Trying to understand PitMad

The only advantage I can see to this is if the agent is otherwise closed to queries. If they're already accepting queries then it doesn't seem to give one any advantage.

Hi Patrick,

The twitter pitch of Pitchmad is limited to 140 characters (including spaces) not words.

The advantage, *I think* is that if an agent favorites your pitch, you can write "requested, Pitmad* on your subject line, which *I think* moves you higher up in the slush pile.

I'm not an agent, this is my rough understanding of how it works.

Even if a writer has a query with an agent, they can do a pitch through #pitmad. In some cases, the agent will see something interesting and take another look at the longer query.

#pitmad is only for unagented authors, BTW.

The upside of it, from a writer perspective: Let's say 100 agents are reading PitMad. Maybe you haven't started querying yet at all, or maybe you only have 10 or 20 queries out. You PROBABLY don't have 100 out. So if even a handful of those folks that are reading do end up favoriting your tweet, it might give you additional ideas of people to query that you wouldn't have even thought of before, and in theory at least, their interest is already somewhat piqued.

The downside of it, from an agent's perspective: I don't usually look at things like PitMad because, well, I'm too busy. And, what if they've already queried me, or one of my colleagues. . . I have the regular query system set up the way it is because it provides maximum efficiency, and this just seems like it could get messy fast.

And I also feel like, if somebody really wants to work with me, they can just QUERY me, and I'll read. The system really does work, and I have enough to do without seeking more queries out. I'm not exactly invisible - if they haven't queried me because they DON'T want to work with me, why should I want to work with them?

Instead I will occasionally participate in things like #mswl (manuscript wishlist) -- where agents and eds mention things they'd love to see -- in the hopes that if any twitter person happens to be writing such a thing, they'll reach out.

Remember that #pitmad and other similar things don't make it any more likely that you will receive an offer of representation from those agents: your book still has to be good enough, and your query still has to be good enough to make that clear.

I watch #mswl to gauge the markets (and growl to myself about where were these agents three years ago when I *was* querying). But even sans agent, I'd be as unlikely to participate in #pitmad as I am in elevator pitches. I'm terrible at high-concept simplicity. 140 characters isn't enough for me. 25 seconds isn't enough - and looks kinda foolish now when I watch other people doing it. I can barely manage a 250-word query, so I'd be happy to send a query and my five sample pages, and hope an agent can give me two or three minutes.

Filigree said:

Even if a writer has a query with an agent, they can do a pitch through #pitmad. In some cases, the agent will see something interesting and take another look at the longer query.

#pitmad is only for unagented authors, BTW.

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I saw in another thread where a person's QL had been rejected by a particular agent, but that same agent favourited their pitch and then requested a full. So you never know.

I don't think I'd invest much time in another one myself but it was useful to find more agents to follow and see what they like.

What Sage said. I had a rejection on a query from an agent at an agency that said "a no from one is a no from all" but then got a request during pitmad from another agent at the agency and it quickly became a full request. That's probably the biggest perk for me, figuring out who will be interested. You'll also occasionally find great agents you'd never heard (I know a lot of agents but there are always a few that fly under the radar.) or agents you didn't think would be interested based on their clients but request anyway.

You also usually get read slightly quicker since their curiosity is piqued.

It's also fun to see what else is being pitched and what agents are requesting. I've seen some great sounding books that I'll be sure to follow to see if they're ever published because I want to read them.

And (I just keep going, don't I) its great practice. Sure, some books are easier to pitch and some genres are much more likely to get attention on things like pitmad but that doesn't mean there aren't some great things to be learned by trying.

I'm a twitter pitching fan, its how I found my editor and also got me very close to signing with an agent. I'll continue to give it a shot so long as I'm not agented even if the requests are few and far between (my MG isn't having so much luck. 1 request in two twitter pitch parties)

Thanks for asking this OP. I did tweet a few pitches this latest #pitmad and generated a little interest. My feeling was that it couldn't hurt and might help.

I actually think it is a good way to see what agents are actively looking - the agents commenting and favoriting on pitmad gave me a sense who is building their list at the moment.

Though, as Jennifer said, it also was a little messy because one of the agents that liked my pitch was at an agency where another agent already has my partial. Though that resulted in a little back and forth between the agents "fighting" over me on twitter which seems like it can only be good. But I see how it could get messy.

Every time a #pitmad has happened, I didn't know, wasn't ready, or some combination of both. This time, I knew ahead of time, but my novel isn't ready. And a 140 character DEFINITELY wasn't.

#pitmad is just that, to me: madness. I can see how it can be fun, but I can see how it would make me want to tear my hear out. We'll see where I am the next time one comes around!

I did PitMad in January and got a request from an agent who I hadn't planned to query because I didn't think she'd be interested in my genre. It ended up turning into a full request. Like people have said, there's no risk involved and it opens your MS up to new possibilities you might not have considered.

If nothing else, it's a great chance to see what's currently being submitted and to follow some new writers working on interesting sounding books.

Always make sure to do your research when it comes to these kinds of events/contests, though. You don't have to submit your manuscript to every agent or editor who asks just because they asked. It can result in a lot of awkwardness if they end up offering and you don't actually want to sign with them. You'll have wasted your time and theirs.

It's not always that clear-cut--sometimes you're uncertain if you're a good fit for an agent and they turn out to be perfect once you actually talk to them--but if the entire agency is skeevy, or if the publisher has been in business for under a month, or if the agent has only sold to publishers you could submit to yourself, or or if you've heard sketchy things, etc. it's fine to simply not submit. Don't sell yourself short by latching onto anyone who shows interest.

That said, I always wanted to participate in PitMad and similar events, but the timing was never right, and now I'm no longer looking for an agent. Seems like a fun way to sort of publicly put your work out there.

I'm a very commercial author/agent and find that the 140character pitches appeal to my sensibilities-- I love an elevator pitch that really works.

I'm a bit nervous sometimes I'll accidently favorite things i've rejected (and either dont remember or just don't recognize in such a short-form pitch) but I find overall, that I get some queries I'm not sure i would've gotten otherwise. I've already requested a full from this week's Pitmad and i haven't gotten through all the queries sent from it yet.

I've done PitMad (as an author, not agent) twice, as well as PitchMas and AdPit (similar, except that AdPit is only for adult and NA). No offers of rep yet, but I've got some good requests that are still out, and in general I count it as a success. Off the top of my head, I've gotten:

1. A request from a new agent at an established agency who was SO new she was not officially open to queries at the time.
2. A request from an agent who was closed to unsolicited queries at the time.
3. A request from an agent whose wish list was vague (one of those "a good story well told" profiles) and whom I may never have queried otherwise because I wasn't sure they'd be a good fit.
4. A request from an agent at an agency where I'd been rejected by another agent and was having trouble deciding who to try next.

MOST IMPORTANTLY....

LOTS of retweets from other writers and readers, new followers who are interested in my book and (since I was also following the other pitches) new authors that I am interested in hearing from as well. Networking never hurts.

That said, some books are better suited to Twitter pitching than others. Mine's pretty high concept and easy to condense... I can see that some other INCREDIBLE books may not be. If you think you can do your book justice in 140 characters, I really recommend it. Of course, you should continue to traditionally query too.

missed it by two days lol. anyone know when the next one is? I've honestly never heard of it until today

I think they're four times a year...

I didn't get much in the way of bites (one publisher who seemed legit but very small - what worried me was how few they themselves followed) but I did get more followers myself, along with several re-tweets from people I don't think know me from here.

And I recognised a few pitches from QLH and retweeted those as well. It was all a bit mad and I think next time I might get a couple in early on and be done with it. My eyes got a bit buggy from reading through them all - I can only imagine how it is for an agent.

Great topic! I always just thought it was a smaller, more immediate slush pile? I guess the best part is that the agent is seeking you out, so their interest is already piqued when they read your query.

They surround the big pitch contests run by Brenda Drake. So follow her blog and on twiter and you shouldn't miss much. The next one will be May-ish after The Writers Voice, then september after Pitchmadness. Jan after pitch wars and then March after Pitchmadness (again) But there's also #pitchmas, same concept, run by different people. That's twice a year, once mid summer (july I think) and the other Decemeber. Seems to have just as good a turn out.

werewillf said:

Great topic! I always just thought it was a smaller, more immediate slush pile? I guess the best part is that the agent is seeking you out, so their interest is already piqued when they query.

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Definitely not. Lol. There are hundreds of authors pitching. I've seen 50 or more pitches posted every MINUTE during some of the busiest times of pitmad (some authors repost their pitches more than they should) pitchmadness could be described that way though (thats the full contest on the blogs, not the twitter pitches. Its like a prescreened slush pile. Pitmad is a dogpile sometimes)

Very few if any of my #PitMad requests were from the agents participating in Pitch Madness... I didn't enter the contest because between agents who already had my full, agents who already said no, and agents who didn't represent anything remotely close, there were only two or three who could have requested anyway. I queried a couple of them independently, but ANYONE can lurk on PitMad... you really never know who's going to see your pitch.