Give us your elevator pitch for your latest book, then analyze it and tell us why you think it might tempt an agent, editor, or movie producer.
A WOUND THAT WILL NOT HEAL is the final book in the Carter McCoy trilogy. As Carter faces his final days, a call for help comes from the past. Bree, the girl who set him on his path of vengeance and vigilante justice needs his help. Men posing as ICE agents have kidnapped a friend and left a 12-year old girl abandoned. In what will likely be his final act before succumbing to his disease, Carter travels West to face a homegrown enemy unlike any he’s confronted before. With his dog, Chester, by his side and nothing left to lose, Carter’s last rescue is his most important, and his most poignant.
An agent or publisher? Who knows? Of course, I’d never go out and try to sell someone on the third book in a trilogy. But let’s look at what I do have on my side:
This is my first foray into writing about contemporary “ripped from the headlines” subjects. In this case, men posing as ICE agents and feeling empowered by the current administration to snatch people off the streets. Whether this is a selling point to the book or not remains to be seen. It came out just yesterday as an ebook (print coming soon and audio this summer) so it’s too soon to tell if people will want to read about something that is in their faces every day. It could be that it is exhausting and people just want an escape.
My hope is that they are drawn to a story in which the little guy wins against this monolith of evil we’ve all been facing down for over a year now.
The first book, The Last Few Miles Of Road, sold as a series based on the pitch of an older gentleman who receives a terminal diagnosis and uses that newfound freedom from consequence to go find and kill the man responsible for his daughter’s death. When complications ensue and he gets wrapped up in the troubles of a local girl, he realizes he can help her by eliminating a troublesome person in her life, too. Now armed with a sense of justice and the all-important “nothing left to lose” he goes off to help others in his limited time left.
That was a selling point and that first book even garnered an ITW award nomination and an Anthony award nomination as well as ending up on several “best of” lists for that year.
As has been the unfortunate case with all of the series I’ve written, this is my 4th trilogy, the second book didn’t fare as well. Will taking on a more immediate contemporary story help with book 3? I’ll find out, I guess.
I think the relatively simple setup of Carter McCoy as a character did help that first book sell. He was easy to explain to people, both agents, publishers and also readers. A few book clubs have picked up the book, which is a first for me. I think that speaks to the pitch working to intrigue people enough.
I do like a simple setup. It’s tempting to want to put all of your brilliant twists and unexpected turns you worked so hard to put into your novel into a synopsis, but the whole point is to tease just enough to get people to take a chance on your book. If you lay it all out you end up giving spoilers and we all hate when a movie trailer gives away too much, right?
You have to set the hook, but not lose all your bait. Is that an expression?
I find that the real hook to any book is the characters. I think it’s why Carter McCoy was an easy sell. I just need people to know who he is, less so what he gets up to in the books. If people want to know more about him, then the machinations of the plot are secondary.
For a third book, or any book deep into a seres, you do have the luxury of readers who are already up to speed. They trust you and your characters so you can take some chances, stretch from what came before. Maybe try a new tactic and write about something political.
Character is crucial when talking about Hollywood. Deals are made in packages with star power being the foundation of almost every project. If you wrote a character some actor would kill to play, then you have a much better chance of getting it made. Get Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts on board to portray your creation and you stand a chance.
I often think the book world could still learn a lot from the movies in terms of efficiency of story pitches. The whole phrase “elevator pitch” is a Hollywood concept and there needs to be a succinct way to sell your story in a 2-3 minute trailer and even on a poster with a line or two and an image.
Did I do it on this one? Time will tell. All I know is the readers who have found these books have responded more positively than to any of the 30 books I publisher prior. Carter McCoy may go down as my greatest creation. If that’s my legacy, I’ll take it.
As I bid him farewell, I hope I’m not also bidding farewell to my writing career, but I am faced with the first time in over a decade with no new contract and nothing on the horizon. It’s a scary place to be, but nothing I can’t handle. Like Carter, I’ve got nothing really to lose. And that’s a pretty freeing place to be.
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