July 20, 2011

Would You Read It? Wednesday

I've been reading a lot about the importance of pitches lately and it got me thinking:  we can all use a chance to brush up our skills, and we can all use a little input on how we're doing.

So I thought up a new game!  (Are you surprised?)

It's called Would You Read It? (I'm using my Game Show Host Voice) and if you guys think it's fun, we could make it a regular weekly Wednesday feature.  It sounds like fun to me (but then, I love games :))

Here's how we'll play:  people can send their one sentence pitch along with the title (if you have one) and the genre/age intended (just so we have a vague idea where you're aiming) to moi and I will post them on Wednesdays.  There will be a poll so readers can vote yes they would read it, maybe they would read it, or no they wouldn't.  If you get a lot of yeses - great! you're on the right track; a lot of maybes, then maybe it's not quite strong enough. If you get a lot of nos, then you know you need to work on your pitch a little more before striking up a conversation with a famous editor in an elevator somewhere :)  And we could make the pitches anonymous if you want to protect your ego privacy :)

You can send pitches of WIPs that you're readying for submission, or you can send pitches of possible ideas to see if you get a good response and it may be a story worth writing.

Here's a sample game so you can see how we'd play:

#1
Title:  Where The Mountain Meets The Moon by Grace Lin
Age/Genre:  MG
The Pitch:  "Minli, an adventurous girl from a poor village, buys a magical goldfish, and then joins a dragon who cannot fly on a quest to find the Old Man of the Moon in hopes of bringing life to Fruitless Mountain and freshness to Jade River."
Would You Read It?  YES MAYBE NO?

#2
Title:  Ribbit Rabbit by Candace Ryan
Age/Genre:  PB
The Pitch:  "Frog and Bunny are the best of friends, even though sometimes they get into fights."
Would You Read It?  YES MAYBE NO?

#3
Title:  A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Age/Genre:  YA
The Pitch:  "After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen-year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a finishing school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world."
Would You Read It?  YES MAYBE NO?

Then in the comments you would write:  #1 Maybe, #2, No, #3 Yes (or whatever.)  Get it?  Sound fun?

Let's give it a whirl!  Comment with your thoughts on these three, and then start sending pitches for next week!  Also comment if you think the game would be fun and you'd be willing to pitch in (oops, my punster is showing again :)) or if this game sounds worse then getting root canal.

14 comments:

  1. What a fun game, Susanna! I love your Game Show Host voice. I've already read one of these, but here goes:

    #1 - Maybe Yes (though I've read this one)
    #2 - No
    #3 - Yes

    I think I just found another book to add to my TBR pile.

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  2. That is such a great idea Susannah. I've been wracking my brain about blogfests and I still want to participate in some, but this is much easier and loads of fun too.

    #1 yes #2 maybe #3 maybe

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  3. I love this idea.
    #1 Maybe
    #2 Yes
    #3 Yes!

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  4. I love this idea too! Count me in!
    #1 Maybe
    #2 Yes
    #3 Yes

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  5. Andrea, Catherine, Natasha, and Megan - I'm so excited I finally thought up a game that some people actually seem to want to play!!! Polish your pitches and send them along and we'll get this party started for next week! Send to susanna@susannahill.com and say if you want to be anonymous or if you want your name attached :)

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  6. Susanna, what a lovely blog you have here! I'm so glad to meet you! And this is a fun and useful game ~ bonus!

    So, 1), NO, 2) MAYBE and 3) YES :)

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  7. Ali - thanks so much for stopping by - I'm glad you like it! I'm still glad I read your post last week about Kate - that was a great one!

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  8. Awesome idea!

    1) Maybe
    2) No
    3) Yes definitely.

    :-)

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  9. Misha - so glad you like the idea! I'll look forward to your pitch :)

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  10. # 1, yes. I loved the book.
    #2, no, but only because it's vague.
    #3, maybe-to-yes.

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  11. 1- maybe. Title is much more exciting than pitch.

    2- no probably not.

    3 - good pitch

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  12. 1-Yes. Sounds fun and enticing.
    2-Yes. Any help with youngsters not getting along is worth a read.
    3-Maybe. I was hooked until the "spirit world" popped up.

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