Live Pitching 3 Literary Agents — My Personal Experience

Back in April, I had the opportunity to attend a weekend writer’s conference via Zoom, and included with the conference was the ability to pitch literary agents.

You did what now?

Back in April I chose to engage with a Zoom conference held by Writing Away Refuge which gave me the opportunity to tune into some workshops on plotting and building tension/suspense in my writing. Best of all, though, was the opportunity to live-pitch literary agents (one of whom I was already preparing to cold query)!

I decided to request pitch slots for three agents, one of whom was already on my list, one of whom I’d failed to come across during my research into agents but whose MSWL aligned with my novel, and a third who I didn’t think was the best fit, but thought there was a decent chance we might click.

How it Worked

Approaching the date of the conference I was sent an email by the coordinator with my pitch appointments and Zoom invites, plus the schedule for the workshops. My three pitch slots were all five minutes in length and I was instructed to join a minute before my slot to keep the pitches moving.

My slots were spread over two days, with a practice session offered to all attendees the day before the workshops began. If I recall correctly, I had a late morning slot (11 AM), an afternoon slot (around 3) and an evening slot (8 PM — that was a bit rough on both me and the agent — we were tired!).

The five minutes of my slot were broken up by about 2 minutes of my actual pitch, then three to discuss and/or answer questions with the literary agents. It went QUICK!

What did my 2 minute pitch look like?

I decided to attend the practice pitch session to get a sense of how the pitches would run for this particular workshop. Most authors were reading directly from their query letters, so I was sure to have my own pulled up for notes while I pitched.

At the same time, I come from a music performance background, so I essentially prepared a partially memorized spiel that followed my pitch letter closely, including a one sentence pitch with word count and comparative titles, a general synopsis of the plot without spoiling the ending, and a bit about where I thought my novel fit into the market.

I didn’t go into too many details about my biography and left room open for the agents to ask exactly what they wanted to know.

In case you’re nervous about being stared at when you pitch, know that for the most part, the agents weren’t looking directly at me when I spoke as they were busy jotting down notes and formulating thoughts and questions regarding my manuscript!

What did the agents talk to me about?

The time to actually speak with the agents — though short — was probably my favorite part of my pitches!

One agent asked me clarifying questions about a plot point I mentioned briefly in my synopsis. Another asked me to tell her about myself personally, like hobbies and family life, as well as detail the “found documentation” that I mentioned using throughout my novel.

Two of the agents requested materials and one of them passed. The agent that passed, however, did so very kindly and also complimented my pitch!

So far, I have heard back from one of the agents who requested, and received a rejection. The other has yet to respond upon review.

Would I recommend doing this?

Short answer? Yes!

Cold querying can feel isolating and at times frustrating. You don’t get a chance to actually connect with the agents. Live pitches — even the short ones like this over video conference — vie you a chance to feel out your query letter, learn where agents connect or disconnect, and get to talk about your writing with someone who shows genuine interest!

Long Answer? It really depends…

These conferences are not free (at least, none that I have found are). You’ll need to plan your choices carefully to make sure that you’re getting the best value for your money. I don’t attend a lot of conferences because the topics that are workshopped don’t pertain to my genre or are filled with information that I’ve heard/read regurgitated in a million other places. This particular conference had workshops that gave me new insights, and gave me the chance to speak live with agents. The price point earned it’s value for me in that regard!

As always, I hope my experience may shed some clarity on the murky slush of querying! I wish you the best of luck in your own endeavors!

Need more, practical info? Check out parts One and Two of my querying series!