Pitch Contests on Twitter for YA Novels

There's one coming up soon. I haven't participated, so I don't know how well-organized it is or anything.

The website is http://we-do-write.blogspot.com/2013/07/heads-up-countdown-to-three-two-one.html

I think it is only limited genres, so read the post carefully.

From what I have seen the contests are all a little different. Most provide a hashtag for the pitch posted to Twitter, but exactly who is looking at that hashtag, if there are other requirements to join, if there are parts of the contest not related to Twitter, these can all be really different.

I am terrible at pitches so I have not really looked into these kinds of contests much but if you google twitter pitch contests they come up frequently.

Undercover said:

Okay, thanks. I will. I've been reading a few already, but they're all past now. But how do you do it exactly? Do you tweet it on your page with the hashtag? Or post it to the particular contest blog?

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Yes, you'd post your pitch just like you'd post a normal tweet from your account, but with the designated hashtag for the particular contest you're doing. So your pitch would need to be no more than 140 characters INCLUDING the contest hashtag (don't forget to account for that when crafting your pitches).

I just did PitchMas recently. Everyone on the planet EXCEPT for me (yes, even people not participating...or at least it feels that way) seemed to get at least one or two requests out of it, so I'd say it's a pretty fruitful endeavor for a lot of writers.

Good luck

Undercover said:

The August Pitch 250+ sounds interesting, and more up my alley. You just email your entry.

Ellen Hopkins is one of the judges, which is pretty impressive to me. Here's more info if anyone is interested:

http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2013/07/announcing-august-pitch250-contest_14.html?m=1

Agents and Editor judges to be announced for this one.

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This looks interesting but I'm stumped on how to write a longline. There's a 3-2-1 pitch this week I think. Three sentences and they pick the best from them. I, too, did the tweet one recently without success. It's hard to pitch with so few characters.

MartinaMay said:

This looks interesting but I'm stumped on how to write a longline. There's a 3-2-1 pitch this week I think. Three sentences and they pick the best from them. I, too, did the tweet one recently without success. It's hard to pitch with so few characters.

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MY PEOPLE!

Seriously, I was thinking I was the only one!

I'm a huge fan of all the contests. Most of them are blog contests that the contestants and judges gather on twitter to pass the time. A lot of times the judges will talk about what they're seeing in their "slush" (depending on the contest, they're all a bit different) I have a bit of an obsession with these things, honestly. They're addicting. But they're a really great way to meet other writers (I've found quiet a few great CPs and betas, as well as just cheering buddies through these) and gives you a great idea of whether your work is up to par (at least the pitch/query and first page)

Brenda Drake is kind of the contest queen, she's runs a few and is involved in most others so I suggest following her @BrendaDrake and checking out her blog http://brenleedrake.blogspot.com/ She runs Pitch Madness which is twice a year and does The Writers Voice and Pitch Wars each once a year. Most of which have what they call #pitmad attached to it. After the contest they'll do a full day of twitter pitching where any agents and editors are invited to come by the hashtag and favorite the pitches they want to see more of. They usually go well. The last 4 twitter pitches I've had 2 requests in each (some of which have been small press editors) But a lot of the same agents participate so I'll be done pitching those most likely.


And by the way, I think the short pitching gets easier. I didn't have much luck the first couple times I tried, but have been pretty consistent recently. Takes a bit to get the hang of it. Now I have a habit of working on my pitches before I'm even finished drafting.

But here is a list of the requested pitches from the #pitmad in March. http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.com/2013_03_01_archive.html It's cool to see what got interest and how they went about pitching them.

I think there's a PitchMad happening in September for YA.

I can confirm that PitchMadness is coming up in August and will have a Twitter pitch contest afterward, in September. Definitely seconding Trombolii here that the best way to be up on these things is to follow Brenda!

As a newbie querier, I think contests, and twitter pitch sessions, are fantastic. Not just because they get your work out there, but also because you meet other writers. Even if you don't get into a contest, it's well worth reading the entries and comments.

queries and contests?

Any idea if you can enter these contests with your novel while you are in the process of querying agencies?

Yup. Just pay attention to what agents are involved. If 8 out of 10 have seen your query before, its probably best to pass it and let someone else have a shot. Most aurhors in the contest are querying. The exception is if its just now polished and ready for agents eyes and they'd like to see how it does first.

Oh and pull out as soon as you get an offer!

thanks I appreciate the info!

I have a running list of upcoming pitch contests (both Twitter and full pitch types), if you're interested, it's located here!

PITCH CONTEST CALENDAR

http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.com/2013/01/contest-madness.html

PEOPLE and HASHTAGS TO FOLLOW

Brenda Drake, Jessa Russo, and blogs like Operation Awesome, YA Adventures in Publishing, WriteOnCon, and Miss Snark's First Victim are great to follow as they host several pitch events each year!

Edited to add: Follow Michelle Hauck, Krista Van Dolzer, Dan Koboldt, Monica @ Love YA, L.L. McKinney, and Nikola Vukoja as well, and check out the following twitter hashtags:

#pitmad, #sunvssnow, #PitchSlam, #NestPitch, #TheWVoice, #SFFPit, #adpit, #SecretShop, #PitchPlus1, #AgentMatch, #QueryKombat, #PitchWars, #NoQS

Carissa said:

I have a running list of upcoming pitch contests (both Twitter and full pitch types), if you're interested, it's located here!

http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.com/2013/01/contest-madness.html

Brenda Drake, Jessa Russo, and blogs like Cupid's Literary Connection, Operation Awesome, WriteOnCon, and Miss Snark's First Victim are great to follow as they host a couple pitch events each year!

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That's an awesome list!
Two of the fulls I have out right now came from pitch contests. And I just made it into MSFV's Secret Agent contest for October. I love entering contests, it's a lot of fun and a really great way to meet other writers.