#PitMad Pitch Wars on Twitter?
#PitMad takes place quarterly on Twitter. Authors and writers are invited to pitch their ready-to-go (ready to query) manuscript in a 280-character Twitter tweet.
When is the Next Twitter #PitMad?
As NaNoWriMo or the crazy November of National Novel Writing Month draws to a close. A frenzied December Pitchwars.org threatens to grind Twitter to a virtual halt! …When?
- 4th June 2020 from 08:00 – 20:00 (EST) or 13:00 – 01:00 (GMT)
Greenwich Mean Time is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Time…
It is American.
Is #PitMad Relevant for UK Authors?
If I was a UK literary agent or English publisher I would not pass up the opportunity to find great British talent and I will therefore be participating in #PitMad on Twitter on 4th June 2020.
International Twitter Outlook
Published books are sold in a number of countries and translated into different languages – does it matter if your literary agent is not from the UK? I know someone that recently corresponded with an overseas agent and distances are levelled by videoconferencing these days.
How Many People Participate in Pitch Wars #PitMad?
The last time I looked on #PitMad Day in September, the hashtag #PitMad was trending on Twitter and was in the hundreds of thousands of tweets.
#PitMad Success Stories
Do authors get book deals from #PitMad?
I have quite a few thousand Twitter followers from the #WritingCommunity and last quarter I followed #PitMad quite closely. I did see mention of writers getting liked by literary agents. So, yes there is obviously interest and you never know – it could be you!
If You Are Interested in Participating in PitMad – Then Read On…
Can I Help? …Yes! – Retweet the Pitch
If you like a pitch on a Twitter tweet the best thing you can do is retweet it for them – it gives the tweet more prominence.
Do Not Like or Favourite Pitch Tweets on #PitMad Day
Literary agents and editors from the publishing industry make a formal request for the finished manuscript by liking or favouriting the tweet. Therefore, do not like your friends’ tweets on this day, unless you hate them! It would be the euphoric moment of the fabled Midas touch from a literary agent followed by the misery of the realisation its only you!
Three Tweets in 24 Hours
Doesn’t sound like much does it?
- Condense your novel down into 280 characters.
- Tweet on Twitter.
- Sit and wait.
- Check your mobile phone every 30 seconds for the first few hours.
- Then tweet again.
I Don’t Have Time to Tweet My #PitMad Pitch
Ok. Then schedule them. Get an app to do the tweeting for you like TweetDeck.
Schedule the tweet three times, days ahead if you like – easy.
Pitching Your Book to Literary Agents and Publishers on Twitter with #PitMad
#PitMad Rules and Guidance
There is lots of information on the Pitchwars.org website. I have boiled it down into the information that I think is relevant for me:
Some #PitMad Rules:
- #PitMad requires a finished manuscript or memoirs “ready to query” (to read) or a proposal for non-fiction.
- Use the hashtag #PitMad and an age category sub-hashtag, you can add additional hashtags if you like.
- Pitch as many manuscripts as you like.
- Only tweet Three Pitches for the same manuscript, not necessarily the same wording.
- Only attach relevant images – picture book, graphic novel, or illustrations.
- Do not include links – literary agents sometimes filter out tweets with links.
- If you are successful in #PitMad check out the literary agents’ tweets and website for submission requirements.
- PitMad WARNING – “Remember: Any industry professional can participate in #PitMad. It’s your responsibility to research the requesting agent or publisher.”
#PitMad Sub-Hashtags
More sub-hashtags make the search more focussed for agents and publishers.
Age Categories (one is required):
- #PB = Picture Book
- #C = Children’s
- #CB = Chapter Book
- #MG = Middle Grade
- #YA = Young Adult
- #NA = New Adult
- #A = Adult
Genres/Sub-Genres (optional):
- #AC = Action
- #AD = Adventure
- #BIZ = Bizarro Fiction
- #CF = Christian Fiction
- #CON = Contemporary
- #CR = Contemporary Romance
- #E = Erotica
- #ER = Erotic Romance
- #ES = Erotica Suspense
- #F = Fantasy
- #FTA = Fairy Tale Retelling
- #GN = Graphic Novel
- #H = Horror
- #HA = Humor
- #HF = Historical Fiction
- #HR = Historical Romance
- #INSP = Inspirational
- #MR = Magical Realism
- #M = Mystery
- #Mem = Memoir
- #MA = Mainstream
- #LF = Literary Fiction
- #NF = Non-fiction
- #P = Paranormal
- #PR = Paranormal Romance
- #PM = Poetry Collection
- #R = Romance
- #RS = Romantic Suspense
- #STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
- #SF = SciFi
- #SHRT = Short Story Collection
- #SPF = Speculative Fiction
- #SH = Superhero
- #S = Suspense
- #T = Thriller
- #TT = Time Travel
- #UF = Urban Fantasy
- #VF = Visionary Fiction
- #W = Westerns
- #WF = Woman’s Fiction
Additional Hashtags (optional):
- #POC = Author is a Person of Color
- #OWN = Own Voices
- #IMM = Immigrant
- #LGBT = LGBTQIA+ subject matter
- #IRMC = Interracial/Multicultural subject matter
- #MH = Mental Health subject matter
- #DIS = Disability subject matter
- #ND = Neurodiverse subject matter
Source: https://pitchwars.org/pitmad/
Best of British Luck to You All!
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RK Alker is an author of funny children’s books from Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, Earth!
As a funny kids author writing comedy children’s fiction, I hope to find my children’s writing on children’s bookshelves across the country. As an author of children’ fiction is it lovely to hear the laughter of children as they take my hilarious kids books off the kids’ bookshelf and begin to read them aloud at bedtime.
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Some Other Articles:
What is #PitMad? Why Writers Should Definitely Be on Twitter
Not to be confused with Pitmaster
