There’s a twitter pitch party on the Twitter hashtag #PitMad today, September 7th, from 8AM to 8PM EDT.
Get your twitter pitches ready and make sure to include all the appropriate hashtags, especially #PitMad and your age category, in your 140 character tweet-pitch. If you need help creating the perfect pitch, there’s a post about it here: The 35-word Twitter Pitch . . . Simplified
Keep in Mind . . .
Be polite and don’t say anything mean about a writer’s pitch. Please, don’t “like” any pitches. That’s only for agents. If you want to show support, reply with a comment or re-tweet the pitch. You can quote the tweet with your support or praise, or just re-tweet without quoting.
Any genre can be pitched. Pitch up to three times per day, per manuscript. It helps to pitch when you see an agent on the hashtag (throughout the day for a better response). Add #YA, #MG, #NA, #A, or #PB in your pitch to help the agents find the ones they represent. For more detail with your hashtags, see all of the hashtags below!
If your tweet is “liked” (or hearted) by an agent, please confirm they are a legitimate agent, search the agent’s feed, and see what the agent would like #PitMad participants to send them. Then send the requested materials.
QUESTIONS? Tweet or DM @BrendaDrake OR @HeatherCashman
For added fun, get some popcorn and scroll through the #fakepitmad pitches.
ALL INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS ARE WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS EVENT.
PLEASE, READ CAREFULLY!!!
What is #PitMad . . . ?
#PitMad is a pitch party on Twitter where writers tweet a 140 character pitch for their completed, polished, unpublished manuscripts. Because #PitMad has grown over the years, industry professionals are finding it overwhelming to search the feed. It goes by so fast now, it’s a little mind-boggling. And we don’t want to scare off the industry professionals.
So our new rule is that you may only tweet three (3) pitches (they can be different pitches or the same pitch) per project for the day. You may pitch more than one project. I suggest every four hours or so tweet a different pitch. Or tweet during breakfast, lunch, & dinner breaks.
DO NOT ATTACH PICS unless it’s an illustration for a Picture Book, Graphic novel, or other material that includes illustrations.
Please keep in mind, we never know what agents or publishers will be on the hashtag, so make sure you research each requesting agent or publisher. You do not have to send requests to those requesting if you don’t want to work with them. Read this post by Claribel Ortega for reasons why doing your research before hitting send on that request will save you tons of heartache.
INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS – TO SEARCH FOR A SPECIFIC CATEGORY OR GENRE, put #PitMad-(sub-hashtag) (i.e. #PitMad-MG) in the search engine at the top of your Twitter page. Doing this will give you only the tweets for that sub-hashtag. If you have any questions or would like another sub-hashtag added to the list, @ me (@brendadrake) or one of hosts monitoring the feed.
There will be unfavorable tweets on the hashtag during the day, please block all spam/porn ones and report them as you see them. To view #PitMad spam/porn free just put this up in the search tab: #PitMad -biturix -google or go here.
Rules for #PitMad . . .
Everyone is welcome to pitch. All genres/categories are welcomed. Must be completed, polished, unpublished manuscripts. You can pitch more than one manuscript. You may only tweet three different pitches for one project for the day. I suggest every four hours tweet a different pitch. Make sure to include the hashtag #PitMad and your genre/category (if you can fit it).
The pitch must include the hashtag #PitMad and the category (#YA, #MG, #A, #NA, #PB etc.) in the tweet. The “#” is important to include. It will sort the categories to make it easier for the agents/publishers.
The agents/publishers will tweet their submission preferences and favorite your tweet if they want to see more. If you get a favorite from an agent or publisher, follow their submission preference and send them their request as soon as you can. They should have tweeted what they want you to send, so check their twitter feed for that information. If they haven’t listed it, follow their submission guidelines on their websites. Make sure to put “PitMad Request: TITLE” in the subject line of your email when sending your request.
Don’t tweet agents and publishers directly unless they tweet you first.
Don’t favorite friends tweets. The agents will be requesting by favoriting tweets. so let’s keep that for requests. Starting with our December 1, 2016 event, we will now allow Retweeting of your friends tweets. Please use Quote-RT and add a comment to the retweet to express your support if possible.
If you can’t be there, you can always schedule your tweet by using Tweetdeck or some other application that schedules tweets.
And finally, be nice and courteous to each other, and especially to the industry professionals. We’ve had some success stories come out of our previous #PitMads and we’d hate to have it canceled due to abuse. If you do see abuse, please report it to Twitter or notify one of the hosts of the event. Thank you!
Below is a list of sub-hashtag categories and genres to separate your pitch from the main #PitMad feed.
Hashtags …
Age Categories:
#PB = Picture Book
#C = Children’s
#CB = Chapter Book
#CL = Children’s Lit
#MG = Middle Grade
#YA = Young Adult
#NA = New Adult
#A = Adult
Genres/Sub-genres:
#AA = African American
#AC = Action
#AD = Adventure
#CF = Christian Fiction
#CON = Contemporary
#CR = Contemporary Romance
#DIS = Disabilities
#DV = Diversity
#E = Erotica
#ER = Erotic Romance
#ES = Erotica Suspense
#F = Fantasy
#FTA = Fairy Tale Retelling
#H = Horror
#HA = Humor
#HF = Historical Fiction
#HR = Historical Romance
#INSP = Inspirational
#IRMC = Interracial/Multicultural
#MR = Magical Realism
#M = Mystery
#Mem = Memoir
#MA = Mainstream
#MH = Mental Health
#LGBT
#LF = Literary Fiction
#NF = Non-fiction
#R = Romance
#P = Paranormal
#PR = Paranormal Romance
#RS = Romantic Suspense
#S = Suspense
#SF = SciFi
#SPF = Speculative Fiction
#STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
#T = Thriller
#UF = Urban Fantasy
#VF = Visionary Fiction
#W = Westerns
#WF = Woman’s Fiction
Here’s the dates for our upcoming quarterly #PitMad events:
September 7, 2017 (Today!)
December 7, 2017
For more information about Twitter Pitching . . .
Visit this post by agent @carlywatters here and this post by #PitMad alum @DianaUrban here. And here find a post from Diana on how to filter out spam from the #PitMad feed.
Articles about #PitMad: