#PitMad

March 9, 2020 - By K. L. Small

While I was on Twitter for the Author Mentor Match (AMM) program, I learned about #PitMad. PitMad is shorthand for Pitch Madness. This was an opportunity for writers to pitch their unpublished, polished manuscripts to agents and editors during a 12-hour period on Thursday, March 5, 2020.

Requirements

Pitches for #PitMad are limited to 280 characters. Yes, that’s characters, not words. Spaces and punctuation count as characters. It amounts to a sentence or two, plus a number of required codes. The required codes included #PitMad, an age group code and a genre code at a minimum.

How it Works

On the day of PitchMadness, authors with completed and polished, unpublished manuscripts post up to three tweets on Twitter. The entries can be as early as 8:00 a.m. EST or as late as 8:00 p.m. EST. Spreading out tweets during the day is recommended.

Agents and editors can filter tweets to find pitches that meet their interests. If they like a pitch, they click on the heart. No one else but agents and editors should be doing that. If an author receives a heart that means the agent or editor want to see more about the manuscript.

Future #PitMad Events

#PitMad occurs four times a year. Future events are scheduled for:

June 4, 2020
September 3, 2020
December 3, 2020

My #PitMad Entries

I pitched Strandlock, a YA fantasy novel I wrote a long time ago. Since the Magic Carousel stories are not fully polished yet, they were not ready for March’s #PitMad.

I posted three Strandlock pitches on Twitter. If you are on Twitter and want to see the, search for @KLSmall_Author.

For those not on Twitter, one of the pitches follows:

Raised by a bitter aunt, Tima is unaware of her magic heritage. When the Elders barter her to a trader, she discovers she is a descendant of the Guardian and her destiny is to confront a crazed wizard who has vowed to destroy all the Guardian’s descendants. #PitMad #YA #F

I did not get any agents or editors interested in this pitch, but I read a comment that there were fewer agents participating this year. The event has grown so large (80,000+ pitches), that it can be overwhelming. I’m glad I tried it and don’t have any regrets about the outcome. Writing pitches gets to the heart of the story.