Below is my pitch for my novel about Livia Drusilla, I AM LIVIA. Rather than starting with a logline, I decided to begin by telling about an event (a big scandal) which happens well into the book. Why? Because I recently went to the Writer’s Digest Conference (great!) and had the opportunity to discuss Livia with five agents there (also great). One of the five told me she was only liked historical novels set in more recent time periods, but added helpfully, “You know, you got me interested when you told me there was a big scandal in Livia’s life. That’s the part that grabbed me.” The scandal intrigued a couple of the other agents, too. So I decided to lead with that.
Am I giving away too much here by posting the pitch, potentially ruining the book’s suspense for potential readers? Well, I can’t imagine a book jacket not mentioning whose wife Livia was. And trust me, the story is juicier than the details I’m revealing.
Janet Reid (
queryshark.blogspot.com) gave a
great presentation on pitches and queries at the conference.
She made the point that what you want to do is reveal just enough info to intrigue the reader.
You want agents to think, “I’ve got to read this novel!” not feel as if they’ve already read it.
A blow-by-blow synopsis or summary of plot points is not necessary.
Here’s the pitch for I AM LIVIA:
It was a scandal that shocked the hard to outrage Roman Empire. Young Caesar, the future Augustus, divorced his wife on the day she gave birth to their first child. He demanded that a former enemy, now at his mercy, divorce his own pregnant wife. He wanted her. And so nineteen-year-old Livia Drusilla married Caesar. She would help to make him the first emperor of Rome.
I AM LIVIA tells the story of the passionate youth of a woman who shaped history. Livia Drusilla has been vilified for centuries. In I, Claudius, Robert Graves portrayed her as a murderess. But as ideas about women’s roles have shifted, historians have come to see Livia as maligned because she wielded power and broke the patriarchal mold. My novel, narrated in Livia’s first person voice, incorporates this new view of her. She emerges as a brilliant, politically canny survivor who surmounted barriers, and deeply loved one man.
I've used both ancient and modern sources to research this novel, and I've visited the places in Rome where Livia's footsteps still echo.
The bestseller status of Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra shows readers are interested in strong, intriguing heroines of the ancient world. I AM LIVIA, about the formidable wife of Cleopatra’s mighty antagonist, Caesar Augustus, would appeal to Schiff’s readers as well as fans of Steven Saylor, Michelle Moran, and of course Robert Graves.
