by Beth K. Vogt, @bethvogt

In my previous blog post titled “Defining a High Concept Pitch,” I distilled the definition of a high concept pitch down to:

A high concept pitch is when you grab someone’s attention with a title or single sentence before they ever see a word of your writing.

Today, we’re going to discuss the 3 key components of a high concept pitch, including examples of each to help you begin to brainstorm a high concept pitch for your manuscript. You want to get editors’ and agents’ attention, right?  Yes, yes, you do! With each component, consider your manuscript and if you’ve included it in your story.

1. A twist – What have you done to catch your reader unaware? To surprise them?
2. High stakes – What’s at risk in your story? Remember, stakes can be:
   1. Public: ones we care about as a culture
   2. Personal: ones that touch the heart of our main characters
   3. Private: ones that force our main characters to choose between competing values
3. Compelling characters – Why should readers care/connect with your characters?

As you use these elements and begin brainstorming a high concept pitch for your story, consider these examples of books that have the key components and how they might have utilized them in a high concept pitch.

A Twist

• The Love Letter, by NYT-bestselling author Rachel Hauck: a story of long-lost love and it’s redemption in future generations
• Dining with Joy, also by Rachel Hauck: the heroine is a cooking show host who can’t cook
• The Chair by Christy award-winning author Jim Rubart: What if you’re given a chair – but you’re told it was a chair by Jesus and it has supernatural power?

High Stakes

• The Heart Between Us by Lindsay Harrel: a woman who received a heart transplant goes on a journey – the journey her heart donor always wanted to take. And her twin sister, who she’s been estranged from, goes with her.
• Storm Rising (The Book of Wars) an upcoming paramilitary release by award-winning author Ronie Kendig has public stakes in it because nations are threatened by the events in the book. The backcover copy hints at both personal and private stakes, too.

Compelling Characters

• You Don’t Know Me by award-winning author Susan May Warren: Isn’t this a great title? Remember, the definition of a high concept pitch is capturing someone’s attention with a title or a single sentence before they read a word of your writing. The title hints at the main character’s life – she’s in the witness protection program, but her family doesn’t know it.
• The Rancher’s Surprise Daughter by Jill Buteyn also has an intriguing title and compelling states. The novel involves an ex-fiancée and a 3-year-old girl who needs surgery.

As you read those examples, I hope you also thought of your story and began to identify what components it has that you could utilize in a high concept pitch.

Brainstorming a pitch takes time, effort, and creativity. But it’s worth the effort to capture someone’s attention at a conference. And you can even utilize your high concept pitch when you’re marketing your book once it’s released.

What element(s) do you have in your book that you could use to craft a high concept pitch: a twist, high stakes, and/or compelling characters?

Things I Never Told You by Beth K. Vogt

It’s been ten years since Payton Thatcher’s twin sister died in an accident, leaving the entire family to cope in whatever ways they could. No longer half of a pair, Payton reinvents herself as a partner in a successful party-planning business and is doing just fine—as long as she manages to hold her memories and her family at arm’s length.

But with her middle sister Jillian’s engagement, Payton’s party-planning skills are called into action. Which means working alongside her opinionated oldest sister, Johanna, who always seems ready for a fight. They can only hope that a wedding might be just the occasion to heal the resentment and jealousy that divides them . . . until a frightening diagnosis threatens Jillian’s plans and her future. As old wounds are reopened and the family faces the possibility of another tragedy, the Thatchers must decide if they will pull together or be driven further apart.

Includes discussion questions.

Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Now Beth believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Beth’s first novel for Tyndale House Publishers, Things I Never Told You, released in May 2018. Moments We Forget, book two in the Thatcher Sisters series, releases May 2019. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. A November Bride was part of the Year of Wedding Series by Zondervan. Having authored nine contemporary romance novels or novellas, Beth believes there’s more to happily-ever-after than the fairy tales tell us. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Novel Rocket and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people, and their youngest daughter, Christa, who loves to play volleyball and enjoys writing her own stories. Connect with Beth at bethvogt.com.