The submission window for Pitch Madness is this Monday, March 10, and will be open for 24 hours (12:01AM EST to 11:59PM EST). There will be no cut off number. Everyone who submits during the window will make it into the contest. You will receive a receipt, if you don’t, check with me here on the blog or on Twitter (@brendadrake).
For those of you not familiar with Pitch Madness, it’s a contest where agents compete in a game against their peers for pitches. This time the game is . If you haven’t been a part of a Pitch Madness challenge before, please check out this post here for more information. The submission window is open for 24 hours (12:01AM EST to 11:59PM EST) on March 10. Our slush readers will read through the pitches and pick the top 60 pitches for the agent round starting on March 18. We try to get a good mix of various genres, but the writing comes first. Basically, if the submissions aren’t ready, it’s a pass.
The agents will be playing a fun game of for your pitches this round of Pitch Madness. Keep an eye out on the Twitter hashtag #PitchMadness for slush readers’ comments as they search for the best of the best. And on reveal day, March 20 at 12AM EST (Noon – NY time), to watch the challenge rounds between the agents go down.
Here’s the rules of submission . . .
This is for completed, unpublished fiction manuscripts (no picture books, chapter books, non-fiction, or novellas). The categories are Adult, New Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. Any genres. One manuscript per writer. The winners will not be notified before the agent round. (All submissions sent before or after the window time slot will be deleted.)
The email for submissions is brendadrakecontests@gmail.com – NO ATTACHMENTS – All pitches must be embedded in the email.
Please format your entries like this …
Email subject line: Pitch Madness: TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT
Name: Your name
Title: TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT
Genre: Category/genre of your manuscript (ie. YA Fantasy)
Word Count: Word count (round to the nearest 1000th – ie. 70,000)
Pitch: 35word (max) logline. Do not go over even one word. Single spaced. Times New Roman 12pt. No indentions.
Excerpt: The first 250 words of your manuscript. If the 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of that sentence. Your pitch should be Times New Roman 12pt, single spaced, one space between paragraphs, no paragraph indentions. Make sure the formatting is done correctly, but if the email transfer messes it up we will still take it.
There’s a #PitMad Twitter Pitch Party!
And, if you don’t make it into Pitch Madness (everyone is welcome to join in) we’re holding another Twitter Pitch Party on March 25. So get your 140 word pitch ready and make sure to include the hashtag #PitMad and category (#YA, #Adult, #MG, #NA, #PB, and so on). All categories and genres welcomed. Tweet your pitch when you see an agent come on but don’t do it too obsessively. Twice an hour is a good amount. The agents will read the feed.
Phew … that’s it.
Oh, wait. Here’s the Pitch Madness schedule again …
- Hosts and their teams Introduction on March 3
- Agent Introduction on March 4
- Rules of the Game on March 6
- Formatting Instructions March 7
- Submission window will be on March 10 and will be open for 24 hours
- The first slush round will be March 11-12
- The final round will be March 13-17
- The top 60 picks for the agent round will go up on the blogs on March 18 at 12:01AM EST (NY time)
- March 20 at 12PM EDT (Noon) the agents requests are revealed, and right afterward is the tying agents challenge round
- There will be a #PitMad Twitter Pitch Party on March 25 from 8AM to 8PM EST. Check here for rules of the Twitter Pitch Contest.
Now, that’s it for now. See you all on March 10 for submission day. Good luck, everyone!
Will our pitch entires be published to the web? I’m interested in joining this game, but would rather my idea NOT be posted publicly.
Yes, the pitches will be posted to the blogs. So if you don’t want it published on the blog, you shouldn’t enter the contest. Sorry.
I tried to set up a draft so that I’m ready to submit on Monday but my email program changes the structure. When I try to lose formatting to adjust the structure back, it takes away Times and the 12pt font. I tried with another email program and this also happened. I don’t to be taken as someone who didn’t follow instructions when it is in fact a lousy email program distorting my work. What should I do if I cannot get the font size or face to stay?
That’s okay, sometimes the formatting gets loss in the transmitting, and we understand that. So no worries, just so long as you try.
I am so excited about this opportunity. Thank you for all the work you do to organize these contests!
Just to be clear, is it correct that there you can submit only ONE pitch to the contest?
And also, if we don’t make it any further in Pitch Madness, when PitMad comes around, can we pitch only one manuscript there?
Again, thanks so much. I’m crossing everything for good luck!
Pitch Madness is only manuscript, but during #PitMad you can pitch as many as you like.
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