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#PitMad on Twitter

It's been a little while since I blogged. Glad to be able to write a post again.

I participated in #PitMad for the first time on twitter this week (March 11, 2015) and it was an invigorating experience. I was able to network and found some cool published and unpublished authors who were tweeting like crazy with me. I also got a link to a cool blog and I gained a few followers and followed people as well.

I think at the core #PitMad is about networking with peers. It is also helps to lift the veil that exists between authors and publisher/agent. In #PitMad, aspiring authors searching for agents and publishers tweet in 140 characters or less their book pitch using #PitMad and a short hashtag for their genre. If an agent wants to see more they favorite a tweet. Then the author sends (if they want) their query based on an agent's submission guidelines.

Now you can send most agents (those who aren't closed to queries) and a select few publishers your query on your own of course but it's nice to find an agent who actually invites you to query them and who might be remotely interested in your novel.

The twitter feed for #PitMad goes so fast it's like the computer code in the Matrix. Getting retweeted by fellow tweeters helps keep your tweet alive in the feed since you are only allowed to tweet twice every hour during the running time of the event. You have to structure tweets differently in the same hour I believe because it won't let you retweet an existing tweet.

Finding an agent has many different routes as does the road to getting published. Most people scour the internet looking for agents nowadays. Either they research books and or authors they like or agents that accept their genre. Those that blindly send to agents or publishers without researching or having a polished novel are bound to fail. Others enter contests hoping they make it to the final round where agents will look at their books. Some find agents at conferences, workshops or writing retreats. Some get a lucky break with an established indie publisher while a select few brave it alone and self publish.

Gone is the time of mailing query letters or buying literary agent listing books to finger through like the yellow pages. Agents are easy to find and contact but that doesn't mean they are your friends, mentors or cheerleaders, they are people who have a job to fulfill and bills to pay. They only represent books and authors they believe in.

So all in all, I would say #PitMad was worth it even though I did not get a bite from an agent. I had a good time tweeting, networking and seeing the never ending novels that are yet to be published. There is an astounding amount of creativity in the world!

Thank you Brenda Drake for thinking of such a clever online event! I will be participating again.

Comments

  1. Kara Leigh MillerMarch 13, 2015 at 3:33 PM

    Thanks for the mention! I have so much fun participating in Brenda's contests :-)

    ReplyDelete

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