Tips for preparing a verbal pitch

This is a great follow-on from Lisa’s post about literary speed dating. Even if you haven’t reached the pitching stage yet, it’s a good idea to keep these questions in the back of your mind as you start polishing your work.

Last month, I blogged about attending this year’s ASA literary speed dating event in Sydney. As a follow-up, I thought I’d cover my preparation for the event, the questions I was asked, and what I’d do differently with the benefit of hindsight. And offer a few tips for anyone keen to take on a similar challenge.

As these events always book out, I registered early then promptly buried my head in the sand. As the date crept closer, and lists of attending publishers appeared in my inbox, I could no longer pretend it wasn’t happening. I needed to prepare, so I consulted Google, messaged an author friend who survived a similar ordeal, and bounced ideas off a writing-group buddy.

Here are my tips for preparing a verbal pitch:

The time allocated for each pitch was three minutes, and we were advised to allow enough time for questions. I’ve blogged about…

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