Pitches. They can be hard to write. Squeezing an entire book into 280 characters can be a son of a pitch. So, here I am creating pitches for "fun" to help you study what a pitch should do.
For those who don't know me, my first two novels were picked up by indie presses on Twitter pitch days: Pitch2Pub and PitMad. Never having written a pitch before, on a whim, I made my first successful attempt. I was no novice to query letters, so I pulled out the hook of my query and adapted it. The world of Twitter and its limited characters helped me become a more succinct and direct writer. I was able to throw together necessary information and make it sound nice in that short span, including hashtags. Before I give you a new example, here are my old ones that worked: Apidae, Fyr. I also continued writing them for fun, meaning using them for marketing purposes: Quiver and Draca. Below is my tentative social media pitch for my upcoming novel out this month, book 3 of the Celestial Spheres trilogy, titled Bladesung:
To say Toury and Alex's reign started off rocky is an understatement. With the future of Fyr and their lives in the balance, they will face horrors beyond their wildest nightmares. Can they unite a fractured kingdom? Or will all turn to ash and ruin? #yalit #fantasy #romance
This pitch was written on the fly, so it might be tweaked when I come back to revise. And my publisher usually creates one for me to use as well. Anyway, let's dissect it. Something you should know is this is book 3 of a trilogy, so as to not give things away in previous books (who the baddies are), I chose the vague phrase "face horrors beyond their wildest nightmares." These "horrors" for the most part are psychological, but also--not really a spoiler--there's war. "Reign" points to a courtly tale as well as "kingdom." Pairing their names together--why proper possessive grammar is important--shows they rule together as a couple. This hints at it being a romance. Toury's name is placed first to reflect their goal as rulers: down with patriarchy and standing for equality. "Starting off rocky" is another vague comment to not spoil what occurred in book 2, but shows the struggles continued well into this book. "Future of Fyr" shows readers it is a fantasy place, marking its genre. Aside from their lives hanging "in the balance," the stakes are also at the end of the pitch. Aside from the chance of dying, their central conflict is to unite the war-torn kingdom. Can they do it or will the world be destroyed by their enemies? "Ash" is purposely chosen because Alex is a prince of fire magic, and it is a nod to the dragons of their world. Last, the hashtags help solidify the category and genres if they were too subtle. Note: on pitch days, the hashtags are specific to the event, shorter, and not the ones I have given. Research first.
I hope this helps you draft your own. If my book sounds interesting, check out book 1, Fyr (on sale right now!), and book 2, Draca. Bladesung is also available for preorder.