A CAKE I WILL BAKE
Thanks S. I love the illustration!
The SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) Kansas Annual Conference begins Friday at 7 PM. There are going to be some amazing people there...I can't wait to meet them! I even get to hang out with an old friend, Jessica.
I've been studying pitches this week (some of you have gotten frantic emails from me...THANKS for your help) with the hopes of cornering some unsuspecting agent or editor. :) I found some great links for you...and wanted to share part of an awesome email from my friend Randi Rivers an editor at Charlesbridge Publishing.
This is what Randi said when I asked her about pitches...
"To me it’s a lot like being a bookseller who’s hand-selling during Christmas season. You want to give the people to whom you’re pitching a sense of what happens in the book while enticing them to want more. Let’s see if I can do one off the cuff for a book I edited (What REALLY Happened to Humpty? by Jeanie Franz Ransom): Hard-boiled detective, Joe Dumpty, has until 5pm to crack the case and discover which character pushed his brother, Humpty, off the Wall.
From that pitch you learn the basic plot, the main character, the tone, and the genre—plus the mention of Humpty being pushed creates enticement."
& here are the links...
Rachelle Gardner gives you a full plan for what to do in an elevator...
Chris Richman at Upstart Crow Literary Agency gives a great example with CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.
Nathan Bransford did a great post on three different kinds of pitches.
You'll see a few of our favorite blogging friends pitches at Cape Cod Children's Writers Blog.
So here's my 12 word, one sentence pitch for A CAKE I WILL BAKE... (It has plot, it has character (kind of), it has tone, I think you can tell the genre, and I think it gives a sense of enticement. It also sounds like me.)
It's yummy, it's sweet, it's a gigantic kid baked and shared treat!
Here are my other completed pb pitches:
--"Phyllis and her mum watch the herd of children walk down Buxton Road and decide who'll live with them until The War is over."
--"Rat is a problem solver until he meets Dragon and gets a problem of his own."--"We-Have-Enough is a village in peril, thanks to years of wasting their resources, eventually everyone pulls together and saves We-Have-Enough."
--"Fun loving Spider Monkey plays a trick on Crocodile and ends up with quite a tail."
--"Sara finds comfort in her memories and in the clouds when her beloved grandma dies."
So here's your chance to practice...I'll be flexible...Pitch me your book in 30 words or less...
