Okay, so this is kind of funny. After going into so much detail on how I wrote my pitch, in Part 3, I don't think I'm going to use it!
Here's the story: I decided (a) I need my pitch in my cover letter (hook 'em straight away); and (b) I want my cover letter to be brief and to the point, i.e. only 1 page.
It was a bit of a challenge getting everything I wanted onto one page so, basically, most of the pitch went out the window. I'll show you what I've done in case it's helpful to anyone else.
Basically my cover letter includes (extremely briefly):
book name and genre
where it fits into the genre, with reference to published books
Outline of series
Two sentence pitch-ette
Thematic statement
Here's how the letter stands at the moment:
"I am seeking representation for The Sapience
Assessment, which is the first book in my Transhumanity Series.
These are soft SF adventures aimed at a new adult
readership.
They strike a middle ground between the teen SF of Marissa Meyer (Cinder) and Stephenie
Meyer (The Host), and the adult space opera of Anne Leckie (Ancillary Justice)
and John Scalzi (Old Man’s War).
The overall theme of the series is a questioning of
what makes us human, following a young woman who, over the course of four
books, is transformed into a cyborg.
Here’s
a brief pitch for The Sapience Assessment:
Millions of lives rest in the hands of a
team of four humans. Thea Hyde must deal with sabotage, an unplanned First
Contact, and her own injuries to uncover a treacherous plot.
This
book also touches on two themes: the connection between memory and
self-awareness; and conflict between loyalty to friends and duty to a higher
cause.
Please
find attached a synopsis and the first three chapters."
Actually I'm not too happy with my 2-sentence pitch-ette, because the first and second sentences seem like two unconnected statements. So if anyone has any ideas on a better way to put it, let me know!