Postcard Pitches and Elevator Pitches

[Architect_of_Aurah]

About two months ago, I went to an event geared towards advice on getting published. One of the speakers proposed two strategies for promoting your work.

1. The Elevator Pitch
   Think up a short speech to promote your work in a nutshell. Imagine you meet someone from Macmillan's or Methuen's in an elevator and have only the time it takes to travel 20 floors to pitch you idea. What would you say?
   
2. The Postcard Pitch
   Write a pitch for your work that will fit on the back of a standard size postcard. The trick is to get all the best ideas into a small space.

On the back of this, while I was on holiday shortly after, I bought two postcards from a souvenir stand and wrote two Postcard Pitches on the back of them. The first was for my saga as a whole, the second was for the first instalment of that saga.

Kay Pow

In a world of intelligent, upright-walking animals, some possessing incredible powers, a female red squirrel works overtime as masked crime-fighter, fighting for acceptance in a world where super-powered heroes grab the headlines. This saga is a send-up of anthropomorphic tales and contains intellectual considerations of how such a world might operate. Each tale will have a tongue-in-cheek undertone and promise a new adventure in the next instalment.


The Power Thief

The first chapter of the Kay Pow saga. Includes rief explanation of the anthropomorphic world and the super-anthros. Kay Pow works hard to right wrongs while also running a fitness centre by day. Wants to make up for father's suicide over false accusations. Doesn't know two of her gym's clients are the superheroes who steal her headlines! Crime boss discovers desmodium, a mineral that can drain supers' powers. With the supers and the authorities helpless before the criminals, it's up to Kay and her pals to save the day.

Has anyone got any Postcard Pitches or Elevator Pitches of their own?

 

[A. E. Lowan]

This is the brief we used for NaNoWriMo last year...

Faerie Rising

Winter Mulcahy is the last wizard in the city of Seahaven, WA and all that stands between the fractious preternatural population and total chaos. Barely holding the city together by the skin of her teeth and the blood of her friends, the young wizard is approached by a pair of Sidhe lords who claim that her city is harboring a fugitive who has kidnapped a Sidhe prince, and that they are on a mission to rescue him. Winter must investigate this fugitive and get to the truth of the kidnapping, and in doing so uncovers a plot years in the laying to rip Seahaven from the fabric of the mortal realm and forge it into a Faerie Realm here on Earth.

 

[Weaver]

This is the brief we used for NaNoWriMo last year...

Faerie Rising

Winter Mulcahy is the last wizard in the city of Seahaven, WA and all that stands between the fractious preternatural population and total chaos. Barely holding the city together by the skin of her teeth and the blood of her friends, the young wizard is approached by a pair of Sidhe lords who claim that her city is harboring a fugitive who has kidnapped a Sidhe prince, and that they are on a mission to rescue him. Winter must investigate this fugitive and get to the truth of the kidnapping, and in doing so uncovers a plot years in the laying to rip Seahaven from the fabric of the mortal realm and forge it into a Faerie Realm here on Earth.

Excellent pitch.

 

[Devor]

Kay Pow

In a world of intelligent, upright-walking animals, some possessing incredible powers, a female red squirrel works overtime as masked crime-fighter, fighting for acceptance in a world where super-powered heroes grab the headlines. This saga is a send-up of anthropomorphic tales and contains intellectual considerations of how such a world might operate. Each tale will have a tongue-in-cheek undertone and promise a new adventure in the next instalment.

That sounds like fun.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Ok bringing this back up because we've rewritten our pitch. Turns out the old one was too spoilery - the big drama at the end isn't revealed until Chapter 25 of a 33 Chapter book.

So, anyway, how does this one grab you guys?

Faerie Rising

Winter Mulcahy is the last wizard in the city of Seahaven, WA and all that stands between the fractious preternatural population and total chaos. Barely holding the city together by the skin of her teeth and the blood of her friends, the young wizard is approached by a pair of Sidhe lords who claim that her city is harboring a fugitive who has kidnapped a Sidhe prince, and that they are on a mission to rescue him. Winter must investigate this fugitive to get to the truth of the kidnapping, discover the cause of the increasing magical surges which are tearing open rifts between realms across her city, and navigate the dangerous waters of preternatural politics before Seahaven both figuratively and literally rips itself apart.

 

[Chilari]

Sounds very intruiging. Good one. Last sentence is a bit long running on, though. Maybe try and make it more concise?

 

[Addison]

{Here's the post card pitch of my WiP (so far called "The Feather of the Druid"-prone to change)}

"12-year old Rian Harper has finally escaped his Cinderella life into the world he'd been kept from. A world where cell phones share the purse with the wand and you get your deli sandwich from the Minotaur line chef. Rian quickly makes the life he's always wanted; he hones his magic abilities at Fortin Magic Academy and has a pet dragon. But, with his luck, it doesn't last when the other foot comes crashing down. A monster from hell hunts the streets, a mysterious warlock evades capture as he gains power as an apocalyptic prophecy ticks closer to the dead line. The only ones able to stop the prophecy are Rian the rookie, Luka the class clown, a loner werewolf, a diva witch and a cursed pre-cog. ...That prophecy could come true."

I tried to follow the pitch guideline of covering the who, what, where and why someone should care. You be the judge.

 

[Malik]

My blurb, and also the opening of my query letter:

----

"I didn’t come here to sell my soul. I came here to buy it back.”

Dubbed “The Deadliest Man Alive” and banned from competition after killing another fencer in a duel, former saber champion Jarrod Torrealday now works on movie sets around the world as a stuntman, trainer, and technical consultant.

When a young sorcerer offers him the gig of a lifetime, Jarrod finds himself facing an invading army in a land inhabited by creatures from Earth’s mythical past. He soon learns that the enemy mastermind is also from Earth, and has laid the foundations for a new kind of war.

----

 

[Ireth]

Here's one of mine:

Winter's Queen

Ariel Hawk has always believed in fairy-tales, but never dreamed she'd someday be a part of one. On Halloween night, not long before her seventeenth birthday, Ariel is kidnapped into Faerie itself by Fiachra, Prince of the Winter Court. Her kidnapper soon becomes her betrothed, and the wedding is planned for Midwinter Night. Unfortunately for Fiachra, being a damsel in distress is not part of Ariel's plans. Sidestepping enchanted banquets and balls is easy enough, but that's only the beginning. The harder Ariel fights to escape him, the more Fiachra tightens his hold. If she doesn't find a way out, she'll lose everything she has, up to and including her very humanity.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Ok, I think I fixed the issue with the run-on sentence. I tried to break it up, but I can't see any good way to, so I cut it down, instead.

Winter Mulcahy is the last wizard in the city of Seahaven, WA and all that stands between the fractious preternatural population and total chaos. Holding the city together by the skin of her teeth and the blood of her friends, the young wizard is approached by a pair of Sidhe lords who claim that her city is harboring a fugitive who has kidnapped a Sidhe prince, and that they are on a mission to rescue him. Winter must investigate this fugitive to get to the truth of the kidnapping, discover the cause of the surges of wild magic tearing open rifts between realms across her city, and navigate the deadly waters of preternatural politics before Seahaven both figuratively and literally rips itself apart.

 

[Architect_of_Aurah]

Thank you for your pitches, advice and votes of confidence everyone! Don't stop though, keep them coming!