Agent Pitch at Atlanta Writer's Club

Why do I put myself through these things? Hours of waiting and preparation for five minutes of uncomfortable face time with a literary agent. I got rejected twice, for both novels. Here are the things that I did wrong:

For the first agent, we were allowed to submit twenty pages in advance. As soon as I sat down in front of him, he complained about the fact that I did not include a summary or synopsis. Well, I had followed the guidelines exactly, which limited us to a log line, a short bio, and the twenty pages - no mention of a summary. As a result, the agent had an incorrect idea of my novel. Next time (if I am ever masochistic enough to do this again) I will include a summary regardless of what the guidelines say. This is actually the second time this has happened to me. At the SCWW pitch, I stuck to the rules and included a one-page summary only to be told by the agent that she wished I had written a longer summary! But this agent was very nice, very helpful with his comments, based on the incomplete information that he had.

The second agent was a cold pitch, and I talked about my first novel. I described it as young adult, because a previous agent (who read the whole novel and rejected it) had advised me to pitch it that way instead of how I perceived it - literary fiction. Well, this agent fixated on my choice of genre and informed me my novel was not young adult, but probably literary fiction, exactly the opposite. I did not have time to explain my predicament to her. So I should have stuck to what I thought was right from the beginning.

Needless to say, it was not a good day for me. I decided not to think about it for a day, which didn't work of course - I spent a sleepless night. But the more time that passes the more I am able to assess the two disastrous pitches and learn something.

I realize I do not pitch well, especially a cold pitch. Reducing my novels to just a few words is difficult, and I always seem to pick the wrong ones - I think I am too easily swayed by what other people tell me, what I hear in round-table discussions, what I read in articles and books. I know my first novel is about loss, and yet I pitched it as a coming of age story. I know my second novel is about love, and yet the agent got the idea it was about caring for an aging parent

I think the best advice I can give myself is to avoid cold pitches. If I get another chance to submit pages then I can at least impress them, and I have never failed to get compliments on my writing. Stick to what I know is correct about my own novels, and try not to be swayed by what other people tell me.