Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

I've been writing agent pitches all week, and I'll tell you what--pitching is a writing form (just like a sonnet or a novella), and I am terrible at it.

Today I found two more resources for learning this mysterious art. First of all, check out Curtis Brown Ltd. agent Nathan Bransford's Query Point System essay, where he explains "what's happening in the back of my mind as I'm reading a query." (thanks, Slushpile)

When you finish that, check out Steve Bryant's priceless post on the crazy genre of marketing video pitches. It's absurd, it's painful--but it's also how the world works. Check it out:

"Among the more stultifying ubiquities of corporate life, the business presentation is perhaps most reviled -- an eerie combination of a dryly-delivered grade school book report, the faux-enthusiasm of a campaign speech, and the practiced, neutered cadence of a local newscaster."