The No Pitmad Likes Club

samchapman

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Hey all! So far a longtime rejection expert here.

I was wondering if anybody else had participated in PitMad and gotten no attention from agents. I recognize there is an enormous flood of twitter pitching and agents are drinking from a firehose on their end, so tons of good pitches got ignored.

Still, it sucks, and it would help to know I wasn't alone--anybody else in this boat?
 

lianna williamson

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I did get a favorite from an agent this time, but I've done #PitMad five times for two books, and three of those times no agents nibbled. The pitch that got favorited this time is the same one that got no attention last time around. It really is a crap shoot-- the luck of having your pitch near the top of the feed at the same moment a likely agent is scrolling through.
 

Sage

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No bites this time. One of my tweets got a small publisher interested, but not one I'd pursue.

Last PitMad, I didn't even play, and I got two likes on one of these same tweets (from the previous #pitmad). Sometimes it's all a matter of timing, and who's looking and how.
 

samchapman

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Sage: Ha, that's interesting that it can work out that way. Yeah, it's not too dissimilar to traditional publishing, really--keep trying and go for the right timing.
 

Felix

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:hooray: Me! Me!

I gave it a shot but I'm okay with not getting nibbles. It was my first stab at PitMad and I abhor twitter so it was more an exercise than a hopeful endeavor.
 

CalRazor

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First time I've heard of this. Maybe I'll give it a try.
 

Shoeless

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You guys have more guts than I do. I could never work up the courage to try something like PitMad.

*Disclaimer* I didn't have a Twitter account until two months ago either, so that also had something to do with it...
 

Fuchsia Groan

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The one time I tried it, zero agent likes. So discouraging. I still queried and got rep from an agent who was very active in PitMad that year. The book was published and landed on the IndieNext list. So maybe I'm not too good at Twitter pitching, or not all books are well served by the format. :)
 

zmethos

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I didn't participate the past few times, but I've definitely been in the situation of zero hearts on my pitches. I just keep tweaking . . . (when I have something to shop).
 

Jamills08

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I never tried it because it'd take me days/weeks to agonize over perfecting my twitter pitch. I already did that for months with my query. I do see lots of pitches that don't get likes, so I wouldn't take it personal. I think agents have so many queries they go through that twitter pitches aren't their go to.
 

gbhike

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Forgive me for being naive, as I'm still new to all this, but what is this PitMad thing? Can anyone give me a one sentence rundown? :)
 

Shoeless

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It's an event run by Brenda Drake on her website. Here's the lowdown straight from the source:

Pitch Madness is a contest held every March, where writers enter for a chance to win requests from the participating agents. Writers submit a 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of their completed manuscript on submission day. Then a team of readers choose the top sixty (60) entries to go onto the agent round. Though Pitch Madness has a game theme, the next contest will transition to more of a critique based contest with agents simply requesting in the comments of the entries’ posts instead of having the agents play for requests. Also, hosts will coach our team members, helping them polish their entries and first pages.

It's another great way to get some exposure. Also beats writing a whole query. Later in the year, there's also a Twitter version of this.
 
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Shoeless

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I think the twitter #PitMad pitch is Dec. 7?

You could be right, I'm honestly not sure what the dates are. I'm really, really horrible at doing anything short, so PitMad and Twitter PitMad are definitely not for me. Contests where you have to stand out from much more engaging, charismatic, social-media friendly competition is not for introverts like me, so I've always failed at them spectacularly.
 

Transatlantic

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Yes, I tried, got no likes, and deleted my tweets last night with my head hung in shame. I'm in the UK, so the right agents may not be looking anyway, but still. Ugh!
 

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Next time you should leave up your tweets. Just because the posting period is 12 hours long, doesn't mean that that's the only time agents can look. I've received likes days later, and even one that liked a tweet from a #pitmad that took place 3 months before. Even tweets from the morning can receive attention from an agent searching key words. The :heart: I got yesterday came in after the event was over for the very first tweet I made that day at 6 a.m.
 

Transatlantic

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Thanks for the info. I did wonder about that.

I deleted my (three perhaps increasingly desperate-seeming) tweets bec. I was embarrassed about my followers being able to see them and that they didn't get liked. I might have to make a new Twitter account for this specific purpose.

Next time you should leave up your tweets. Just because the posting period is 12 hours long, doesn't mean that that's the only time agents can look. I've received likes days later, and even one that liked a tweet from a #pitmad that took place 3 months before. Even tweets from the morning can receive attention from an agent searching key words. The :heart: I got yesterday came in after the event was over for the very first tweet I made that day at 6 a.m.