Says September 10 on Brenda Drake's site. Here's the link to the #PitMad page for further reference (dates at the bottom).
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Pitch Madness / Pitch Wars / #PitMad (Brenda Drake)
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Did anyone take part in #pitmad yesterday? Any success?
I was very late to the game but managed to post two tweets. My premise got some retweets and one favorite by a publisher, but they're a pretty small publisher, so I don't think I will respond. :/
I was very late to the game but managed to post two tweets. My premise got some retweets and one favorite by a publisher, but they're a pretty small publisher, so I don't think I will respond. :/
Hey, a lot of people have tweeted that they didn't get any favorites, so congrats in generating some interest! Have you checked out the publisher thoroughly? Some small publishers do quite well.
I participated, too. Got one favorite from an agent and four from publishers. I'll spend the weekend making last-minute tweaks to my synopsis and first three chapters--and then when I'm satisfied with those, I'll probably bite the bullet and send queries to a few other agents as well.
A couple of the publishers look like better fits than others, but I don't plan to send them material unless I give up the search for an agent.
compositions
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Wow! That's really exciting Maryls -- congratulations! I skimmed a lot of the pitches too, saw some good and bad. To get noticed five times is great! Let us know how it goes.
As for that small house, I searched on this forum actually and they don't seem to be that well-regarded yet (they seem new). I'm not going to send them anything. I prefer your route, too, agent searching. Though I have had the most trouble with synopses and queries. They've been harder to write than the novel, no idea why.
I got a favorite from an agent (she's seen it before, but I sent because it was 3 years ago and I have significantly revised since then). And two from different editors at the same publisher, but it's not one that I'll be submitting to.
I got a ton of RTs too. I find it intriguing that the book that gets the most interest from readers/writers is not the one that agents and editors are interested in. One pitch had 21 RTs, which may be my most popular #pitmad pitch, but no stars for that book at all.
I got a ton of RTs too. I find it intriguing that the book that gets the most interest from readers/writers is not the one that agents and editors are interested in. One pitch had 21 RTs, which may be my most popular #pitmad pitch, but no stars for that book at all.
New rules starting next time: writers will post just three different tweets over the course of the day, and people are asked not to RT other people's pitches. There were so many #PitMad tweets yesterday that industry professionals are posting that there's no way they could possibly get through them all.
I like the changes. I didn't enjoy posting twice an hour, but followed the advice of 'how-to do #PitMad' articles that convinced me if I didn't, I'd get lost in the shuffle. And they were probably right for earlier versions of the event--I think it just got so big that agents/editors started to prefer to wait until it was over and then sort tweets by hashtag. And anything that makes it easier for them to find us is a good thing.
I like the changes. I didn't enjoy posting twice an hour, but followed the advice of 'how-to do #PitMad' articles that convinced me if I didn't, I'd get lost in the shuffle. And they were probably right for earlier versions of the event--I think it just got so big that agents/editors started to prefer to wait until it was over and then sort tweets by hashtag. And anything that makes it easier for them to find us is a good thing.
I like the new rules too for PitMad. Truth to be told it's rather unwieldy for pitchers too as its too easy to get overlooked with pitches coming in constantly. Anyway I did get a few faves yesterday. Two from small presses so I doubt I'll reply. The other from an agent I've been considering for a while so that's the one I'm going for.
Yeah, it was a loop. The more people pitched, the more you were convinced that you had to pitch as often as was allowed, so the more you and everyone else pitched, which made you even more desperate to make sure you weren't lost in the shuffle.
I tweeted 2x an hour, but made sure to use different books within that hour. I like that it also limits you to using different pitches if you pitch the same book more than once. For some, that will cut them off at a single pitch, even though they're allowed 3. That's going to seriously cut down on the total number of pitches. (I have 5 books with 3+ pitches ready, so I still could do one an hour & keep to the limit, but most people struggle to come up with one pitch for one book and just reuse it over and over)
I'm not sure what the RT rule is about. I didn't think it affected the twitter feed. Even on tweet chat, you could turn off RTs. Maybe it affects TweetDeck or other programs.
I tweeted 2x an hour, but made sure to use different books within that hour. I like that it also limits you to using different pitches if you pitch the same book more than once. For some, that will cut them off at a single pitch, even though they're allowed 3. That's going to seriously cut down on the total number of pitches. (I have 5 books with 3+ pitches ready, so I still could do one an hour & keep to the limit, but most people struggle to come up with one pitch for one book and just reuse it over and over)
I'm not sure what the RT rule is about. I didn't think it affected the twitter feed. Even on tweet chat, you could turn off RTs. Maybe it affects TweetDeck or other programs.
I got 2 requests from agents, both of whom were already on my list.
Ditto that I think the new rules are a good idea. That feed was crazy, and I can see that trimming it way down will make it more likely that agents will stick with it long enough to actually see your pitch.
Ditto that I think the new rules are a good idea. That feed was crazy, and I can see that trimming it way down will make it more likely that agents will stick with it long enough to actually see your pitch.
Love the new rules. I've only done it once, but feeling like I had to post every hour stressed me right out. Just three times will be much more straightforward.
I'm not entirely sure I quite understand the 'three different' pitches thing though. You can pitch 3 times for the same book if you word them differently? But you can't pitch the same exact pitch three times?
I'm not entirely sure I quite understand the 'three different' pitches thing though. You can pitch 3 times for the same book if you word them differently? But you can't pitch the same exact pitch three times?
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I think like the changes. I noticed some agents I'd hoped to snag this time saying they just didn't have the time to scan the feed this time and to just query them if you were interested. I had a pitmad window on tweet deck, but I had to exclude a lot of hashtag categories (and the retweets) to be able to follow the adult SFF pitches. I like to see the ones in my category that garner stars from agents (so I can learn which approaches are most interesting to agents), but I didn't see any this time.
I've noticed in this contest and in past ones that my tweets that got the most retweets weren't the ones agents liked. Interesting that their criteria are so different, since at the end of the day, they want to rep books that sell to regular people. Of course, fellow authors participating in a pitching contest aren't regular people either.
That sounds like a good idea. I always have to set things up on tweet deck, because these contests come on weekdays and start at 5 AM (for me). I made some new tweets that were very much what people recommend (made sure the wants of protag and obstacle were clear in each one) and set it up to only tweet 1x an hour this time, but for whatever reason, I got no love at all this time, except for that small publisher who seems to star every SFF writer in every contest. Maybe I've already attracted all the pitmad agents who are likely to be drawn in by my tweeted novel premises, as I got some requests from agents last time and at the SFFpit contest.
I always have to make really short pitches to accommodate the extra hashtags (#SFF, #A)
I got some people who weren't agents or editors favoriting pitches this time, which was a bit annoying. You get excited when you see that star, then you see it's just some inspirational author who quotes scriptures on their own feed (in one case), a guy I never heard of in another, and someone who follows me in the third case. Hopefully a less crazy feed means fewer false positives too.
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Tried it out for the first time yesterday. First hit was a spambot picking up on "lost luggage" and wanting to tell me about this great website that helped him put in a lost luggage claim for a small percentage... :-/ A couple of other spam responses, one favourite and then unfavourite by a micropress that I suspect starred lots of stuff with #R on autopilot before realising that some #R tags were followed by #LGBT tags. And both titles favourited by a small press that *was* looking for #LGBT. 
No agent interest, which is what I was doing it for, but I think a useful learning experience and good practice at writing elevator pitches.
I think the rule changes are a good thing. The feed was flooded, which only pushes people to tweet as often as allowed by the rules in order to be seen, so it must be horrendous for the agents to keep up. And I'd have liked to look at more of the feed myself, just to get a feel for what works and what doesn't.
No agent interest, which is what I was doing it for, but I think a useful learning experience and good practice at writing elevator pitches.I think the rule changes are a good thing. The feed was flooded, which only pushes people to tweet as often as allowed by the rules in order to be seen, so it must be horrendous for the agents to keep up. And I'd have liked to look at more of the feed myself, just to get a feel for what works and what doesn't.
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Yep, the need for everyone to tweet more in order to be seen at all is a great analogy for a positive feedback loop in biology.
Or simply tragedy of the commons.
My only concern about the just 3x a day thing is if everyone tweets in the minute or so after 8 eastern time and in the minute or so before 5 eastern time. I guess the third "mid-day" tweet could be spaced out, but I wonder if there will be very little activity in the middle part of the day and a flurry at the beginning and end (when people assume agents are most likely to be scrolling) that will still be overwhelming.
Or simply tragedy of the commons.
My only concern about the just 3x a day thing is if everyone tweets in the minute or so after 8 eastern time and in the minute or so before 5 eastern time. I guess the third "mid-day" tweet could be spaced out, but I wonder if there will be very little activity in the middle part of the day and a flurry at the beginning and end (when people assume agents are most likely to be scrolling) that will still be overwhelming.
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It might help people calm down at 8 a.m. I'll say that watching it yesterday, 8 a.m. was not the most popular time. In the middle of the day, I would tweet and then be unable to find mine. Early was also when I got the most RTs--only a few from folks I know--so somebody was able to follow the feed enough to see my pitches and like them. I bet that as different time zones went to lunch then got off work, the feed was crazy, but the morning (EDT) was calmer.
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I pitched three times during the morning, and two of them were favourited by a Spanish polo club. They obviously didn't understand how it worked, but I let it go. I got one fav from a small publisher that I respect, but I was really aiming for agents.
One agent said she was overwhelmed by the number of pitches, even if filtered by individual genres. 12,000 YAs alone! I totally understand her concerns, and the new rules will certainly curtail the tsunami of pitches so industry professionals have a better chance of finding that little jewel.
One agent said she was overwhelmed by the number of pitches, even if filtered by individual genres. 12,000 YAs alone! I totally understand her concerns, and the new rules will certainly curtail the tsunami of pitches so industry professionals have a better chance of finding that little jewel.
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I like the new rules. It does "limit" things, but I think it may be less of a live pitch watch and more available for agents to scroll through and filter at their leisure. Though, I did fairly well this time and got several fav's, two from pretty awesome agents!
Twitter generally won't let you Tweet the exact Tweet more than once. You can get around that by adjusting the hashtag like #PitMad to #Pitmad or even #pitmad. You can do the same with the genre tag.
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Mine came in overnight after the session was over.
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Brenda's contests always seem to have more YA entries than the other age categories (I think that's what she writes, so it makes sense), so I'd think an agent looking for YA would need to filter by genre too (YA science fiction, or YA Romance etc). But if you're looking for multiple YA genres, it would be especially crazy. I think the new rules are a good idea, and after seeing the feed this time, I had a feeling she'd be changing the rules about how often people could tweet and retweet at least.
Good luck with those!
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Both my agent favourites came after the session was over - one an hour or so afterwards and the other 25 hrs later! Maybe some more agents will be lurking over at the feed this weekend when it's quieter.
The way I interpreted the 'different pitches' thing was a totally different version each time (rather than just switching the hashtag around so you're not Tweeting essentially the same pitch) as one version may appeal more to a certain agent than another one (if we're assuming they'll trawl through the feed at their leisure later and don't want to see the same pitch repeated). But I'm all for just switching the hashtag around, lol, cos I prefer one of my pitches to the others.
The way I interpreted the 'different pitches' thing was a totally different version each time (rather than just switching the hashtag around so you're not Tweeting essentially the same pitch) as one version may appeal more to a certain agent than another one (if we're assuming they'll trawl through the feed at their leisure later and don't want to see the same pitch repeated). But I'm all for just switching the hashtag around, lol, cos I prefer one of my pitches to the others.
Does anybody know if you pitch previously-published novels on #Pitmad? I've never pitched anything on there, but I'm considering it for the next round in December.
I interpret the 3 different pitches rule the same way as Netz, but then I was tweeting with Brenda about it when she made the rule. She was considering doing 1 pitch a day per book, & some of us talked her into increasing that because there are different ways to pitch a single book and what aspect one agent wants might not be what another one is interested in.
Pisco, I don't think there are any rules against previously pubbed books, but if you get a favorite, you'd have to look into whether the agent/editor is willing to take on that book, and it'll be just like normal querying at that point. What #pitmad gets you is the agent looking at your query faster and with a more favorable eye when it's in their inbox.
Pisco, I don't think there are any rules against previously pubbed books, but if you get a favorite, you'd have to look into whether the agent/editor is willing to take on that book, and it'll be just like normal querying at that point. What #pitmad gets you is the agent looking at your query faster and with a more favorable eye when it's in their inbox.