The Pitch Madness submission window will be open for 24 hours on February 24!
What is Pitch Madness? It’s a contest held every March, where writers enter for a chance to win requests from the participating agents. Writers submit a 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of their completed manuscript on submission day. Then a team of readers choose the top sixty (60) entries to go onto the agent round. Though Pitch Madness has a game theme, the next contest will transition to more of a critique based contest with agents simply requesting in the comments of the entries’ posts instead of having the agents play for requests. Also, hosts will coach our team members, helping them polish their entries and first pages.
We’ll have an agent introduction post up next week.
The submission window will be open from 12:01 AM EST on February 24 until 11:59PM EST. You should have plenty of time to get your submissions in. There is no limit of how many entries will be accepted. Please note: All entries sent before or after the allotted times will be deleted.
There will be 60 finalists moving onto the agent round. Pitch Madness will accept Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult completed fiction, novel length (no novellas) completed and polished manuscripts only. This time around we will not accept non-fiction. Only one entry per writer this round.
What do you need to enter? A 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of your finished manuscript. If the 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of the sentence. I will post formatting instructions before the submission window opens. There will be a form on the submission post to enter your pitch into.
Pitch Madness will be on six blogs and each blog host will have a co-host helping them choose their top 10 entries.
We’ll have a small team of first readers ranking the entries for the host round.
All the twitter fun will be happening on the hashtag #PitchMadness!
Meet our first round readers …
Jami Nord
Phone monkey, former Lit Agent intern, freelance editor for @Chimera_Edits, & writer under a pen name. Bi, pagan, nerdy, & liberal. I don’t bite, promise.
Kerbie Addis
Writer. Feminist. Slytherin. Bacon mage. Future librarian. Lit agent intern. Army wife. Lover of dark stories & dark lipstick. #PitchWars co-mentor. #WNDB
Mary Ann Marlowe
Author of SOME KIND OF MAGIC @KensingtonBooks Feb ’17 * Repped by @mike_hoogland at @DGLM * #PitchWars Mentor, Whovian, & Sassenach
Samantha Joyce
Author of the LOVE IN DISGUISE series. FLIRTING WITH FAME and DEALING IN DECEPTION out now from Pocket Star! Repped by @KatRushall of ABLA. Broadway Geek Girl.
Here are the links to the host blogs and their co-hosts for the contest …
Team Ice Cream Sea hosted on Brenda Drake’s blog …
Brenda Drake
NYT bestselling author of YA fiction. Latest, THIEF OF LIES & CURSING FATE. Next, GUARDIAN OF SECRETS 2/7/17. Rep’d by @petejknapp #PitchWars & #PitMad Creator
Monica Hoffman
Website | Twitter
YA Spec-Fic Rom Writer | Trekkie, Dr. Who, & Star Wars fan | Music is my blood | SCBWI Member | #PitchWars Mentor | Rep’d by @agentsavant & @4triciaskinner
Team Gumdrop Mountains hosted on Heather Cashman’s blog …
Heather Cashman
All things wordy, generally nerdy. Editor at @CornerstonesLit. Agent intern. #SCBWI member. Assistant to @brendadrake #PitchMadness #PitMad #PitchWars
Nikki Roberti
YA Contemp author rep’d by @sztownsend81 of @NewLeafLiterary, @BrendaDrake‘s assistant, #PitchWars Mentor, @StarkEditing Query Editor, Awarded Playwright
Team Peanut Brittle House hosted on Pintip Dunn’s blog …
Pintip Dunn
New York Times bestselling author of YA fiction. RWA RITA® winner for Best First Book. The FORGET TOMORROW series; THE DARKEST LIE; GIRL ON THE VERGE (Jun 27).
Darcy Woods
Counts laughter as exercise. Lives to swoon. Award-winning YA author of SUMMER OF SUPERNOVAS (Random House/Crown). Repped by @cjdrayton.
Lollipop Woods hosted by Rebecca Coffindaffer’s blog …
Rebecca Coffindaffer
Author, shipper trash, all-around nerd. Freelance copy editor at http://www.rawestoneditorial.com . Making my own fun since 1983. Repped by @lara_perkins.
Marieke Nijkamp
#1 NYT bestselling author of THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS (Sourcebooks Fire) | Dreamer | Wanderer | #WNDB | Secret Agent: @suddenlyjen, Barry Goldblatt Literary.
Team Licorice Castle hosted on Sharon Johnston’s blog …
Sharon Johnston
DIVIDED & SHATTERED: Open Heart Novels out now with @CityOwlPress #PitchWars mentor. #LoveOzYA
Jeyn Roberts
Author of the Dark Inside trilogy, The Bodies We Wear and When They Fade. Vancouverite. Animal lover. Destroying words in a coffee shop near you.
Team Peppermint Forest hosted on Wade Albert White’s blog …
Wade Albert White
Author of THE ADVENTURER’S GUIDE series. #PitchWars Mentor. Member of @TheSweet16s. Also, I own one pretend cat and one real one.
Timenda Wertz
Middle Sschool science teacher, SF/F geek, Ravenclaw, equal parts football & Broadway fan, Pitch Wars MG co-mentor, represented by Elizabeth Kaplan of Kaplan Literary
Here’s the schedule for Pitch Madness …
February 24: Pitch Madness submission window opens for 24 hours
February 24 – March 5: Pitch Madness Slush Readers sort the entries
March 6: Pitch Madness Draft – Hosts pick their top entries
March 6 – 14: Hosts coach their teams
March 16 – 17: Agent Round
March 23: #PitMad Twitter Pitch Party (Even if you made it in, didn’t make it in, or didn’t enter Pitch Madness, #PitMad is open to everyone!)
That’s it for now. Look for our agent announcement post next week and join us on Februrary 24 when the submission window opens!
32 Comments
naomimilliner · January 17, 2017 at 4:45 pm
Thanks so much for doing this again. It’s not only fun, but a terrific opportunity. Could you please remind us: do #PitchMadness and YA or MG count as part of the 35-word pitch?
Heather Cashman · January 18, 2017 at 11:30 am
Pitch Madness is not on twitter. We promote it on twitter and have the community on twitter, but it’s a contest with a submission window on the blog. You submit your pitch and your first page, and if you’re chosen, you’re mentored, it’s revised, and posted with an agent round. There are pages about both contests at the top of this blog.
naomimilliner · January 19, 2017 at 9:05 am
Thanks, Heather! 🙂
Patricia Mather Parker · January 24, 2017 at 12:40 pm
Scared that I’ve missed the agent introduction post. Is it up and I just haven’t seen it somehow?
Brenda Drake · January 25, 2017 at 11:04 am
The agent post isn’t up yet. We have it just about done and will post bios for all twenty agents soon. 🙂
Licia · January 27, 2017 at 11:48 am
For the 250 words – does this include a prologue, or should it be first page of Chapter 1? I’m new to this. Thanks!
Heather Cashman · January 27, 2017 at 12:03 pm
It’s the first 250 of your manuscript, prologue or chapter. Wherever it begins. Good luck!
Donna Hanks · February 3, 2017 at 4:48 am
Any genre?
heathercashman · February 3, 2017 at 10:09 am
Any fiction genre. We always have a wide variety of tastes among the agents we select. Good luck!
T. James Belich · February 14, 2017 at 10:49 am
Thanks for doing this again! One question: does a hyphenated adjective (for example, “small-town”) count as one word or two?
Brenda Drake · February 14, 2017 at 10:51 am
It counts as one word. We use Microsoft Word to determine the word count.
Watcher Book · February 15, 2017 at 5:52 pm
How strict is the 35 word rule…I’m stuck at 39 and can’t seem to get it down!!!!
Watcher Book · February 15, 2017 at 5:57 pm
Got it down to 36 words now! ACK 1 more word must be eliminated! The pressure is already getting to me…
heathercashman · February 16, 2017 at 12:05 pm
You can do it, Watcher Book! I know you can. Good luck with Pitch Madness!
Sarah Ulery · February 21, 2017 at 10:32 pm
Oh, I have a question! I currently have a query in the critique round of #sonofapitch, but I won’t know if I go to the agent round until a couple days after the Pitch Madness deadline for submissions. Am I allowed to submit and later withdraw my submission? I completely understand if this is off the table, but I figured I’d ask rather than miss an opportunity. Thanks so much!!!
heathercashman · February 22, 2017 at 9:47 am
Sarah–you can submit and then let us know if you receive an offer. But it would have to be before we announce the winners on March 6th. Good luck!
Lauren McShane · February 22, 2017 at 3:16 pm
Hello! This is my first year doing Pitch Madness and I am so excited! Does it matter which blog we submit our entry on? Or will all of the entries be compiled in one place for each team to pick and choose from? Friday can’t come soon enough! Thanks!
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