One Sheets and Pitching

Welcome to the Conference Confidence Series:

ONE SHEETS

So you’ve worked on your pitch, gotten it down to a 30 second sound bite that will knock the socks of an editor. Now what if he/she wants to know more?

That’s when I pull out my One Sheet. I rarely have to do a lot of talking in my 15 minute interviews. I just let the One Sheet speak for itself. Then I shut up. (This is something I have not yet mastered!) Let the editor READ! Resist the Urge to Explain. You’ll have your turn when they start to firs off questions.

So what’s a One Sheet, you ask?

A One Sheet is a brief synopsis of your book which includes pertinent information like:

Title and tag line
Authors name: Big enough to stand out
Brief synopsis/Back Cover Copy and/or 25 word short pitch

Genre
Length, word count
Contact information: Address, Phone, email
Athor bio and photo

Can include one sentence summary of second/third book in series

What your One Sheet looks like is up to you. It should fit your personality and the mood of the book you’re pitching. But regardless of the style a One Sheet should:

Be professional and well written
Easy to read, not overcrowded
Have one to two complimenting graphics or photos

Here are some other articles on One Sheets.

http://linesfromlinda.com/?p=90

You can visit my WIP section of my writing blog to get an idea of what I include on my One Sheet. The only thing that’s missing is the author bio and contact info.

You can take the One Sheet one step further and make it an author bio sheet on one side and a very breif summary of your completed WIPs on the other side. You can even make one up for your series. It’s all up to you!

Need some other examples of a One Sheet? Visit these sites:
http://www.pammeyerswrites.com/writings.html