Twitter is a hub of never-ending activity and conversation; an amplifier of authors’ voices to reach more ears and in some cases, the right ears and the right eyes. For writers, Twitter is a source of both opportunity and self-promotion when used in the right way. Over the last few years, pitch parties on Twitter have become influential spaces for writers to catch the roaming eye of both agents and editors on the hunt for fresh manuscripts.
Pitch parties are global events where un-agented writers can pitch their work to both agents and editors who can like their tweets and make requests to see full manuscripts. Book deals with the world’s top publishers alongside aspiring writers scoring agent representation are just a number of success stories that have happened directly as a result of these competitions.
However, there are strict rules for entering these competitions such as generally having a completed and ready-to-go manuscripts, fitting into the specific genre being promoted or belonging to certain group—for example, being a person of colour or being a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Take extra care when entering these to make sure you and your work fits completely into the competition you are entering. Don’t give a potential agent or an editor who is scouring through the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of tweets to bypass your tweet because you haven’t followed the rules properly.
Examples of Pitch competitions to enter include:
PitMad (All genres and ages)
PBpit (Picture books only)
SFFpit (Science Fiction and Fantasy only)
PitDark (Horror and dark literature from middle grade upwards)
DVpit (Marginalised communities only)
RevPit (Writers can win feedback and developmental edits on their full manuscript)
KissPit (Romance only)
In my experience, pitch parties are highly US-orientated with mostly American agents and editors taking part. This is not to say British agents do not, I have seen UK agents take part and request to see work, but the US definitely dominate which I believe is worth mentioning to those who might desire a specific type of agent located in a specific region.
My tips for pitching competitions:
Slim the premise of your book into a catchy short and snappy pitch (remember Twitter’s maximum characters). Focus on the hook and grab the reader’s attention
Comparable titles are fantastic, e.g. Percy Jackson X Hunger Games—it tells the reader in the tweet alone what your book is all about
Follow the guidelines of the pitching event properly: for example, tweet the correct amount of times in the given time limit, use the genre hashtags and furthermore
Following from this, I recommend spacing your tweets out throughout the day.
Adjust your tweets so that they are similar but not 100% identical
Examine previous tweets from earlier iterations of the pitch contest, see which tweets got the most engagement and determine what exactly made them so successful
Pitching contests are a great way to grab an agent’s interest and they can get you higher up their mountainous slush pile of manuscripts. So if you have a completed manuscript and are ready to take that jump towards getting an agent, go for it! You never know what could happen. Have you entered a pitch contest? How did it go? Please share in the comments section.
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— Davina Tijani (@dee_tijani)