Twitter pitch contests, or parties, are a fairly recent
development in the online publishing world. These are day-long Twitter sessions
whereby writers tweet enticing pitches about their new works via a hashtag that
is reviewed by publishing house representatives and agents. It’s fascinating
to watch Twitter’s instantaneous and expansive social reach being used this way,
but it brings up the question about how well this works for both writer and
publisher.
Publishing house agents or representatives ‘favourite’
a Twitter pitch to let the author know they’re interesting in seeing their book,
and/or twitter what exactly they would like you to send. It’s a fast-paced,
12-hour day.
A popular Twitter pitch party is #PitMad (hosted by Brenda Drake). This
is held four times a year and is for all writing genres. Their upcoming pitch party will be on March 11, 2015. The remaining pitches for the year will
be: June 4, 2015, September 10, 2015,
and December 4, 2015. There are other pitches that run as well including #AdPit (ran Feb 5, 2015), #PitchMadness (just ran in
February),and #SFFPit (does not appear to have a 2015 schedule up that I can find
at this time), and others.
From a writer’s perspective, my main questions are
just how effective is Twitter pitching, and is it worth participating? In researching the possibilities of this opportunity,
I found Dan Koboldt’s website (author and scientist). He has done a very useful study on the
statistics of twitter pitching from a pitch contest in early 2014.
The bottom line is that Dan Koboldt estimates the
odds of one's pitch getting a ‘favourite’ at #PitMad are between 6.5% and 10%. Please
see Dan Koboldt’s Guest Post on January 13, 2014
At first glance, based mostly on his study and
researching the web, it appears that the chances of actually getting ‘favourited’,
and therefore just getting the opportunity to submit your work to an interested
party, are very low. There is the additional hurdle of having a publishing
house then offering to acquire your manuscript for publication. However, this
does happen. Here are a few success
stories for inspiration:
Diana Urban
Dina von Lowenkraft
Kristine Asselin
Also, Amy U’Ren @amylaurenwrites notes on January
26, 2015 she is now represented by The Bent Agency thanks to #PitMad!
I think Twitter pitching is definitely worth doing
if you have a completed, edited manuscript ready for submission, and can take the
time to pitch through different parts of the day. However, I would keep my expectations modest.
Check out how to craft a tantalizing pitch from
online advice. Tweet your pitches if possible 2 times an hour 8:00 am through
8:00 pm, changing the order of the words and placement of hashtags to vary your
tweets a little each time. If your pitch gets a ‘favourite’, then follow that
editor’s/publishing house’s submission guidelines to submit, advising them you
were invited to submit. If you’re
interested in being represented by them. If you don’t get a ‘favourite’, just take in the experience and
don’t get down about it. You’re in with lots of good company J
Ultimately, it’s worth participating in events
that will get your name out there, especially if you’re a relatively new
author. Hopefully it will bring you some great contacts as well. And maybe
you’ll get into that magical 10%! As my novella, the Iron Web, is currently still a WIP, I won’t be pitching until
later in the year, even though I’m an Indie. In the meantime, I’ll be watching
the March 11 party to see how things work.
As for the publishing houses, they do acquire new
talent via Twitter pitches though the numbers currently look to be low. This
trend seems to be on an upward swing, so perhaps this will eventually become a significant
way for new authors in particular to get noticed.
If you have interesting tales of your Twitter
pitches and if they’ve brought you success and/or great contacts, I would love
to read about them in the comments section. Good luck in your 2015 pitches.
Your Guide to #PitMad
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