#Pitmad

Yes, Hathor, that is kosher.

Honestly, you don't see much NF being pitched. The trick is to keep an eye as to what agents/publishers are lurking and time your pitches to be seen by your top picks.

It sounds a lot more difficult than it is- I promise!

Think of this first go-round as your practice session. Twitter pitch parties happen pretty regularly, so don't despair if this first time doesn't result in a request.

Try searching Twitter for #PitMad, then scroll back and read past pitches. It should help you hone yours for the big day.

Thanks, imjustj

How about pitching when the people you see on have already rejected you? Or is the reasoning that other people might see it so you aren't being a pest?

Hathor said:

Thanks, imjustj

How about pitching when the people you see on have already rejected you? Or is the reasoning that other people might see it so you aren't being a pest?

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No one will be upset at all. I've heard of more than one (including me) writer who recieved requests from agents who have already rejected (pitches are very different from queries). Of course its pretty pointless to send at that point, unless you've significantly revised ( I didn't send mine). But there is often more than one agent in the board.

As for the agent/editors, it mostly just means if you are querying agent and get a request from an editor on #pitmad, you probably shouldn't send it because it puts the agents in a tough spot if the publisher offers (they're usually very small presses)

Madeleines said:

Thanks for clarifying this, too. I spent yesterday evening creating a twitter handle and drafting up a pitch. Then I used http://www.lettercount.com/ to work on getting my pitch down to 140 words.

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Madeleines, the pitch must be within 140 characters, not words, and you must have room to fit in the hashtag #pitchmad.

Good luck! I received a partial request last year during one of these events, it was exhilarating.

I've spent the past week and a half working on my #pitmad pitch! It's finally (in my mind) perfect! Well as perfect as I can get it in 140 characters. I love Brenda's #pitmad. It's awesome.

Anyone else inspired by this thread and want to start sharing/critting 140-character pitches? Wanna start a fresh thread for that?

I don't know about sharing. I'm at an "everything I write is stinky" place today.

I enjoyed your "why I still homeschool" blog post. Stick to your guns. My daughter went the opposite direction (regular school, pulled out when they gave up on her). You have the flexibility they do not: when something doesn't work, try something else. It takes time and patience, but it does work.

They're doing crits here if you want to join in! http://avajae.blogspot.com/2013/09/pitmad-pitch-critiques.html?m=1

Heather Head said:

Anyone else inspired by this thread and want to start sharing/critting 140-character pitches? Wanna start a fresh thread for that?

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There's a thread in Query Letter Hell for Twitches and Pitches a bunch of has have been prepping ours in.

Chumplet said:

Madeleines, the pitch must be within 140 characters, not words, and you must have room to fit in the hashtag #pitchmad.

Good luck! I received a partial request last year during one of these events, it was exhilarating.

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Haha, my bad, that was a typo But thanks for catching it! I now have a line of decent pitches ready to go. If only I could concentrate on something else for a while...

Hathor said:

Thanks, imjustj

How about pitching when the people you see on have already rejected you? Or is the reasoning that other people might see it so you aren't being a pest?

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It's perfectly cool.

I have one editor who requests my mss every. single. time.

She has already rejected me.

Maybe after the current revision she will be sold?

imjustj said:

It's perfectly cool.

I have one editor who requests my mss every. single. time.

She has already rejected me.

Maybe after the current revision she will be sold?

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Maybe so. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

I've had an agent agree to look at several revisions of my NF. But each time I get back a "nope, still sucks" response. Well, it's a bit more polite but never gives me a direction for further revision. It's always -- this? nope. how about this? nope.

For everyone's enjoyment, a pitch generator. http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.com/2013/02/pitch-factory-twitter-pitch-logline.html It threw out some hilarious ones for my fiction. My favorite started out, "It's Pride & Prejudice with humans."

Hahaha! That's awesome, Hathor. Thanks for sharing.

Hathor said:

For everyone's enjoyment, a pitch generator. http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.com/2013/02/pitch-factory-twitter-pitch-logline.html It threw out some hilarious ones for my fiction. My favorite started out, "It's Pride & Prejudice with humans."

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Best. Thing. Ever.
Oh, this is going to keep me amused for a very, very long time.

"Aria has a secret: she's a pianist with the power to play piano. But now the secret's out, and she's on the run."

"In a magical island where everyone is normal, Aria's different: she can play piano. What will happen when piano finds out?"

"Tricked into an alliance with Blakeney aspiring pianist Aria is forced to join the mutated creatures of magical island in a search for truth."

Hmm, "a pianist with the power to play the piano." Those are the best kind.

I'd be more amused with my "mprisoned in DC where humans run wild" if it weren't somewhat accurate.

Hathor said:

Hmm, "a pianist with the power to play the piano." Those are the best kind.

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And yet so rare.

About 12 hours to go! I have four versions I've decided on. I think I'll post once every 1.5 hrs, which would be twice for each pitch. Figure if I set myself an alarm or something, then I might be able to walk away each time and not spend ALL day stalking Twitter.

WKlein said:

And yet so rare.

About 12 hours to go! I have four versions I've decided on. I think I'll post once every 1.5 hrs, which would be twice for each pitch. Figure if I set myself an alarm or something, then I might be able to walk away each time and not spend ALL day stalking Twitter.

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That's what my piano teacher says, too.

Your plan sounds good. I would probably drive myself nuts if I watched all day, getting twitch and request envy. I have three versions for the fiction, two for the non. Mixing up the order (where the description, hashtag, and genre go) give lots of variety.

I can't decide which of my fiction twitches are best. Two give an idea of the narrator's voice and the tone of the book. The other gives a better idea of the plot and the stakes. Hard to tell right now which would work better in hooking interest.

I had to laugh at the piano one too.

Why is that the one day at work I'll want no one to bother me (which often happens these days), I have a zillion things to get done and places to be that are not at my computer putting up and obsessing over my pitches? Grrr.

Did everyone get their first pitch in?

Does Twitter sometimes take awhile to show things in the feed? My home page showed my tweets but #pitmad didn't for the longest time. It also had a large number of tweets; I went away to do something else and came back and they weren't there. Then they were again. Including mine.

Maybe I shouldn't look.

I swear, with my relationship with technology, my participation today will probably crash Twitter altogether.

I think I messed up my first tweet pitch. I didn't leave a space before the hashtag so I don't know if it'll show up in the feed.

Edited to add: I saw someone already received a request for a full! Wow!

Posted mine at 8a. Banned myself from Twitter until 9:30a. *checks clock again for the 48th time*

McCall_girl said:

I think I messed up my first tweet pitch. I didn't leave a space before the hashtag so I don't know if it'll show up in the feed.

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Do an advanced search with #pitmad and your @name.

I did this for you. I only found the tweet where you talked about your lack of sleep. So go forth again, lady!

Thanks, Hathor. Nope, it's not showing up. Oh well, it's almost been an hour, so I'll try again in a little while.

WKlein said:

Posted mine at 8a. Banned myself from Twitter until 9:30a. *checks clock again for the 48th time*

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I'm trying to find it. Help me find you. Unless you don't want to be found by the likes of me

I have to take off at 9:30, so I'll throw new twitches out there first. I suppose the feed will be insane by the time I come back.