Top Posts
Take a Shot
1222 Ace Atkins agent agents Amazon Anne Holt A rising man author authors Barbara D'Amato Benjamin Black Bent Road Best First Novel Best Novel Best Paperback Original book review Bouchercon Caught Chicago Tribune crime fiction David Gordon Dennis Lehane Edgar Edgar Award Edgar AWards Edgars Edward Conlon Elizabeth Berg Galveston Gone Gone Girl Gretchen Rubin Harlan Coben Harry Potter I'd Know You Anywhere Ian Rankin Jack Reacher Janet Evanovich John Sandford Julia Keller Keigo Higashino Kindle Laura Lippman Lawrence Block Lee Child legal thriller Libby Fischer Hellmann Linwood Barclay Lisa Lutz Lori Roy Louise Penny Lucas Davenport Marcus Sakey memoir Michael Connelly Michael Robotham Mo Hayder movie Murder and Mayhem in Muskego MWA MWA Edgar Mysteries mystery mystery writers of america New York Times Nic Pizzolatto noir nominees novel Past Crimes Philip Kerr police procedural Printers Row Lit Fest Psychological suspense Publishing rank ranking Red on Red Red Sparrow Review reviews Rogue Island Sara Paretsky Sean Chercover She Rides Shotgun Short Stories Sisters in Crime Sniplits Stephen King Steve Hamilton stuart neville Sue Grafton The Devotion of Suspect X The Dime The Serialist Thomas H. Cook thriller Tom Bouman Tornado Weather writingPost Archives
Blogroll
- A Newbie's Guide to Publishing
- Addy Fran
- Damn, Gina
- Getting Past the Gatekeeper
- Letters of Note
- Molly Backes' Blog
- Nathan Bransford
- Pub Rants
- Rachelle Gardner
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter
- She Writes
- Sniplits
- The Elegant Variation
- The Happiness Project
- The Outfit Collective
- The Tipsy Baker
- The Trephine
- There are No Rules
- View from the Library Window
- WordPress.com
- Writer Unboxed
Sign Up!
Advertisements
A Little Lit Fest featuring Pitchapalooza
Pitchapalooza’s premise: Authors sign up to do a 90-second pitch at the microphone in front of Book Doctors Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry. They critique your pitch. About 20 people did this Sunday, and one lucky pitcher got an intro to an agent.
First things first: According to Eckstut and Sterry, not one of the pitchers had a bad premise or an unpromising story. So, everybody’s got talent.
Second: Listening to pitches really helps you craft your own pitch. I heard several people make the mistake of giving the whole backstory. I want to do that – my main character is fascinating! Others gave the names of all the characters in the book. Clearly not necessary for pitching purposes. Plus, don’t give away the whole plot in the pitch. (But the ending is the reason why my book has the title it does! I have to explain it! No, I don’t.)
Third: The world – or at least Chicago – is full of people who think their own life story is totally worth reading about. One woman overcame breast cancer and a bad boyfriend. Another was falsely accused of a crime. (Or was he guilty? not sure.) Someone else was homeless and now she lives in an awesome apartment on Lakeshore Drive. But I have to admit: all three of these stories could be interesting, if they were written well.
While at the Fest, I took the opportunity to while away an hour at Sandmeyer’s Bookstore, where I did my part to support the indies by spending $63.47. Among my purchases: Julia Keller’s debut mystery A Killing in the Hills, Janet Groth’s memoir The Receptionist, and Seth Godin’s Watcha Gonna Do With That Duck? So more good stuff to come.
Share this:
Like this:
Related