Pitching a Graphic Novel
I know what I need to do to submit a picture book. But I did not know there was a format for pitching a Graphic Novel. At the NJ SCBWI Conference in June, Sharee Miller shared with us what items you need when you pitch a graphic novel.
Introduction. This includes:
Title
Category
Your Name
Age range of the book. (Pick one even if other ages will find it useful)
Approximate pages
Story or Series Pitch
She included a picture of all her characters as well as a description of the story. In her case, she was pitching a series so she gave a description of the whole series. I loved how her pitch was full of illustrations of the characters in her story.
Character Intro.
This is where she had an illustration of a character next to a description of who they are. I love these. There was an illustrated book series when I was young that I would read that had these at the beginning of every book. I loved them.
More Info and sketches of the Main Characters.
Here she gave more space and drawings of the main characters. Instead of one image and a paragraph, she spent a whole page on the main characters.
Sample Pages
These included a few thumbnails, some tighter drawings and at least 1 finished idea.
Sketches and final art sample
This is just what it sounds like. I wrote in my notebook: Leave space for word bubbles.
Synopsis and Themes
A quick synopsis of the story of the book as well as themes addressed.
Sample Script and chapter outline.
I think she wrote a chapter or two and then outlined what the rest of the chapters would look like.
Pitching a Series
If you are pitching a series, here is where you put future book synopsis and themes.
I’m excited to turn my Paige and Webb into this format. I’m going to get to know them better and that will always help the story develop too. I am especially excited to create the Character Intros. I think I might put some of these on the Paige and Webb web page. I’d tell you where you can find it, except there is nothing there yet. Stay tuned.