The submission window for Pitch Madness is this Saturday, August 24, and will be open for 24 hours (12:01AM EST to 11:59PM EST). There will be no cut off number. Everyone who submits during the window will make it into the contest. You will receive a receipt, if you don’t, check with me here on the blog or on Twitter (@brendadrake).
For those of you not familiar with Pitch Madness, it’s a contest where agents compete in a game against their peers for pitches. Our slush readers will read through the pitches and pick the top 60 pitches for the agent round starting on September 6. We try to get a good mix of various genres, but the writing comes first. Basically, if the submissions aren’t ready, it’s a pass.
The agents will be playing a fun game of Monopoly for your pitches this round of Pitch Madness. Keep an eye out on the Twitter hashtag #PitchMadness for slush readers’ comments as they search for the best of the best. And on reveal day, September 10 at 12AM EST (Noon – NY time), to watch the challenge rounds between the agents go down.
Here’s the rules of submission . . .
This is for completed, unpublished fiction manuscripts (no non-fiction or novellas). The categories are Adult, New Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. Any genres. One manuscript per writer. The winners will not be notified before the agent round. (All submissions sent before or after the window time slot will be deleted.)
The email for submissions is brendadrakecontests@gmail.com – NO ATTACHMENTS – All pitches must be embedded in the email.
Please format your entries like this …
Email subject line: Pitch Madness: TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT
Name: Your name
Title: TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT
Genre: Genre/category of your manuscript (ie. YA Fantasy)
Word Count: Word count (round to the nearest 1000th)
Pitch: 35word (max) logline. Do not go over even one word.
Excerpt: The first 250 words of your manuscript. If the 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of that sentence. Your pitch should be Times New Roman 12pt, single spaced, one space between paragraphs, no paragraph indentions. Make sure the formatting is done correctly, but if the email transfer messes it up we will still take it.
Good luck, everyone!
#PitMad Twitter Pitch Party!
And, if you don’t make it into Pitch Madness we’re holding another Twitter Pitch Party on September 12. So get your 140 word pitch ready and make sure the word count includes the hashtag #PitMad and category (YA, Adult, MG, NA, and so on). Tweet your pitch when you see an agent come on but don’t do it too obsessively. The agents will read the feed.
22 Comments
A.M. Pierre · August 22, 2013 at 9:24 am
Question for you:
Looking over the lovely list of agents assembled, I realized one of them has a copy of my full and one other represents an agency to which I recently sent a query (but I have not yet heard back on it).
I was looking forward to participating but certainly would not want to do anything that would be considered rude or unprofessional.
Please let me know what you think.
Brenda Drake · August 22, 2013 at 9:35 am
Agents expect that you are querying others, so I would enter. But always give all agents reading your manuscript a chance to offer before you accept an offer from an other agent. I’d hate for you to miss out on an agent if the one who has your full passes.
A.M. Pierre · August 22, 2013 at 10:06 am
Thanks for the info!
I’m definitely a “don’t put your eggs in one basket” kind of person, but I didn’t want to do anything unprofessional in my pursuit of other baskets 😉
Sandra Borowicz · August 22, 2013 at 10:58 am
Brenda,
If an author has 2 MS in different genre, can both have a separate pitch? Or is it one pitch per author?
Thanks for setting this up again!
Brenda Drake · August 22, 2013 at 11:14 am
One pitch per author this time.
Sandra Borowicz · August 22, 2013 at 11:28 am
Ok….Glad I asked!!! Don’t want to muck it up for myself!! :>)
PamBrunskill · August 22, 2013 at 5:23 pm
Brenda,
Are picture books allowed in either #PitchMadness or in #PitMad?
Thanks for setting this up!
Brenda Drake · August 22, 2013 at 5:32 pm
No Picture Books in Pitch Madness. Yes Picture Books in #PitMad. 😉
Kelly Allan · August 22, 2013 at 6:53 pm
You’re awesome, Brenda. Just sayin’. Thanks for all you do.
CL Howland · August 22, 2013 at 7:20 pm
Hi Brenda,
I just want to clarify one part of the formatting instructions.
It’s just the pitch you’re referring to as far as Times New Roman 12pt, single spaced, one space between paragraphs, NO paragraph indentations.
Is that correct?
The 250 word excerpt should also be Times New Roman 12pt, single spaced, one space between paragraphs, but should have paragraph indentations? Yes?
Thanks
Brenda Drake · August 22, 2013 at 7:47 pm
No indention in the first 250 words. Only a space between paragraphs.
CL Howland · August 22, 2013 at 8:45 pm
Brenda,
Thanks for getting right back to me.
Mark · August 23, 2013 at 9:48 am
This comment has been removed by the author.
Theresa Milstein · August 23, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Wow, what a great opportunity. Thank you!
terrajw · August 24, 2013 at 10:30 am
A quick question. Are words like fifty-five considered one word or two?
Thanks!
Brenda Drake · August 24, 2013 at 11:27 am
Yes it is one word.
Susan Hayes Fisher · August 24, 2013 at 1:03 pm
My 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, but if I continue to the end of the sentence, my submission would have 267 words. Should I stop at the previous sentence? I don’t want to break the word limit rule. Thanks
Brenda Drake · August 24, 2013 at 1:24 pm
That will be fine. 🙂
Candie Leigh · August 24, 2013 at 7:27 pm
Hi Brenda, if I didn’t receive a receipt do I resubmit?
Thank you 🙂
Brenda Drake · August 24, 2013 at 7:50 pm
What email did you use?
Brenda Drake · August 24, 2013 at 7:55 pm
I found you. Candra Campbell, right?
Brenda Drake · August 24, 2013 at 7:56 pm
Or rather, I found your entry so no need to resend.
Comments are closed.