I have the honor of interviewing Steven Radecki, Managing Editor of Paper Angel Press and its imprints (y’all know your fave Graveside Press!) and Executive Producer of Small Publishing in a Big Universe, about live pitching. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day, Steven!

For a little background, live pitching, where an author approaches an agent or publisher to pitch them on a manuscript or project, absolutely terrified me. I’ve known about it for years and absolutely dug in my heels. I wasn’t trying it, no way, no how. Well, with encouragement from established writer friends, I finally took the risk at BayCon and live pitched Black Rose to Steven. And guess what? The experience didn’t suck. In fact, participating boosted my confidence.

My goal for these questions is to hopefully pull back the curtain a little bit for authors who might want to try a live pitch but, like me, feel intimidated or unsure.

~Steven, you manage Paper Angel Press and its imprints, is there anything else you’d like authors to know about you?

Steven: I have participated in different functions of the publishing business—originally with non-fiction—for longer than I am willing to admit here (more than 30 years). I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, reading well past by reading level at a very young age. My goal in starting this small publishing business was to provide a means by which first-time authors might be published in a collaborative and supportive way in a business that seems determined to separate eager and inexperienced authors from their money. To quote author Harlan Ellison, “Money should flow toward the writer.”

1)     What material should an author bring to a live pitch? How long should they expect to talk?

Steven: Their best internal suit of confidence. When an author is excited about their manuscript and its ideas, it shows—and that goes a very long way toward us wanting to hear their pitch. For me, at least, I prefer that the pitch be limited to about 5 minutes. If we ask you to go longer, or start to ask you questions about the projects, that’s a clear sign that you have our interest.

2)     All publishers and agents are different, but are there any universal things they might be looking for in an author during a live pitch?

Steven: The hook to get our attention. What is different about your manuscript that would make us want read and publish it, and readers to buy it. If you have trouble coming up with that, I always advise authors to think about it like a movie trailer, “In a world where …”, and what makes that world and its characters unique and interesting.

3)     How important is an author’s social media presence at the time of querying/ pitching?

Steven: As far as I am concerned (and I know this is not true for most agents and traditional publishers), that is not even a factor during our consideration. That can all be addressed leading up the book launch. (This particularly true now with the chaos that are most of the social media platforms right now.)

4)     Should an author’s book/project be finished at the time of pitching? How finished? (ie: should they have worked with an editor).

Steven: Ideally it should be finished, or that close (weeks) of being finished. There are few things worse than us getting excited about a pitch and then be told that it is six months to a year away from being finished. I get that authors want to get a sense of whether a story idea is worth pursuing, but that really should be part of a pitch session. That’s when you buy the publisher lunch or a drink to discuss that. (I’m kidding about that. Mostly.)

5)     Is there anything else publishers would like authors to know about live pitching?

Steven: I’m basically going to summarize and say: come with confidence, prepared with clear and exciting lead-in and summary, and a completed manuscript. I’ll also add that feedback can be a gift. If the publisher is not interested, hopefully they will tell you why. For example, sometimes it’s not an ideal fit for their catalog, they have just accepted six similar stories, or the characters are you described them are not compelling enough.

Again, thank you so much for your time! Cheers!