Let’s say you’re going to a pitch slam, and in this TOTALLY HYPOTHETICAL scenario, your book is the teensiest bit incomplete. Ugh, I know, only pitch completed books. But when you bought the ticket 2 months back you thought it would be. As it stands, you’ll be 75% through a final (5th) pass of the manuscript when you roll in there with your pitch. We’re talking 2-3 weeks of work left. What’s the most palatable way to answer the “is the book complete” question without being misleading?

Oct

Let's say you're going to a pitch slam, and in this TOTALLY HYPOTHETICAL scenario, your book is the teensiest bit incomplete. Ugh, I know, only pitch completed books. But when you bought the ticket 2 months back you thought it would be. As it stands, you'll be 75% through a final (5th) pass of the manuscript when you roll in there with your pitch. We're talking 2-3 weeks of work left. What's the most palatable way to answer the "is the book complete" question without being misleading?

— Anonymous

As you sit down to pitch the agent, let them know you’re pitching a project that you’re polishing up right now. If they’re interested, just let them know it’ll take you a few more weeks to finish polishing and is it okay if you send them their request in 2-3 weeks. No one will be upset that you want to send them something polished :)

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New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc.

New Leaf is a full service, boutique literary agency. Founded by Joanna Volpe in June 2012, the agency represents clients in commercial and literary fiction for children and adults and innovative non-fiction. Pouya Shahbazian handles the TV/film rights in-house while Kathleen Ortiz handles sub-rights in-house, and the agency as a whole is working together to publicize clients through its own Author Promo program. Also part of the agency are agent Suzie Townsend, assistant Danielle Barthel, and assistant Jaida Temperly.