In an effort to amplify Black voices, we’ve added a #BVM (Black Voices Matter) hashtag. If you are a Black author, please feel free to include #BVM in your tweets so agents/editors can use it to search for pitches.

About #PitMad

#PitMad is the original twitter pitch event, where writers tweet a 280-character pitch for their completed, polished, unpublished manuscripts. No previously published works. Agents and editors make requests by liking/favoriting the tweeted pitch.

What is considered “previously published?”

• Any piece of work that has been available for sale or free download on a retail site, no matter the amount of sales or type of publisher.
• Any piece of work that has been assigned an ISBN or ASIN, even if the title has changed.
• Any piece of work that has participated in a program that pays royalties, revenue share, or any other sort of payment structure.
• Any longer piece of work based on a published shorter piece of work that amounts to more than 20% of the word count of the longer piece. (e.g. a 100k word novel based on a 15k short story is okay, but a 100k novel based on a 30k novelette is not.)
• The above applies to previously published books that have been since edited or revised.

Every unagented writer is welcome to pitch. All genres/categories are welcomed.

#PitMad occurs quarterly. Upcoming dates are:

• March 5, 2020 (8AM – 8PM EDT)
• June 4, 2020 (8AM – 8PM EDT)
• September 3, 2020 (8AM – 8PM EST)
• December 3, 2020 (8AM – 8PM EST)

Don’t favorite friends’ tweets. The agents will be requesting by favoriting tweets, and more favorites can make it hard for those with requests to see all of their faves/likes. RT or Quote-RT to show your support. Do NOT use the hashtag when quote RTing – Keep the hashtag clean so agents can navigate it easily.

Be respectful and courteous to each other, and especially to the industry professionals. If you do see abuse, please report it to Twitter or notify one of the hosts of the event.

Thank you for your interest, and happy pitching!

Jump to:

• Info for Writers
• Info for Industry Professionals
• FAQ & Questions
• Resources & Articles
• List of Hashtags to Use

Writers: How to Participate in #PitMad

Some of the following rules may seem specific, but they’re in place to help our industry professionals navigate the fast-moving feed. Because #PitMad has grown over the years, industry professionals are finding it overwhelming to search the feed and we want to make sure we don’t scare them off. #PitMad is the original and longest-running twitter pitch event and trends worldwide every time.

Rules:

• Your manuscript should be completed, polished, unpublished, and ready to query. If you’re not ready to send the full manuscript immediately, please wait until the next event. For non-fiction, you should have a polished proposal. Memoirs should be completed.
• Your pitch must fit inside one tweet. Do not thread tweets. You don’t have to include the title of your book in the pitch.
• Include the #PitMad hashtag and an age category sub-hashtag (see list at the bottom of this page).
• You may include multiple genre or additional hashtags as they apply (see list at the bottom of this page).
• You can pitch more than one manuscript throughout the day.
• You may only tweet three pitches for each manuscript throughout the day. They can be the same pitch or different pitches.
  • We suggest spacing them out every four hours.
• Do NOT attach pictures unless it’s an illustration for a Picture Book, Graphic novel, or other material that includes illustrations.
• Do NOT include links. Many agents use search filters that will render tweets with links invisible to them.
• If an industry professional favorites/likes your tweet, check their recent tweets for submission preferences.
  • If they haven’t tweeted #PitMad submission guidelines, follow their usual query submission guidelines on their website, but put “PitMad Request: TITLE” in the subject line of your email.
  • Send the request as soon as you can.
  • If the agent has already rejected your book through traditional querying you should still send the requested materials and include this history in the beginning of your email, as well as a note if you have performed significant revisions since the initial query.
• Remember:
  • Any industry professional can participate in #PitMad. It’s your responsibility to research the requesting agent or publisher.
  • You do NOT have to send requests if you aren’t interested in working with that person.
• Please read the FAQs and Resource List below before contacting us with questions.

Industry Professionals: How to Participate in #PitMad

Thank you for taking the time to participate in #PitMad. We greatly appreciate your time.

To participate in #PitMad:

1. Tweet your submission guidelines for those writers whose tweets you favorite/like, including where to send, how much to send, and preferred email subject line.
2. Favorite/like the tweets you’d like to see pages from.

Search Tips:

• To search for a specific category or genre, you can type #PitMad plus the hashtag(s) for whichever genres or categories you’re interested in (see list at the bottom of this page).
  • For example, to see only Young Adult books, you would search “#PitMad #YA.”
• If you’re using Tweetdeck, we recommend you exclude retweets in the column settings. Look under “Tweet content.”
• There will be spam tweets on the hashtag during the day. Please feel free to block and report at will.
  • Including “-filter:links” in your search will filter out most spam, but it will also filter out anyone using images (only those pitching graphic novels or picture books will be using images). Learn more about search operators on the twitter search page by clicking on “operators” under the search bar.

If you have any questions or concerns throughout the day, @ or DM us @PitchWars.

Please know that writers are permitted to use their own discretion in deciding whether or not to send requested materials to each individual. We believe that requiring participating writers to submit materials to people they don’t wish to work with creates an unfair power imbalance and only wastes time on both sides of the transaction. Thank you for understanding.

FAQ and Further Questions

Q: Can I tag an agent/editor/publisher in my pitch?
A: No. Don’t tag an agent or editor in a tweet unless they tweet you first.

Q: What if I can’t be on Twitter on that day?
A: We recommend you schedule your tweet using Tweetdeck or another software.

Q: If I want to pitch more than one manuscript, do I have to split my three allotted pitches between all of them?
A: No, you’re allotted three pitches per manuscript.

Q: If I live outside the US, am I allowed to participate?
A: Yes, as long as you’re looking to be published in the American market. Most of the agents and editors are from the US.

Q: Do I have to participate in #pitmad to enter into Pitch Wars? or Do I have to participate in Pitch Wars to participate in #pitmad?
A: No, the events are completely separate except that they were both founded by Brenda and run by us. We do not have a rule against pitching a book in #pitmad that has been submitted to #pitchwars.

Q: Are novellas permitted?
A: Yes

Q: If I have published a book, can I enter another unpublished manuscript into #pitmad?
A: Yes, as long you do not have a literary agent.

Q: If my book was previously published, can I enter it into #pitmad?
A: No.
Q: What if it has been edited or changed?
A: Sorry, still no.

Please direct all questions to @pitchwars if your question is not answered above.

Resources & Articles

#PitMad Success Stories

How to Research Literary Agents and Publishers Before Submitting by Sarah Nicolas.

A post from Claribel Ortega about why doing research on requesting agents/publishers is important.

The Ultimate Writers’ Guide to Twitter Pitch Contests by agent Carly Watters

How #PitMad Helped Me Get a Literary Agent (And Tips for The Next One) from #PitMad alum Diana Urban

How to Filter Out Spammers When Following #PitMad Tweets also from #PitMad alum Diana Urban

Article from examiner.com

Article from TheDailyDot

Article from Publishing Trendsetter

Sub-Hashtags

You can use the following sub-hashtags to categorize your book, making it easier for agents and editors to find your pitch. We only require the #pitmad hashtag and one age category hashtag. The additional hashtags are suggested as a courtesy and listed here in order to reduce confusion.

Age Categories (one is required):

#PB = Picture Book
#C = Children’s
#CB = Chapter Book
#MG = Middle Grade
#YA = Young Adult
#NA = New Adult
#A = Adult

Genres/Sub-genres (optional):

#AC = Action
#AD = Adventure
#BIZ = Bizarro Fiction
#CF = Christian Fiction
#CON = Contemporary
#CR = Contemporary Romance
#E = Erotica
#ER = Erotic Romance
#ES = Erotica Suspense
#F = Fantasy
#FTA = Fairy Tale Retelling
#GN = Graphic Novel
#H = Horror
#HA = Humor
#HF = Historical Fiction
#HR = Historical Romance
#INSP = Inspirational
#MR = Magical Realism
#M = Mystery
#Mem = Memoir
#MA = Mainstream
#LF = Literary Fiction
#NF = Non-fiction
#P = Paranormal
#PR = Paranormal Romance
#PM = Poetry Collection
#R = Romance
#RS = Romantic Suspense
#STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
#SF = SciFi
#SHRT = Short Story Collection
#SPF = Speculative Fiction
#SH = Superhero
#S = Suspense
#T = Thriller
#TT = Time Travel
#UF = Urban Fantasy
#VF = Visionary Fiction
#W = Westerns
#WF = Woman’s Fiction

Additional hashtags (optional):

#BVM = Black Voices Matter (to be used by black creators)
#POC = Author is a Person of Color
#OWN = Own Voices
#IMM = Immigrant
#LGBT = LGBTQIA+ subject matter
#IRMC = Interracial/Multicultural subject matter
#MH = Mental Health subject matter
#DIS = Disability subject matter
#ND = Neurodiverse subject matter

Updated May 2020