How to Create a Successful Pitch with Agent Andrea Colvin

Hello GN creators, a quick announcement before you get too far into Andrea Colvin’s insightful article. We are making some changes to this year’s pitch event based on advice from an editor in the graphic novel industry. Authors, you can upload one image file that includes up to four pages (can be less) of your script including a short bio on one of those pages (or a side image) in place of the art file illustrators will be adding. And, for those interested in leaving their pitches up year-round, we are working out a way to password protect the pitch pages once the pitch is done so industry pros can request a password and peruse the pitches for the rest of the year. Please subscribe to our website to stay up to date on the latest news.

Foremost, congratulations on starting your literary agency!

1. What do you love about being an agent?

Working with clients! Really, the same thing I loved about being an editor. I love being in the “room” where all this creativity happens. I love being able to help creators find an audience. I love championing the amazing work of creative people. I love seeing projects come together. But the truly great thing about being an agent, that I didn’t have as an editor, is that I get to build long-term (ideally career-long) relationships with creators. I’m there when the books work, and when they don’t. When the projects sell and when they don’t. I get to see new projects when they are just a tiny germ of an idea. I get to tell creators that it will all be OK (because it will)!

2. What is on your current manuscript wishlist for graphic novels? How do you
decide what goes on the list?

I’m hoping for a combination of what I love and what I think I can sell to publishers. In a perfect world those are always the same thing, but we all know the world is not perfect. The graphic novel market has gotten tougher in the past five or so years, as it’s grown. It’s no longer enough just to put something out there; it has to really resonate with readers (and be marketed and sold well by the publisher). Right now I am looking for middle-grade contemporary stories with a hook. And the hook should not be magic (I love magic in a middle-grade prose work, but it is just not resonating in graphic novels right now). An example of a book with a great hook is Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter. Or Speechless by Aaron Nels Steinke. Books that any kid can relate to because they are about the things we all deal with—friendships, families, hopes and dreams—but have a special HOOK that pulls the reader in and sets the book
apart from other books about those same big topics. Smile by Raina Telgemeier, for instance, is a book about family and friendship. The hook is orthodontia.

3. When looking over a graphic novel pitch, what key elements make it stand out
right away?

Two things: excellent visual storytelling, and a really great logline. I probably don’t have to explain excellent visual storytelling, but a great logline is something that is short (two sentences, tops) and tells the reader what the book IS. So, for Smile, it would be something like: “While navigating complex orthodontia after a freak accident, Raina must also navigate the complexities of middle-school friendship.” This tells me exactly what the book is about. It has enough detail for me to get a sense of the story and tone, and avoids vague terms like “a book about the power of family,” etc.

4. What do you want to see in the artwork that goes with the pitch?

I always like to see at LEAST two to four fully colored and inked spreads. I never like to see sketches in a pitch. I’m looking at the art, but I am also looking at the creator’s ability to get things done and put together a polished package. If you want me to see 8 pages, finish those 8 pages.

5. For creators pitching as authors only, what can they do to make their pitch
competitive?

Team up with an artist. As an editor I did not consider script-only graphic novel pitches, and many publishers do not. There are a whole host of reasons why this is really complicated and I’ve got plenty of publishing horror stories about collaborations arranged by publishers.

If connecting with an artist isn’t something you want to do, be prepared for this to be an uphill battle. The exceptions are writers who already have graphic novel credits (yes I know that is a catch-22!), have written and illustrated their own graphic novels, are adapting a prose book, or otherwise have a large platform.

6. Walk us through your process of evaluating pitches during a live pitch event.
What makes you stop? What are common reasons you decide to pass?

In a live pitch event, it’s the art that is making me stop and take another look, or click on the pitch. If the art is confident and well-rendered, I’ll stop to find out what the story is about. Every so often the logline will make me stop. If it’s a story I’ve never heard before, or something that feels important, I’ll always want to see more.

When I decide to pass, more often than not it’s a fantasy or sci-fi or supernatural story that is so wrapped up in the mechanics of its world that it isn’t actually ABOUT anything. That and if it features any characters that look like Marko from Saga (with the horns and the deer ears).

Another common reason for passing is that the art doesn’t match the story. Maybe it’s about teenagers but the characters look really young. Or it’s something lighthearted and the art is dark and overwrought.

6. With 5 months left, what final advice would you give to creators who are preparing for this year’s pitch event?

Don’t overexplain your stories. Make sure you are telling me what it’s ABOUT, not what HAPPENS. Put your best art forward. And remember that, like so many other things in life, it’s all about rejection until it’s not.