It’s Sunday night, and on Thursday I will be attending my first writer’s conference.
It’s kind of overwhelming. My hope is to meet with some agents and publishers, present a few of my stories and, hopefully, launch into a career as a writer.
But you can’t go in unprepared.
The venue provided a lists of the representatives who will be there and accepting one-on-one sessions with hopefuls. It also provided a list of does and don’ts: DO follow the format guidelines, DO research the reps. DON’T waste their time by pitching material their company doesn’t handle (such as proposing a horror story to a children’s picture book publisher)
I went down the list and put stars beside the reps that I want to see, and question marks next to the ones I want to research more before deciding. I’ve got a one-sheet ready to hand out to all takers. For those of you new to writing, a one-sheet is a quick one page presentation of your story. It includes the title, a pitch line (one quick line to catch someone’s interest), a back cover tease, info about the book (number of words, and genre), and contact info about the author.
A few weeks ago, Kathy (my writing mentor) and I had totally reworked my pitch line and back cover teaser on my one sheet, changing the feel of it. I’d loved the wording I’d originally come up with and felt a bit defensive.
“This sounds like it’s for a young audience.” Kathy commented. “It sounds 2nd or 3rd grade-ish. Isn’t your target audience middle school and young adult?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Maybe it should be a little darker.”
So, we spend an hour working it over. My original pitch line went from “When a relationship starts in a spider’s web, it’s hard to know what to expect”, to “being a princess in an oppressive society holds no future until she discovers the power of the alliance”.
My back cover tease used to read like this:
She’s a fairy princess from a colony of scavengers. Her life has been one of hunger, emptiness and fear. In a year’s time, she will have to choose one of her ruthless barbarian kin to marry and be condemned to a life of servitude and hopelessness. And she has wings.
He’s a well educated young elf, used to a life of books, warmth and friendship. With his pack full of vials and potions, he was just wanting to get home.
One chance encounter with a spider web entangled their lives and changed their worlds forever.
Here’s the new back cover hype:
Ariel is holding him hostage high in a tree.
“Teach me to read and I’ll keep you alive.”
Basil has no choice but to comply.
But Ariel is not aware of the undeveloped power lying dormant within. In their world of fairy creatures, is she up to the challenge?
So, what do you think? Which one draws your interest better?