Everything You Need to Know About Pitching, According to Literary Agents

In a recent discussion at The Novelry, a panel of acclaimed literary agents shared their candid advice on crafting a submission that gets noticed. Featuring Kimberley Atkins of WME, Christopher Combemale of Sterling Lord Literistic, Lydia Silver of The Soho Agency, and Bridget Smith of JABberwocky Literary Agency, this conversation offers invaluable insight into what agents are looking for.

Whether you’re getting ready to approach agents for the first time or looking to strengthen an existing submission, here you’ll find guidance from some of the publishing industry’s leading literary agents.

Firstly, what is a pitch? And what are the key elements that make a great pitch?

Let’s start from the top! As our SFF editor Craig Leyenaar says, the pitch is “the promise of the book.” And according to our experts, the form of such a promise can vary from agent to agent.

The pitch is the thing you’re saying in order to convince someone to want to read your book. It’s just the form of the pitch that changes depending on the needs of the situation. So, if you’re having a brief conversation with someone, you’ve got the one-line elevator pitch. And if you are submitting formally to an agent, you want the full-length query to get into a little bit more depth there.
—Bridget Smith, JABberwocky

Chris Combemale adds that your pitch is “the most compelling reason for a publisher to make a business investment in your book.”

I often find that what I say to the editor on the phone is what they end up saying to their staff at their meeting when they’re trying to buy the book, which is what they say to the sales team, which is what they say to the bookstores, which is what they say to the customers. We put a lot of time in trying to figure out: what is that hook, that angle into the sale? Not just from us, business to business, to the publisher, but that’s going to run all the way down the retail channel for it.
—Chris Combemale, Sterling Lord Literistic

Having a one-sentence pitch in your back pocket and avoiding vague language in your query can be just the thing you need when it comes to catching someone’s eye quickly, especially when there are so many competing authors out there.

For me, particularly for commercial fiction, I’m looking for writing that’s page-turning: I’m looking for queries that are really hooky and arresting from the very get-go. I think those are the ones that I tend to be drawn to and tend to remember.
—Kimberley Atkins, WME

You might find this blog on how to write a book pitch (and why it matters) by Bloomsbury editorial director Darcy Nicholson helpful.

What is a query letter?

You might’ve heard the word “query” bandied around, but you may not be sure what the difference is between a pitch, a submission, and a query.

A query tends to be a letter from the author with a general summary of the book and some background on their overall work as a writer. As Kimberley Atkins explains, this is an “email from the author with an overview of what the project is and a little bit about them.” Bridget adds, “It’s a taste of the book in miniature” while Chris describes a pitch as an “amuse-bouche.” Maybe our agents were peckish. But the fact remains, you are looking to give people a flavor of your story in an easy, digestible way. Don’t over-stuff your query or over-explain the plot: focus on one book or memoir and, of course, make sure you write it well, free of errors.

What is a comp title?

Put simply, a comp title is a book (or a few books) that you’d compare your own novel to. For example, perhaps your dystopian science fiction story is something like Never Let Me Go meets Brave New World. This can often be a very quick way to grab someone’s attention, especially if the combination of books you’re comparing is an interesting clash.

Lydia Silver, who focuses on children’s books, finds the comparisons immediately useful: “I love an X meets Y as a very succinct way of positioning it.”

Because I’m working in the children’s market, I find an X meets Y or a comp title is really helpful. The market’s so broad in kids’ fiction. Just nailing down the age group alone is sometimes quite difficult, let alone the genre and the feel, and how it’s going to be published. And I often think in terms of what would it sit on the shelf with? What are its partners, almost. That’s really helpful for me in positioning it in terms of what sort of book I’m going to approach.
—Lydia Silver, The Soho Agency

Kimberley Atkins from WME adds that it doesn’t necessarily need to be another book you’re comparing your work to.

I don’t mind a film comp. I think increasingly you can’t really think about books completely in isolation. Also, I’m coming at this from the perspective of working at a global talent agency, and while we are thinking all the time about books, we’re also thinking about other media too. Realistically, in terms of what’s capturing a reader’s attention and reading for entertainment, I think you are competing with other entertainment formats, be that gaming, be that film, be that TV. So, if there was a logical TV/film comp that felt like it was appropriate, I’d be more than happy to have that used in a query letter.
—Kimberley Atkins, WME

When is the right moment to submit a book pitch?

Everyone has a different writing process. And, naturally, it takes time. Some like to go full-steam-ahead into writing, while others are more cautious planners. But how much of your book should you have ready before you start offering it out into the world? After all, you do need to explain it to people.

{{blog-banner-9="/blog-banners"}}

Some like to have a “draft zero” (which you can learn more about here), but as our experts say, there’s no hard and fast rule. As Kimberley says, there’s no “perfect pitch.”

I don’t think anyone can know at draft zero exactly what that book is going to become. I feel like you get the book into the best shape that you can, until you feel that you’ve created the project that it’s going to be and that you’re happy with and there’s no more tinkering for you to do for the time being. I don’t think you can have the perfect pitch and then write the book to fit it. I do think it has to come the other way around.
—Kimberley Atkins, WME

Lydia also notes that, depending on the type of book you’re working with, you might want to be pitching and writing concurrently.

I’m quite used to clients working with a pitch and then going and writing the book, because if you’re doing a graphic novel or something like that, the workload is so insane. But I also think it can be a really useful thing for writers after draft zero to sit down and say, “Okay, if I was going to pitch this, what would the pitch be?” and then edit it with that pitch in mind. But I think it depends on the writer.
—Lydia Silver, The Soho Agency

What is the difference between submitting in the U.S. and the U.K.?

While every agent and publishing house has their own different preferences, how do things differ across the world? Bridget Smith, based in the U.S., has a different process from Kimberley Atkins from WME in London.   

I ask for a query letter and the first five pages of the manuscript. Different agents have different requests, but by and large, a U.S. agent will be asking for a query, and they may be asking for sample materials. Some also ask for a synopsis, but I don’t like reading a synopsis at that stage.
—Bridget Smith, JABberwocky

Meanwhile, across the pond...

It is really specific by agency and most of the agents have different guidelines. And it depends whether it’s fiction or non-fiction or children’s or adult. But for me, for adult fiction, I would always ask for a query email with accompanying attachments. So, an email from the author with an overview of what the project is and a little bit about them. And then I would ask them to attach the first three chapters or the first 50 pages, depending on which is the shorter, alongside a full synopsis so I can see where the story is going beyond that sample.
—Kimberley Atkins, WME

How does the process change when an author pitches to an agent vs how an agent pitches to publishers?

Geography aside, then there’s the line of communication to think about. You may pitch your book one way, while an agent might have a better way to describe it to get it ready for a sale. So how does the pitch evolve as it’s passed on?

I think the two pitches are quite separate things, how an author pitches to me as an agent, and then how I as an agent will pitch to a publisher. Broadly, because I don’t expect an author—particularly an author who’s not been published before and isn’t super familiar with what an editor at a publishing house needs—to know exactly what to say and for that content to remain unchanged. Additionally, because I’m quite a hands-on agent editorially, a project that comes to me as an agent might change before I send it to a publisher. But I think the things that I was looking for as an agent versus the things I’m looking for as a publisher are a little bit more nuanced.

Speaking specifically to commercial fiction, I want a really upfront idea of the story and a little bit about the author. I’m looking for the heart of the story, and something that I want to read.
—Kimberley Atkins, WME

Sometimes, however, a pitch can remain pristine all the way down the line. “I’ve definitely had projects published where the blurb on the back of the book was the wording from the original pitch that the author sent to me,” Lydia adds.

Sometimes the core of what you’re proposing, the core of that story, is so clear from a really good pitch and in a really good project. It’s so clear right from the start that it sort of ends up running throughout everything. A slightly more difficult project or premise? Suddenly the pitch is more work because you have to think creatively about how you would sell it to a publisher.
—Lydia Silver, The Soho Agency

Chris adds that even a pitch that isn’t up to scratch won’t necessarily hinder it.

Our job at the end of the day is to see through a bad pitch to find great material and great talent. People always have this idea that great books get lost in a slush pile because of a terrible query. This so rarely happens, because we can tell instantly from the voice on the page.
—Chris Combemale, Sterling Lord Literistic

What are the things that stand out in a pitch?

So, now we get to the nitty-gritty. You have the logistics and the basics down, but what sort of thing actually jumps out? Our editor, Craig, reflects on a time he heard of a submission involving an oven mitt, because the pitch was “too hot to handle.” Unique, yes, but for our experts, they’re really looking for something special that anchors your story.

“It often comes down to stakes,” Lydia says, while Kimberley agrees that a pitch should have “conflict, or whatever the propulsion is that’s pulling you through the story.”

It often comes down to stakes. And I think that’s what people often miss when they put together pitches so it’s what I really look for. I think it’s quite easy to present your world very concisely, or present your characters very concisely, but presenting why it’s important, and why what happens is exciting and a different take, and why it means something to the characters isn’t always there.
—Lydia Silver, The Soho Agency

Another thing to focus on is a catchy hook. As mentioned, agents usually like a hook to be a snappy one- or two-sentence summary of what your book entails.

A lot of the queries that I see that I end up not progressing are because the hooks feel a bit wishy-washy, or it feels like they can’t really tell you what this story’s about or what sets this story apart from other stories also out in the world. And I know it’s really hard because it feels like every story has already been told, but I think finding a way into it that articulates what’s unique about that project is so important to do. And if you can’t do it in a line, it might be that you don’t yet have that central conflict or the stakes at the heart of what you’re writing.
—Kimberley Atkins, WME

On the literary side, I think a lot of authors feel they need to expand the external stakes. All these terrible things might happen. And that’s often stretching the premise of what the book is, and I think it’s about going and making the internal stakes just as high. Someone cannot leave a room for a whole book but it has to be so deeply felt.
—Chris Combemale, Sterling Lord Literistic

I often find what I’m telling people to do when they’re fixing their queries is to make the stakes smaller, not bigger. You need to get more and more specific as to why it matters so much for this person. And making it with “the world’s going to end” is not as compelling as “will she ever feel this way again?”
—Bridget Smith, JABberwocky

How can a larger, more epic novel be condensed down into a succinct pitch?

As writers, our stories take many forms, some larger than others. For those who are world-building, writing sprawling space operas, or creating high-concept fantasies with a complex magic system, for example, how do you boil all that down for your pitch?

Well, one thing that I always tell writers is you can’t get everything in, obviously. And so the things that you have to leave out are not things that you’re concealing, they’re things that you’re leaving for the reader to discover when they read the book.
—Bridget Smith, JABberwocky

You’re trying to give us a sense, like an amuse-bouche. Some of the emotional experience of reading this book. And also leave out all the thematic material. We’re really interested in your voice, the internal stakes, and a sense of where it sits on the shelf.
—Chris Combemale, Sterling Lord Literistic

Be conscious of the tone of your pitch

Then comes the matter of tone of voice. You don’t want to be too colloquial, but equally, avoid being clinical. You need to hit the mark as soon as possible. After all, you’re here to sell a novel.

I get quite a lot of people writing in a very familiar tone or trying to be a little gimmicky. And I know they’re doing it to try and stand out, but I find it quite distracting, and I would much rather people just concisely share what the book is about and where they see it sitting in the market upfront.
—Kimberley Atkins, WME

We want to be presented with things that we can be excited about and think that we can sell. And I think authors forget that we are really looking and hoping that the next query we read is going to be outstanding. So, we’re coming into it, I think, with that will and that intent, so I think you don’t need to be different.
—Chris Combemale, Sterling Lord Literistic

Particular pitches that have stood out for agents

It’s all well and good having the mechanics established for your pitch, but how do you find that je ne sais quoi with your story? Is it an eccentric protagonist, perhaps? Do you have interesting visual elements? An inciting incident? An irresistible tagline? Here are a few stand-out examples.

There was a middle grade at a recent book fair that was sort of like a new take on Philip Pullman’s daemons, but much pacier. And I remember thinking: “I know exactly what that is because it’s about the relationship between the kid and these spirit animals, and it sounds amazing.” So things like that, if you can talk to someone about it, I remember that was really, really cool.
—Lydia Silver, The Soho Agency

It was a translated novel, which has its own sort of specifications, and the Polish publisher said to me, “It’s about a Polish oil CEO who starts sleepwalking and having sex with trees.” And that is what’s called a high-concept idea in the literary world, I think! Pantheon published it last month. Incredibly bombastic.

Not every book needs to be like that!
—Chris Combemale, Sterling Lord Literistic

The Trial of Magdalena Overmorrow had this tagline—“scholar, healer, harlot”—that was from the query. I knew I was going to love the book, just because it was so smart and so interesting. It was just a very well-constructed query in a way that made it clear that this author had an incredible handle on her prose styling, her sense of what the book was about, her plot construction. I just knew that I was in really, really good hands.
—Bridget Smith, JABberwocky

The Novelry members can watch the full session, The Power of the Pitch, in the members’ library.

Some useful red and green flag advice from literary agents

If we’ve quenched your thirst for literary agent advice, how about a little more? In this video, we explore some classic submission red flags and green flags, and how agents spot good writers. With contributions from the Greenstone Literary Agency, DHH Literary Agency, Janklow & Nesbit, Eve White Literary Agency, and Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency, here’s an extra peek behind the curtain.‍

Through expert courses, one-to-one coaching with expert editors, and a vibrant global community, we guide writers along a clear, proven journey from first idea to a finished, submission-ready novel. Which course is right for you?