundred words fall out in no particular order. I’m here to tell you that this is not ideal, but it’s also not a complete catastrophe. After all The Princess Bride has been successfully selling itself with a pile of random words for many years: “Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escape. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”
All this to say that my wisdom is much more philosophical than practical. Over the years of being asked what my books are about, I have learned to accept two things:
One: a pitch is only a sales tool.
Two: a novel is rarely about a single thing.
As important as a pitch can be for securing the interest of agents, editors, and ultimately readers, it is not part of your great work as a writer. Over the years, I’ve heard several people claim that if you can’t boil your book down to a pitch, it’s not ready. This simply isn’t true, and it’s a bit like saying unless you can create a great cover for your book, it’s not ready. Plenty of great books can’t be easily summed up, and not everyone has the skill sets to create a cover or a pitch. If you struggle to describe what your book is about in a succinct way, that’s not a reflection on the quality of your writing.
Okay, so it’s not a profound personal or professional failing to freeze up over that question, but you still have to answer it, right? Right.
This is where the second bit of philosophy comes in. Because your book is not about a single thing, there is no one way to pitch it. In fact, you don’t have to commit yourself to describing it the same way every time. This is the opposite of the advice I was given to memorize my pitch, but it’s also the only way I’ve successfully broken through my panic freeze.
So what do you say when people ask? Honestly, anything you want. Are you in love with your short pitch? Can you get it off your tongue in the middle of a panic? Use it. “Total Recall meets the Great British Bakeoff.” Do you like to talk about characters? Grab hold of your main character and run with it. “It’s about a lonely pastry chef with too many cats who is struggling to recover from a deeply personal betrayal.” Are you all about high concept premises? Then do the nuts and bolts. “It’s about a medical experiment that erases peoples’ memories.”
Are you a full-blown panicker like me? Then your only job is to try to smile as you blurt out as much of the plot as you can in thirty seconds. “Okay, so there’s this guy. Pastry chef. Nine cats. He loves cats. So his husband is cheating on him. Cheating on him with his own brother. The pastry chef’s brother. So the pastry chef, his name is Kevin. Also there’s an experimental procedure that erases bad memories. Kevin wants to forget about being betrayed. So he signs up. Also did I mention nine cats?”
If you’re a panicker, it’s true that you may never successfully manage to pitch an agent or editor in person, but it doesn’t mean you’re doomed. Thankfully, publishing is still a haven for introverts, recluses, and those who don’t do well at extemporaneous speaking. You can write books and sell books without ever being any good at answering “What is your book about?”
What has your experience been like pitching your book(s) in person? What do you think made the difference in your preparation or attitude?
About Bryn Greenwood
BRYN GREENWOOD (she/her) is a fourth-generation Kansan, one of seven sisters, and the daughter of a mostly reformed drug dealer. She is the NYT bestselling author of The Reckless Oath We Made, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, Last Will, and Lie Lay Lain. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas.
Be still my heart. Yes, yes, yes. As one of those who is struggling to sum up the book I’ve been working on for 2 1/2 years, it’s good to get validation that the old adage “if you can’t boil your book down to a pitch, it’s not ready” doesn’t stand up under scrutiny. Wonderful post.
That kind of reductive mindset has always bothered me, as though your ability to write a good book could be completely invalidated by struggling with writing a pitch.
I can identify with your experience so well, Bryn — from the panic over the ask, to the panic over the mind-wipe (what IS my book about??), to the frustration of the boil-it-down request.
For my part, I’ve found a way in by zooming out and describing the similarities in my stories (delayed coming-of-age narratives, featuring 20-somethings rather than teens). That description sometimes intrigues people, and then I’m able to follow-up with deeper info when they have questions. I had a convo with a writer the other day who asked the dreaded Q. Started simply, then turned into a 30-minute chat. Which is both the solution and also a demonstration of the problem!
I wonder if you could take a page out of the Princess Bride manual yourself, and say, “Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escape. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.” Though maybe with a few alterations.
That’s typically how I manage to function. I produce a word salad that would make William Goldman proud. LOL.
Therese,
Would you say your books are New Adult? Delayed-Coming-of-Age sounds intriguing. It describes both Moon sisters and a lot of other people.
Tina, when New Adult was first introduced as a genre, I was excited because it seemed my books would fit well there. But once NA settled into itself, its primary identity seemed to be sexuality, which was a tonal mismatch with my books. Really disappointing. ‘Women’s fiction’ has worked for my first two novels, though it’s a broad category. No pun intended.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is me for sure.
My stuff is Romantic Suspense, which I can never fit together when I answer that question!
Oh my gosh, Bryn. I loved this so much. “Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escape. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”
I thought only people like me, with a stuttering problem, become completely tongue-tied. I have to mentally prepare for these questions and yet, I sound like a fool, esp. on the phone, even with words written down on a pad of paper. But you hit the nail on the head–a book is so many things, and it’s okay to bumble through. Um, I know you didn’t ask, but my book is about two sisters… :)
Thank you for your words. What a relief. This is why we’re writers and not…talkers.
It’s a bit of a different experience for me because I’ve done public speaking professionally, but there’s a huge difference between talking to auditoriums full of high school kids about sex and having to talk about my own work.
This post and these comments come as such a relief!! I’ve been coming up with one-line pitches (Graceling meets Calamity Jane!) and dropping them into a file. I have about ten in there now along with ten versions of my query letter, which I’ve committed working on at work tomorrow. Again. I really thought everyone else had this down pat. Thank you, Bryn, and everyone else, for making me feel normal.
I’m always envious of people who don’t choke over this, but after 20 years, I’ve just had to conclude that this isn’t my skill set. Such is life.
Bryn –
Great post. I can relate and have a story of opportunity lost/bungled with a WU tie-in.
Several years ago as I neared completion of the first book in my medical suspense/thriller series I had the good fortune to attend a “story masters” conference in Minneapolis. A WU luminary was one of three story masters who delivered two days of writing wisdom. It was fantastic.
I had retired from a career as an emergency medicine physician due to a health event and had spent four years studying at the Loft Literary Center and working on my first book.
On the first day of the conference who should sit down and join me and two other conference attendees but WU’s impressive and approachable writing master/agent Donald Maass.
“Tell me about your book,” he said.
Er. Uh. Well. Blah. And then…
Unfortunately my education had not yet encompassed “the pitch” and I did not have an elevator summary. Only in hindsight did I recognize what an opportunity it had been.
The unprepared, panicked, babbling reaction you described in today’s post made me laugh at myself as I flashed back to my opportunity squandered.
Oh, that’s one of the worst feelings. I hope that you’ve overcome the babbling. I had to apologize and excuse myself from my agent meeting, because I knew I was never coming back from that. Sadly, it’s never gotten any better for me.
Actually was not a horrible experience and did overcome by book completion but found face-to-face exchange with potential readers the most valuable in honing an effective description.
Book did well but wish I’d had a solid description in hand when spoke with DM.
When I first met my agent, she rejected the first story I sent her, but suggested I send her something else. I remember a phone conversation with her where I pitched a new idea. I bumbled my way through it, making no sense at all. There was silence on the other end of the line. Then she said, “Okay, so you’re better at writing things, then. Let’s go with that.” Ask me to talk on paper, and I speak most goodly.
Awwwww. Your agent is both kind and astute. My agent also knows that my pitches have to come in written form rather than spoken.
Thank you!!! Freezing when someone asks you what your book is about? That’s me. Every time. Followed by “aaahmm….” and some mumbling. In the beginning I would say it is science fiction, because then everyone would start nodding, thinking they understood. But actually they don’t. They probably think about aliens or deep space or cool technological stuff, which is all wrong. I should better say “speculative fiction”, but when I try, many faces go blank. Plus there is no really good term for it in German, my mother tongue and writing language. Sometimes I try to explain “the main conflict”, but when I listen to myself it sounds nothing but boring. Then I start asking myself if my story is really boring after all … and then I shut up. Not very successful.
I don’t believe your story is boring, but it is very hard to find a way to feel comfortable having these moments. Add a language barrier to some concepts and that’s extra hard.
That must be about the only thing German doesn’t have a word for! Whether you need to describe the gifts a man gives his pissed-off wife, the good feeling you get when something goes wrong for someone else, or the vague feeling of disappointment when things turn out better than you hoped, German has got you covered!
And then there’s English, which has only one word for “we”. (Sighs.)
After some time, I got used to describing my first novel as “fairy-tale princess finds out life isn’t a fairy-tale” in various degrees of detail and blethering. (I am so good at blethering, because if it isn’t written down I can’t be sure it happened, so I just say it all again.)
Unfortunately I have still no coherent way of describing my current WIP. Maybe I need to try the Princess Bride approach. Winter! Curses! Monsters! Royalty! Plucky hero! Doughty heroine! Literally petrified sidekick! Grannies! Snowstorms! Magic! Ambition! Betrayal! &c.
Hurrah!
I was embarrassed to admit my problems with pitch–until I read this. Ah, freedom. Sweet freedom. Thank you, Bryn.
But as to your point about flash fiction writers. I do write flash fiction–a lot. And I’d much rather write it than verbally answer “What’s your book about?” (I think flash fiction isn’t about summarizing a story but rather writing a very short story.)
And I think the two problems are quite different. I struggle to write short things, but it’s primarily the verbal aspect of a pitch that wrecks me.
I pitch stories for a living. Over the lifetime of my career, how many? I couldn’t tell you. Many. Naturally, I’ve learned a few tricks.
First, the inquirer doesn’t actually want to know much, just enough to get interested. To start to imagine the story. So, at first really it boils down to basics: setting, main character, problem. That’s the stuff that gets a story going in one’s imagination.
The intrigue part is anything–any one thing–that makes the setting, protagonist or problem different, unexpected, a twist, or complicated in a way that we find unexpected or interesting.
Two components, then: the basics that make the story familiar, the twist that makes it different. That’s really all it takes. Bing, boom, out.
The purpose of the pitch is not to convey the story, but to make the listener want to read it. “Oh, cool. Send it to me.” It doesn’t take much to get that reaction. All it takes is faith that, when it comes down to it, any story is pretty simple.
These are some great tips for crafting a pitch. Alas, telling myself that the person asking probably doesn’t really want me to convey what my book is about makes my panic increase. Sort of like that old “picture them in their underwear” advice about giving speeches. That never made me relax. ;) Thank goodness for email to save me from conversations.
I can write and write. I can also talk and talk, unless I get called upon to speak. Then, anxiety takes over and I am unable to communicate.
The subtitle is “a novel of obsession, betrayal, and love.”
The rest of it:
Integrity. Motherhood. Life. Daughters. Last chances. Beauty. Hollywood. Faith. Sons. Fatherhood. Responsibility. Self-centeredness. Disability and chronic illness. Society. Celebrities. Movies. Actors. Writers. Right and wrong. Youth and age. Expectations. Children’s rights. Attraction. Aspirations. Entitlement. Privilege. Wealth. Risk. Commitment. Sacrifice. Sanctuary. Friendship. Hope. Parental rights. NYC talk shows. Pain. Music. Mischief. And who has the right to decide.
That’s the short list.
No wonder there’s no way to describe what will be a 500K trilogy when it’s finally complete.
You’re trying to do the impossible.
Maybe you should ask your interlocutors and potential purchasers to tell you what they like – and then respond with whether any of those things are included:
“Outer space?” “A little bit.”
“Gratuitous sex?” “A tiny bit; mostly implied.”
“Violence?” “And its interaction with principles.”
“Swearing?” “Rare. Appropriate. Mostly PG-13.”
…
HA! That’s my second most dreaded question when I’m talking to book clubs and interviewers: what do you like to read? Ummmmmm, things? Books? Maybe I just have a block about answering questions.
How refreshing to be in the company of others who struggle with this big bad obstacle. I too babble, especially when caught off guard. I’ve often been silent during the discussion phase of a presentation (while inwardly bursting with first-class opinions) only to write my well-articulated comments to the presenter afterward. I’m resigned to writing better than I speak. (Or should I just give up? Take speech lessons? Make a list of possible replies?)
I like the Don Maass approach, if I can remember that the questioner is not my thesis committee demanding accurate and complete information but is a potential reader who might be intrigued on an emotional level to read my book when it comes out.
I am not sure I agree with having multiple potential pitches, but being a hopeless salesman have struggled for months with a pitch
for my WIP – until yesterday when two magic words entered my head as I was out walking. Now my panic in response to questions as to the nature of my book is allayed by those two magic words, which will be the first two word in my pitches to publishers.
The problem is that writers stand too close to the mirror. Instead of trying to summarise your book in a sentence or paragraph, try limiting yourself to 2 possibly 3 words max.
Romeo and Juliet? Easy – “Tragic love.”
I sympathize because I’ve had the same experience many times. Such as a few weeks ago at the Charlottesville, Festival of the Books. After an authors event, I found myself talking to an author I liked. He asked and I said I wrote a book. He asked what it was about. I fumbled for words. He had given me his email to contact him and I did, but I never heard from him. Like you, I need to get un-nervous.
Bryn, thanks so much for the insight. I’ve always thought my pitch paralysis made me less of a writer. My pitches either come off as stilted robo-speak or breathless meanderings. My novels are more character-driven and I feel those are more difficult to pitch than the plot driven ones.
And I can see that describing All the Ugly and Wonderful Things would be difficult. How do you reduce such a beautifully nuanced novel into a few words and do it justice?
I have a story to share about All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. I work at Barnes and Noble and a woman came in to return her copy. She was distraught because the last quarter of the book was missing. Unfortunately, we were sold out and I had to order it. I offered to put her out of her misery and tell her the ending but she decided to wait for the book which she was going to share with her sister-in-law when she finished.
Just thought of something else that might help. Diana Gabaldon described her approach with readers who asked about Outlander (very genre-unspecific, very big story, for anyone who doesn’t know it) as something like this:
Reader: What’s the book about?
Diana: What do you like to read?
Reader: Mysteries.
Diana: This book is a mystery+. (Describes mysterious element or two. What else?
Reader: Romance.
Diana: There is an epic romance in this novel — an unconventional romance, because this woman is married, in another time. Anything else?
Reader: Suspense.
Diana: Hold my whiskey…
So your first response is to ask the reader a question, then focus in on a few specifics.
This is brilliant. I hope I can remember it the next time somebody asks what my novel is about.
Hi Bryn,
You certainly nailed Princess Bride! I loved All the Ugly… so much!! On that note, yes, I do think it is much easier to have some sort of pitch or word salad at the ready. For All the Ugly… I wrote in my review: “A love story that transcends the construct of Time. It is about the kind of love that reaches beyond the book’s metaphorical stars and into your soul. It’s about a love that makes you whole.” For my novel, The Sleeping Serpent, I can do the word salad: Fashion, Passion and Yoga! or I can describe it generally as, “Be careful what you wish for. It’s a psychological thriller (or drama) that dips into the dark seedy side of yoga. About a woman’s struggle to break an obsessive bond with her yoga master” Genre categorizing is becoming obsolete in my humble opinion. One agent called my book meta-genre? It’s about love, and the yearning for love, but not a clear HEA – Like the Wizard of Oz, sometimes it is what you have all along, but didn’t see… Your storytelling is brilliant Bryn… looking forward to reading much more of your work :)
Brilliant! Truthful. Real. Can’t give better advice than that.
Bryn,
Loved this piece, (and apologies for being late with commenting, doing some serious WU catch up time).
Because….
I am writing a book about…
…about…
… ummm…
seriously… I want to sneak your pastry chef and cats pitch!
Janet