Give it our best pitch! Pitch Wars & #PitMad

For everybody (like me!) who thought there could be nothing more terrifying than formatting a nine-sentence literary query letter for a novel-length manuscript, contemplate condensing that pitch to Twitter’s 280-character format. Welcome to #PitMad – which I can only guess is Twitter-ese for pitching madness!

First, the long version – Pitch Wars, the annual scramble to gain the mentorship of established writers/editors/publishing industry interns who each pick one writer. They’ll read that writer’s entire manuscript and offer suggestions on how to make it – and a query letter -- shine for agents. Mentors on the Pitch Wars site are grouped by reader age category (middle grade, young adult and adult). Check out what they write, what they want to see, and pick up to four to pitch to.

The Pitch Wars submission site opens at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight time August 28 and closes at 10 p.m. EDT August 29. Mentor wishlists are already on line, along with links to their own social media sites for additional information on what they like.

Writers chosen by mentor will be announced October 12. Finally, February 6-11, 2019, literary agents will get their peek at those now-polished query letters and opening manuscript pages. 

Please note that Pitch Wars is only open to unpublished manuscripts that have not already found an agent. Submit only one manuscript, and be sure it’s as complete and polished as possible before being set before the eyes of potential mentors. See the Pitch Wars site for complete information and the submission form during the August 28-29 submission frenzy.

image: pixabay

No sooner had I stumbled onto Pitch Wars and gotten positive comments from fellow critique group members than somebody mentioned #PitMad. 

For something to do other than biting our nails while waiting for nibbles from Pitch Wars mentors (and later, possibly agents), log onto Twitter for the #PitMad pitch parties from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. EDT September 6 and 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. EST December 6. 

Again, only pitch complete, polished (but unagented) manuscripts, using the Twitter 280-character limit. For this one, writers may pitch multiple manuscripts, but no more than three tweets for each. Agents/editors may request manuscripts by favoriting tweets. See the site for details.

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Still writing your manuscript? Or maybe writing another? Don’t forget to check out the NaNoWriMo resources, including low-cost, online classes for past (or future) WriMos as mentioned in Tuesday's post. Classes start September 1 to allow time for completion before NaNoWriMo's official November 1 starting date.