I decided to pitch at this year’s SCBWI Summer Conference. It was a digital experience, where 10 pitchers were in a Zoom call with the editor or agent we signed up to pitch to. We each had 2 minutes to pitch, and 4 minutes of feedback. We could pitch our story or read the first manuscript page (250 words). Here’s how it went…
I pitched to Alexa Pastor (Twitter), an editor at Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. I was originally set to pitch another editor, who had to drop out earlier this summer. Unfortunate, of course, but Alexa was a great match for a different polished manuscript, so making the switch was not a problem. I just didn’t pitch the manuscript that I’m currently using to query agents.
I had planned to read my manuscript’s first 200-ish words, but a few hours before the pitch session, I changed my mind. I had already revised my query letter for this manuscript quite a bit, and continued to do so even more yesterday evening. Today, I realized it was better to get feedback from an editor about my query pitch, since I already get a lot of feedback on my manuscript from my critique partners (and from two other critiques I’ve won, in the case of this manuscript). So, new plan in place, it was time to pitch.
I joined the Zoom call about 8 minutes early, so I eagerly waited for the session to begin. That worked out well for me, since we pitched in order of joining the call. I was able to go first and then just sit back and listen to the other pitches and feedback. So happy about this! I’m a nervous presenter, so being able to go first meant I could actually pay attention throughout the whole session.
Alexa asked us to share our screens when pitching. That was wonderful, since I was worried reading my pitch would be seen as less engaging than pitching off-the-cuff. But, nope, reading it was expected. Awesome!
I was able to get some really specific feedback on how to improve my pitch. Basically, add more specific details, make the emotional journey of the protagonist clearer, and revise the end to make the resolution of the story less vague. Totally doable revisions that don’t require me to completely rewrite the pitch. Whew!
I was also able to ask a couple questions, which was fantastic. I asked about whether or not to include page numbers in a picture book manuscript when querying agents and editors. Alexa felt that was a personal preference thing and either could work. I like drafting with page spread numbers, but I think I’ll keep removing them from my queries for now, unless the page turns need to be stated in order for the story pacing to fully be understood.
I also asked about art notes. This particular manuscript has quite a few, since many illustrations will contradict the narrative text. I was worried about having so many notes, but she stated that art notes are definitely needed if a scene won’t fully make sense without them.
Finally, she mentioned my comps working well, which was very reassuring for this query, but worrisome when considering I don’t have comps for the manuscript I’ve been focusing on querying. I’m struggling with finding comps for that story, so I am definitely going to put more energy into that comp research.
Overall, I left the pitch session with concrete steps on how to improve my query pitch. I’ve already done my first round of revision on it. Will keep working on it throughout the week, until I meet with my critique partner again. I’m going to go over this manuscript one more time with her, and then I’m going to send out a few queries for this story.
I wasn’t sure about querying two different manuscripts at once, but I think both can work really well as a debut picture book. So, we’ll see how it goes…
If you pitched at the conference, I’d love to read about your own experience in the comments. Hope you received amazing feedback!