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Anne Skyvington

The Art of Creative Writing

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Publishing

Publishing

A Perfect Pitch to a Publisher

What is A Pitch?

A pitch in publishing can be verbal or written and often a combination of both. Verbal pitches are for face-to-face meetings with an agent or publishers.

A synopsis answers the question of what’s in the novel, whereas a pitch tells the publishers why they should read the manuscript.

It should include the title, length and genre of your novel; a short synopsis; your target audience; where it fits in the market; and your bio.

Things to Consider For Your Pitch:

Which publishers are you pitching to? Do they have similar books to yours and have you read them? How can you simply describe what happens?  Where does it fit on the shelves of bookshops? Who is your audience? What’s unique about your book? From where/what did you get the idea? Tagline? The central conflict? Have you been published?  How might you assist with selling the book? Have you won any awards? Why should they read your book?

Who are your favourite authors?

Isabel Allende; Miles Franklin; Gabriel García Márquez; Stendhal; Hemingway; Milan Kundera; Salley Vickers; Tim Winton; Barbara Kingsolver; Emily Bronte; Jill Kerr Conway; Magda Szubanski; Helen Garner; Richard Glover.

Which ones does your book resemble?

In terms of thematic content: My Brilliant Career; Wuthering Heights; Flight Behaviour; The Unbearable Lightness of Being; Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell; A Farewell to Arms

The Pitch

Your pitch should be short, interesting, and describe your novel’s best qualities. Read the blurbs on the back of paperback novels similar to yours, or on Amazon. That’s the level of detail you require, since a pitch would only last about 2-3 minutes in all. Ten or fifteen minute long appointments must also contain questions and small-talk. It must be kept short and snappy.

A good idea is to open with something short and catchy. You want a few sentences that describe your novel in the most compelling and intriguing way possible.

When Writing Your Pitch:

  • Lead with a hook or a tagline
  • one (or two) sentence description that boils it down to its essential dramatic narrative: who? what? where? when?
  • Genre?
  • Title
  • “Zingy” language, but an elegant presentation

A YouTube Video

The procedure is much the same as in the video above. Lucy Flynn, English literary agent is shown practising a pitch for a book, La Manciata, by an Italian writer, before a panel of judges.  Did she give away too much of the story?

This video was created and published by “Free Word” (Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London) in association with the British Centre for Literary Translation (University of East Anglia, Norwich):

[Free Word works internationally to bring together communities, organisations and individuals through the belief that words change lives. In 2009, Free Word moved in, and, after refurbishing in 2014, has become a vibrant hub for literature]

Practising the Pitch

President of New York Writers Workshop, Tim Tomlinson, who hosts several pitch conferences annually, advises that writers plan out a pitch of 90 seconds to two minutes that they either memorise or read during their session, leaving time for questions and answers at the end. This way, you know you’ll say everything you needed to say. You’re also more likely to be articulate and clear about your message. Besides, this material will then make up your cover letter to publishers or agents.

After the Pitch

Even if you aren’t successful, you’ve had the experience of meeting a publisher or an agent, and practising your pitch, which you can use again in the future.

A Perfect Pitch to a Publisher was last modified: July 3rd, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
July 1, 2017 0 comment
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PublishingWriting

The Writer as Entrepreneur

I recently attended a seminar on Publishing at the NSW Writers Centre entitled “Open Access”. The main message I came away with was: “You must be an author entrepreneur. You need to take part in marketing your own books before, during and after publication.” In attendance were 1) digital experts, 2) publishing representatives, 3) bookshop owners, 4) editors and 5) writers.

Anna Maguire talked about the ingredients for success: Content, Cover, Connections, Metadata and Marketing.

Cate Blake: Penguin Books Australia: “The long tail”: Print, Radio, Online, campaign,

Alice Grundy: Giramondo: Quality, Enthusiasm, Commitment.

Adam Van Rooijhan: Harlequin: Finding your audience.

Megan O’Brien discussed who and what to talk to/about in a bookshop.

Robert Watkins: Commissioning Editor for Hachette talked about the 7 stages in supporting an author.

Diane Blackloch was in the right place at the right time and started with 3 friends and an electronic newsletter.

Anita Heiss (Dr) Political activist and writer: 2008 Apology in Canberra:  Describes herself ironically as “the Australian Oprah”and is a long-term blogger and twitter adept.

Dionne Lister, self publisher, developed a community of authors.

Elisabeth Storrs described herself as a hybrid and “twitterer on steroids”: self publisher/taken up by a US publisher.

Bruce McCabe: The Reader is Key: Find your readers!

Darrell Pitt: Text Publishing: “The riches are in the niches”: Have a series of books ready to go!

 See my next post on Strategies for self promoting.

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  • The Future of Publishing Panel at NSW Writers Centre
  • Five Indigenous female writers who should be on school reading lists
  • Hachette Authors Take Their Case To Amazon’s Board Of Directors
  • Anita Heiss, Am I black enough for you (Review)
  • Anita Heiss, author of Paris Dreaming, answers Five Facetious Questions
  • Neil Gaiman Speaks Out on the Dispute Between Amazon & Hachette
  • Hachette authors urge Amazon board to end contract dispute
The Writer as Entrepreneur was last modified: July 4th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
October 5, 2014 0 comment
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castle-in-ireland
PublishingWriting

Print On Demand Publishing

This morning, the postwoman brought my brother a first copy (from the printer in the UK) of They Sought the Last of Lands, which can be thought of as a companion volume to A Little Bit of Irish. He is more than satisfied with the results.

 My brother writes, when speaking of Print-on-Demand Publishing and Printing: “In a nutshell, I am both the author and the publisher of these books. As for the US-owned platform, IngramSparks, in the UK, it houses above all an extraordinary robot that simply produces (prints out) exactly the book that I’ve requested. In other words, I do not communicate with any human beings at “IngramSpark”.

English: Postwoman in Great Britain, WWI. Espa...

English: Postwoman in Great Britain, WWI. Español: Cartera en Gran Bretaña durante la Primera Guerra Mundial. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They Sought the Last of Lands:

William Skyvington presents the outcome of research into his paternal ancestors. His grandfather went out to Australia at the start of the 20th century, and married an outback girl whose English father had reached NSW in the second half of the 19th century. This book might have been a run-of-the-mill family-history monograph written by the Australian-born grandson of typical Old World pioneers in the Antipodes. However, during the final stages of the writing process, the author had got into the habit of displaying his work in progress on a dedicated Internet website… and that changed everything.

The author started to hear from individuals-indeed, relatives-whom he had never known. And two such cousins provided the author with astounding last-minute revelations, forcing him to rethink and rewrite large sections of his typescript.

Skeletons-some quite harmless, others more disturbing—started to jump out of closets on both sides of the author’s paternal ancestors. What had started out as a banal exercise in genealogy was metamorphosed, in parts, into psychological case studies of relatively recent ancestors who apparently believed that a good way of presenting one’s family history was through myths.

(https://www.amazon.com/They-Sought-Last-Lands-Forebears/dp/2919427024)

3-books
 
A Little Bit of Irish,

William Skyvington explores the background of his maternal Irish ancestors. Their family names were Walker, Hickey, O’Keefe, Kennedy and Cranston. Among them, there was a convict and a bushranger, but most of the others were simple folk fleeing from poverty in the Old World. Rural pioneers, they were seeking greener pastures than those of their native Ireland. Their one-way journey to the Antipodes was a gigantic adventure, culminating in their helping to found a new nation.

a-little-bit-of-irish

 These two books have enabled us to find relatives in the United Kingdom and in Australia that we had never met before. Some of these are distant cousins, and some the result of “skeletons in the closet” stories, one linked to a recent ancestor who invented a fake noble lineage to pass on to his second family, our newfound “step-cousins”.

Some of these new-found relatives refused to believe the facts unearthed by painstaking research on the part of my brother.

Related articles
  • Your Personal Family History: Learning About Genealogy
  • Skyvington: No country for easy decisions
  • New Ingram Spark Publishing Program Revealed
Print On Demand Publishing was last modified: April 9th, 2019 by Anne Skyvington
September 5, 2014 1 comment
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PublishingWriting

To Publish Book or e-Book?

English: A Picture of a eBook Español: Foto de...

English: A Picture of a eBook Español: Foto de eBook Беларуская: Фотаздымак электроннай кнігі Русский: Фотография электронной книги (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have been researching e-book and traditional book publishing for several years now, but I’m going to be lazy and share with you these points passed on to me by Andy McDermott, head of Publicious Publishing, http://www.publicious.com.au/, which I can highly recommend as Andy published Bondi Tides, Bondi Writers Group’s anthology of short stories. http://www.andymcdermott.com/

Printed books Pros:
1. Most books nowadays are printed using sustainable and/or recycled materials
2. Print on Demand (POD) books can be sold via the online stores and printed one at a time at the buyer’s expense
3. With digital printing, high quality books can now be printed in smaller quantities while remaining affordable
4. For authors, books are essential for book signings and events
5. For entrepreneurs, books can be sold at seminars and events and are often referred to as the modern day business card
6. Children’s books can be interactive with music and buttons and also used for colouring in
7. Books make great gifts
8. Books look good on bookshelves especially a leather bound classic or a colourful coffee table book
9. A good book will be cherished and read
10. A bad book can still be used as a door stop

Continue Reading

To Publish Book or e-Book? was last modified: July 4th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
September 5, 2014 2 comments
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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington is a Sydney-based writer and blogger. <a href="https://www.anneskyvington.com.au She has self-published a novel, 'Karrana' and is currently writing a creative memoir based on her life and childhood with a spiritual/mystical dimension.

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