I completed my last pitch session at Virtual ThrillerFest XVI today, and it was the best of the four.
Originally all my pitches were scheduled for June 29th, but at the last minute there was an opening in the schedule for one of the agents I had really wanted to pitch. As I noted in my earlier blog post, I wasn’t able to book pitch sessions with any of the agents that I had on my target list, and had complained, politely, to the organizers about that. They must have remembered me, because when the opening in this agent’s schedule appeared, they gave me the first chance at it. I jumped on it, and that was the pitch session I had today.
All the pitches were done via Zoom, which has been an interesting experience. I prepared a spot in my living room to do the call, where the lighting was good, and I had a nice backdrop. I stacked up some books on an ottoman to get my laptop at the ideal height, and I had my one-page pitch script on my iPad where I could glance at it if I needed a reminder.
Calling in went very smoothly. The folks from ThrillerFest were professional and well-organized. When I entered the Zoom call, they had someone on the line who took a few minutes to explain to me what was going to happen. They confirmed that I was next in line to speak to this agent, and told me that they would check in again in a few minutes before switching the agent into the call. Then I sat quietly and waiting for the agent to be ready. When she was, they connected us, and then dropped off the call.
The four agents all called in from their homes. One was behind a desk, one was in a chair by a fireplace. They were all very friendly and nice. They said hello, and then asked me to tell them about my book. I gave them my pitch, and it seemed to go well, but I didn’t get any buying signals. The first agent asked me to send her my full manuscript, but I got the impression that it was more out of politeness than any real desire to see my book. The second woman was more curt. When I told her about the murder at a pitch meeting she said, “Well that will ruin your day,” and we laughed together. But after a few minutes she cut me off politely and said the book was not right for her. The third agent was friendlier, and let me talk for the full ten minutes, but she was very non-commital.
The only agent I felt was really interested in my book was the man I spoke to today. He was really likable and very intrigued by the premise. He was the only one who asked me a lot of questions. He wanted to know about the painting in the story, and was very interested when I told him it was real, and there really is a reward for its recovery. He’s interested in World War II, and said he was going to look up the painting and learn more about it. And he agreed to take a look at my manuscript. So that felt like a win!
Michael
