In February, I attended the PubWest Conference in Pasadena, CA. The participants wore name badges with their company or other designation. Mine said - Author.
I discovered this brought about lots of conversations with people not attending the conference. As I rode up and down the elevator of the hotel, up to my room and down to the meeting spaces, someone would note the badge and say, "Oh,you're an author. What have you written?" The perfect query for me to launch into a sentence or two about my quirky, cozy mystery THE EROTICA BOOK CLUB FOR NICE LADIES. The title always brought a smile and usually a question about the plot, which I was happy to answer.
Later I remembered a term I thought was used primarily for promoting movie plots but now applied to all kinds of projects.I found out it's credited to Ilene Rosenzweig and Michael Caruso, while he was editor of Vanity Fair. The term came from a scenario of an accidental meeting with someone important in the elevator - and trying to make a lasting impression. Now a variety of people, project managers, salespeople, evangelists and policy makers commonly rehearse and use this way to get their point across quickly - from 30 seconds to two minutes is suggested.
Unplanned and unknowingly, I'd made several "elevator pitches." I wonder how many books I sold.
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