At #PitMad's End

After Pitch Wars, while getting wrapped up in working with my CPs, I forgot about #PitMad. Last Saturday, one of my CPs asked if I was doing the Twitter pitch party. I dug through Brenda Drake’s blog to find the details, thought about it for a couple of days, and decided…why not? So in about 36 hours, I prepped my pitches. Yesterday, I participated in #PitMad. Though it’s not exactly a contest like Baker’s Dozen or Pitch Wars, I still learned a few things from the experience.

Before I get to those things, I’d better tell you about #PitMad. I don’t want to confuse readers who aren’t also Twitter writers. #PitMad is short for Pitch Madness. It was yesterday from 8am to 8pm and only on Twitter. Within one tweet (140 characters or less, including the hashtag #PitMad and the MS’s genre) writers could pitch their book(s) to agents, editors, and publishers. Any agent, editor, or publisher who liked the pitch and wanted to see more could favorite the tweet. The writer could then email them their requested materials (query, synopsis, chapters) and then wait and see.

Because the pitch party lasted twelve hours, each writer could pitch their MS up to twice per hour. I decided to pitch every forty-five minutes. Then, I checked with other writers to see how many pitches they were going to use. Several writers suggested several pitches would be best, given that while one pitch might not catch an agent’s eye, another pitch (presenting the MS from a different angle) might. I decided to go with three pitches, alternating between them.

One thing I learned from this experience? PITCHES ARE HARD. It’s tough to squeeze something coherent that makes your book sound awesome into 140 characters or less. I struggled. I sent some versions to my CP and she sent me suggestions back. We repeated as necessary. In the end, these are the three pitches I used:

Hazel’s letting a parallel world destroy her so she can save her boyfriend’s roommate, with whom she may be falling in love. #PitMad YA SF

All Hazel wants is a normal teenage life, but a parallel world’s warping her reality & will kill her if she can’t find out why. #PitMad YA SF

Hazel’s going crazy—or wishes she was. Black beasts from a parallel world devoured Ethan and now they’re coming for her. #PitMad YA SF

I don’t know if these are great; I read so many that I loved on the feed that I have a hard time being constructive about mine. Still, they worked—I received two requests from small publishers and I’m thrilled. It’s one thing to play the game, but it’s another to see results. I’m still debating submitting to these publishers, mostly because I haven’t queried my MS yet and I’d like to first see how agents react to it. Even if I don’t submit to them now, I’ve made a note so that when the time’s right, I can submit to them later.

The love for my pitches didn’t end with publishers. Another part of #PitMad was that other people were welcome to retweet any pitches they liked. This, theoretically, made your pitch more visible to any agents, editors, or publishers looking at the feed—it increased your chances of success. The best part about yesterday? So many of my Twitter writer friends retweeted my pitches. Plus, I found new followers: they retweeted my pitches and I retweeted theirs. ALL THE TWITTER WRITER LOVE—it’s just another reason why Twitter is amazing. I’m so glad my CP encouraged me to participate in #PitMad yesterday. It’s another experience I can tuck under my belt or paste on my jacket like a Girl Scout badge. Every experience gets me one step closer to my goal, and that’s a good thing.