Pitching in person

In the last two weeks I’ve been at two events where aspiring novelists have had the opportunity to present their work and ideas to me face-to-face for feedback. I never did anything like this when I was an aspiring novelist and so I was trying to imagine how terrifying this might be for participants. I used to get sweaty palms just standing in the post office queue with a requested manuscript so I don’t think I could have done it. WELL DONE YOU BRAVE LOT. I hope I didn’t scare you too much.

The first event was Pitch Your Novel which took place in Westminster, London and where writers had five minutes to pitch their work/ideas to an industry panel which comprised agent Lorella Belli, m.d. of Legend Press Tom Chalmers and I. From my point of view I was disappointed when writers used their five minutes only to share ideas and I didn’t get to hear any writing. But I did my best to give feedback on those ideas in the context of today’s marketplace. Several of the writers presented material that might have interested a publisher twenty years ago but styles and fashions move on. You may not want to write for the market but do write for today’s reader.

The real benefit of the day lay in watching and learning from the feedback on everyone’s pitches, not just your own. I was also interested to find I agreed with and was thinking the same as my fellow panelists 90% of the time.

I heard a couple of writers who I thought I were promising so certainly not a wasted day from my point of view.

Last weekend I saw about 15 writers one to one at Winchester Writers Conference. No audience this time as the meetings between writer and I were private, albeit in a very noisy room. I intended to give feedback both on the writing as well as marketability but I did notice that writers were disappointed when I didn’t ask to see more material. In one case I’m sure the writer will find an agent but her work was simply not for me. It’s a subjective business and we all have our personal tastes.

I saw one very promising novel but felt it needed work on the plot so it could be more marketable. I don’t think the writer agreed with me but maybe she’ll have second thoughts. Unfortunately it’s not good enough these days just to write a novel of publishable standard, it also must be marketable.