(Image description: my old edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass sitting open on a white table. An antique-style floral mug containing thick green liquid that would go perfectly at the Mad Hatter’s table sits in the top right hand corner. Text of the first page of chapter 7 is on the left side and on the right there’s a black and white illustration of Alice, the March Hare, and the Mad Hatter sitting at a table with lots of tea cups and a single teapot. Text continues under the illustration.)
Contents
Get in the Pit
My Pitches
Writing and Parenting Article
What I’m Drinking
Share Your Thoughts
Share Melissa-Jane’s Tea Break
1. Get in the Pit
I’ve been to plenty of gigs and been in plenty of moshpits before, which is really nothing like a PitMad event. Although I did feel like I was full of adrenaline and I could’ve used some extra eyes and arms to try to keep up with it all — not too dissimilar to how I feel in a real life moshpit.
What is PitMad exactly?
(Click on the link above for more detailed info than I can provide here.)
It’s a pitching event on Twitter that happens four times a year. Writers pitch their manuscript within a tweet and hope that an agent/editor/publisher will like the tweet, which means the writer can then send off their manuscript to those professionals in the hopes of signing a contract.
A like on a tweet doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed anything, but if an agent has been drawn to your pitch enough to give it a like, they’re more likely to give your query a real good look when you send it to them.
What happens during a PitMad event?
(If you read last week’s newsletter, you’d know that I was pitching my picture book manuscript that I mentioned in the previous week’s newsletter.)
During a pitching event, fellow writers and/or supporters retweet pitch tweets — most people will pin their pitch to their profile so it’s easy for others to find — because only agents/editors/publishers are supposed to like them. Retweeting gives a tweet more visibility, and given that so many people participate (I saw one tweet towards the end mention that there had been close to 300,000 PitMad tweets), it’s a really big help.
Thanks to the lovely Elise Carlson, I’d joined a PitMad support group of around 20, and we were all furiously retweeting one another’s pitches on the day (plus chatting about it all). I also had a list of my own to support that I’d created as I participated in Twitter chats about the event during the few days leading up to it.
The best thing about these events?
The huge amount of support from the community. I was blown away by it all. I ended up with almost 200 retweets (across my three pitch tweets). I have no idea how many pitches I retweeted for people, but I retweeted as much as possible during the times I was awake.
Not only that, but the community support has continued since. The PitMad group I joined is still going and evolving into a pitching support group/writing support group where we’re sharing resources and discussion about everything to do with writing.
Plus, I was able to refine my pitch and get feedback from people who commented on it. I could see that my pitch was coming across as I wanted it to and ticking all the boxes it needed.
Did my pitches have any success?
I ended up with a like and comment from a small publisher inviting me to submit my picture book to them!
I was very surprised and pleased to have any response at all. However, I’m on the lookout for an agent at this time, so I’ll continue on that search through cold querying and PBPitch next month (which I feel more than prepared for now), but damn it felt good to have a positive response.
2. My Pitches
Pitching a manuscript within 280 characters is really hard, but it’s important because it will help you sell your book to an agent, a publisher, and a reader. You often only get one chance to sell your manuscript, so you’ve gotta make it attention-grabbing while conveying the voice of your manuscript.
So you can see what a PitMad pitch might look like, here are my three pitches that I shared during the event:
What are my next steps?
I plan to start sending out some queries to agents I’ve got listed on my Picture Book Agent List as well as preparing for PBPitch, which is happening on October 29.
I’m also planning to start writing one of the other ideas I have for another Rosemary Witch picture book. From the beginning I imagined it as a series, so I may as well get started on another that will only add to my arsenal when I’m querying.
I’ll be sure to keep updating you all with my progress as I attempt to find an agent and work towards publication.
If you’ve got any questions about PitMad or if you’ve got any of your own tips or suggestions to share, hit reply on the email or leave a comment.
3. Writing and Parenting Article
Last week I linked to an old article I wrote about finding a balance between parenting and writing. I also mentioned a new article I was working on that was a follow-up to that piece but that it was taking forever because, well, juggling parenting and writing and everything else in between is fricken hard.
I talk a lot about my lack of clean floors and being a crappy friend so be sure to check it out via the link below.
4. What I’m Drinking
I’m sipping on Sipp Instant’s Coconut Matcha Green Tea thanks to a beautiful friend of mine who posted about it on Instagram. (This tea was a gift for my husband for Father’s Day but I’m sure he won’t mind sharing …) I’m drinking it hot but so looking forward to hot summer days when I can make it into a smoothie.
(I have no affiliation with Sipp Instant and I’m not being paid for this mention — I just really love tea!)
5. Share Your Thoughts
This is my first attempt at creating a newsletter and email list so I’d love your help in making this worthwhile. Feel free to reply to this email with your thoughts so far, what you’re hoping to find here or for some general chitchat over a (virtual) cuppa.
Hit the subscribe button if you haven’t already signed up.
6. One Last Thing …
After all that, I still want to help people.
If you haven’t heard already, once I reach 100 subscribers, you’ll have the chance to win a mini writing mentorship/free editing (one mentorship to win per month) where I’ll edit up to 10 pieces of your writing for a month.
Stay tuned for more details coming straight to your inbox, and in the meantime, share with some friends to help me reach that magic 100.