Tom King is a major player in the world of comic books. He's written for DC and Marvel and pretty much everything he writes has ended up being a sensation of one kind or another. While he's done ongoing series, most especially Batman, his specialty is 8-12 issue runs that focus on seeming minor characters -- The Vision; Adam Strange; the Human Target; Mister Miracle. And his storytelling with his cocreator artists is always really interesting.
King and brilliant artist Elsa Charretier recently announced a new comic they're creating on Substack called LOVE EVERLASTING. And as part of the roll out King did an entry about his pitch for the series. It's well worth reading.
Here's his general strategy for pitching:
My basic structure is always lead with a story: tell the reader what your first issue is, how it sets up a world, how that world gets twisted in a way that demands attention, that hangs off a cliff. Once they’ve (hopefully) bought into that, pull the camera way back and give them a few paragraphs where you talk about your ambitions for the whole thing. That’s it. It’s not rocket science. Hook them with a hook, tell them why the hook is awesome, and get out fast—never more than a page.
And if you go to the link, you can read the actual pitch, which is astonishingly short, and definitely worth aspiring to. Short and sweet (and clear)--it wins the day.
(If you go to the site you can find some other pitches, too. I see one for a Loki series King didn't end up doing that's somewhat related to the LOKI TV show.
