Today, like many times before, I was asked what an author should include in his or her one-minute pitch. As usual, what they wanted was write their pitch for them which I will not do. Below is my answer:

Imagine you get on an elevator (not the high-speed kind) in the lobby of a hotel at the same time as a publisher who would make your book an instant best seller, pay for you to go on a worldwide book tour, and pay you 50% royalties. No one else is on the elevator. The publisher is getting off on the 20^th floor with no stops in between. He asks what you are writing. What do you want him to know so he will want to know more and will ask you to talk to him after the elevator ride?

Just so I don’t give anyone the wrong idea, I don’t know of any publisher like that, nor have I ever heard of one and doubt one exists. But it helps to think that way when creating your pitch.