We’re exited to announce the amazing slush readers for Pitch Madness! There’s a lot of work behind the scenes of Pitch Madness. Without these talented writers we wouldn’t be able to have such epic first and second round readings for the contest. Each one was chosen for their greatness. Make sure to follow them!
For those of you not familiar with Pitch Madness, Pitch Madness is a contest where agents compete in a game against their peers for pitches. This time the game is darts. If you haven’t been a part of a Pitch Madness challenge before please check out this post here to see how we played the last one. All the fun starts March 26 through March 28. Our slush readers pick through the pitches and pick the top 60 pitches for you to choose from. 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.
Wait. There’s more! This time around, agents won’t only be competing for requests, but for gift cards, too! We figured that it’s a lot of work playing a game, so we decided to reward the winners as an extra incentive and bragging rights. The winning agent, grand dart master, ruler of the slush pile will receive a $50 gift card from either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winners choice) with two runners-up receiving $25 gift cards.
And here are the Slush Zombies (because by the time they finish reading the slush, they will be zombies)…
Next week we’ll highlight the team leaders and their slush teams. And don’t forget, submissions start March 15 from 6AM EST to 12PM EST.
Looks like these are a wonderful group of slush readers!
So excited! Thanks to the hosts and slush readers. This is going to be fun!
That “I Like Big Books” is too cute. and YAY for more Pitch Madness 🙂
I may be going blind. I searched the link for info on pitch madness, but can’t find what the prize is. I know, as writers, we want agents reading our MS, but what does the pitch winner get?
Veronica said it well below. The goal of a pitch contest is to showcase your work for agents to request more page. It’s a way to stand out from the slush. The ultimate go is to get agent representation. We’ve had many successes come from Pitch Madness and other contests, some have gone on to get published.
Misses Rivera,for writers, this is a way to showcase our pitches – a way to get noticed without going through the agents’ slush piles. It’s not a contest with “prizes” per se. The prize is the chance to have your pitch seen by lots of agents at once. (Often, even agents who aren’t officially a part of the contest stop by to look.) The goal of the contest is to get an agent to request to see more of your manuscript. (That’s why it’s absolutely essential to have a query-ready manuscript if you’re thinking of entering. If it’s not ready to send the full manuscript right now, then it’s best to sit this one out and watch for now.)
The more I hear about this, the more excited I get! What wonderful pitch zombies there are this year. 🙂
Also, I have a question: If we write under a penname, should we submit under that penname, include both, or just our real name?
Woohoo! Can’t wait.
Question: Will this be like the last contest, where we send to readers in our genre?
Will the teams be by genre? Or will the teams pick their favorites, regardless of genre?
I think I’m confused. This is a common thing for me 😉 I’m sure it’ll all make sense before I submit 🙂
I can’t wait to watch! I wish I could participate this year, but I’m only 12k in to the WIP. But I LOVE watching Pitch Madness and cheering for everyone else! I’ll just be over here manning the coffee pot for the zombie slush readers. 🙂
I’m so excited! I’m just trying to figure out the time difference between the UK/USA.
If an author has two query-ready manuscripts, is it acceptable to submit two entries? Or does that just display a disturbing level of greediness?
I’m allowing you to submit more than one, but only one can be in the finals.
The choice of which one will be up to the hosts.
If a writer has a recently epublished (ditigal only) book, does it still qualify or is pitch madness only for unpublished ms?
It’s for unpublished works. Sorry. 😉