After weeks of reading and obsessing over all the fabulous entries our amazing mentors have finally chosen their mentees!
Behind the scenes, there’s been blood, sweat, and tears. Our mentors have worked tirelessly reading all their submissions for Pitch Wars. The mentors have cried and laughed and shared how much they love your words. There were tons, TONS, of great entries, and we were sad they all couldn’t be chosen. Reading and liking a story is subjective, and mentors chose the one manuscript that grabbed their heart. One that after reading, they couldn’t forget. Couldn’t pass up.
Please know that mentors are not required to send feedback to those who submitted to them. Our mentors have their own books to write, mentees to mentor, jobs, and family life. Some will have the time to send feedback and some will not. Please don’t pester mentors for feedback in their emails, their sites, or on social media. If you get feedback, it’s a bonus.
There are many pathways to acquiring your publishing goals. Pitch Wars is just one of a few. Though we know you’ll be disappointed if you don’t find your name on the following list, please remember that you are in the game. Just finishing a manuscript requires a love for writing, and putting your work out there is such a brave act. Congratulations for getting into the game. Every heartache, every victory, will get you a step closer to success.
Sarah (Managing Director): I wanted to say thank you to everyone who submitted this year and participated in our wonderfully active community. I hope that you’ve already gotten something out of Pitch Wars – whether it’s knowledge, or new writing friends, or even just the practice. I always feel compelled to remind entrants that mentors can only choose one person to work with, and it is always a near-impossible choice, so please don’t think of not being chosen as a “rejection” or even a judgement on your book or your writing.
And huge congrats to the 2019 mentee class! I hope you’re ready to get to work!!
Brenda (Founding Director): I know all too well how it feels to be rejected. I’ve entered contests before and not been chosen. There was never a Pitch Wars for me. I’ve been rejected (a lot), had to end a relationship with an agent, and had to end a publishing deal that wasn’t the best for me. Perseverance is key in being successful in publishing. We pick ourselves up, learn what we need to get better, and head back into the trenches. I’ve made several friends on my publishing journey. This community is amazing! The community has supported me through some dark times and have celebrated with me through winning ones. We all fail some and win some, but as long as we continue, our dreams can be realized. I’m still learning (and failing). My wish for you is to keep going, never give up, and gather friends who will cry and celebrate with you through the battles and victories. I admire each and every one of you for taking that brave leap and sharing your work. The support you all show each other touches my heart each day. I’m truly blessed to be in this community with you.
Thank you for entrusting us with your work!
Sarah and Brenda
And here is the Pitch Wars Class of 2019 …
Adult
Mentor (s) | Mentee |
Alex Segura | Joe Passanisi |
Alexa Martin & Suzanne Park | Falon Ballard |
Ava Reid & Rachel Morris | Amanda Helander |
Carolyne Topdjian | Laura Young |
Damyanti Biswas | Mario Aliberto |
Denny S. Bryce | A.Y. Chao |
Diana A. Hicks | Anna Langford |
Elizabeth Little | Zoe B. Wallbrook |
Farah Heron | Suleena Bibra |
Gia de Cadenet | Mackenzie Littledale |
Gladys Quinn | Gigi Griffis |
Gwynne Jackson | Hugh Blackthorne |
Halley Sutton & Layne Fargo | Heather L. Levy |
Hayley Stone & Erin A. Tidwell | Kate Havas |
Hayley Stone & Erin A. Tidwell | Maiga Doocy |
Ian Barnes | Sophia Mortensen |
Janet Walden-West & Anne Raven | Cath Lauria |
Kate Lansing | Katie Bohn |
Kathleen Barber | Yvette Yun |
Katie Golding | Brooke Abrams |
Keena Roberts | Molly Steen |
Kelly Siskind & Heather Van Fleet | Stephanie Eding |
Kerbie Addis & Ren Hutchings | Emilee Martell |
Kristen Lepionka & Ernie Chiara | Rose Erickson |
Laura Brown | Tara Martin |
Mary Ann Marlowe | Jordan D’Amico |
Mary Ann Marlowe | A.J. Winder |
Matthew Quinn Martin | Nicole Duarte |
Maxym M. Martineau | Megan Van Dyke |
Meryl Wilsner & Rosie Danan | Jill Kelly |
Mia P. Manansala & Kellye Garrett | Manju Soni |
Michelle Hauck & Carrie Callaghan | Joanna Vitiello |
Michelle Hauck | Angel Di Zhang |
Natalka Burian | Elizabeth Brookbank |
Nicole Glover | Chandra Fisher |
P. J. Vernon & Kelly J. Ford | Ashton Noone |
Paris Wynters | Sara Sellers |
Rebecca Enzor | B.R. McCoy |
Rob Hart | Victor Manibo |
Samantha Rajaram | Leila Mottley |
Sarah Remy | Vaishnavi Patel |
Stephen Morgan | Jennifer Lycette |
Susan Bishop Crispell | Kerry Reardon |
Susan Bishop Crispell | Piper Vossy |
Tim Akers | Christine Daigle |
Middle Grade
Mentor(s) | Mentee |
Adrianna Cuevas & Sarah Kapit | George Jreije |
Amanda Panitch | Brendan Maghran |
Eric Bell | Jesse James Keitel |
Erin Entrada Kelly | Melissa McDaniel |
Graci Kim & Karah Sutton | Carol Williams |
Jennifer L. Brown & Kim Long | LK Frank |
Jessica Bayliss | Barb Hopkims |
Julie Artz & Jessica Vitalis | Parker Goodreau |
K.C. Held | Brighton Rose Kamen |
Kit Rosewater & Ash Van Otterloo | Cheryl Caldwell |
Lacee Little & Bronwyn Clark | Marie Hoy-Kenny |
Maria Frazer & Meera Trehan | Florence Migga |
Nicole E Panteleakos | Heather Clark |
Nicole Melleby & A.J. Sass | Lin Thompson |
Rajani LaRocca & Remy Lai | Maria Linn |
Rebecca Petruck | Rhonda Roumani |
Sarah Suk & Julie Abe | Robyn Field |
Sean Easley | Cliff Lewis |
Shakirah Bourne | Avione Lee |
TJ Ohler | Nathan Lyon |
Young Adult
Mentor(s) | Mentee |
Abigail Johnson | Sammi Spizziri |
Adalyn Grace | Sunya Mara |
Aiden Thomas | Anna Sortino |
Andrea Contos | Elora Ditton |
Aty S. Behsam & Kylie Schachte | Ann Fraistat |
Auriane Desombre & Susan lee | Kaitlyn Hill |
Ayana Gray | Hanna Bechiche |
Carrie S. Allen & Sabrina Lotfi | Jenny Coon Peterson |
Cole Nagamatsu | Anna Read |
Deborah Falaye & Ciannon Smart | Sarah Mughal Rana |
Hoda Agharazi | Stephanie Dodson |
Isabel Ibanez | Kate Pearsall |
J.Elle | Kelis Rowe |
Jamie Howard | Ava Tusek |
Jen Marie Hawkins & Anna Birch | Meaghan O’Keeffe |
Jenna Lincoln | Martha Keller |
Jesse Q Sutanto | Grace Shim |
Judy I. Lin | Melissa Chai |
Julia Ember | Amanda Jasper |
Kat Dunn | Kate Dylan |
Kelly Quindlen & Adrienne Tooley | Jen Cox-Shah |
Kelsey Rodkey & Rachel Lynn Solomon | Claire Sunghyun Ahn |
Kimberly Gabriel & Dawn Ius | LC Milburn |
Kyle T. Cowan & Brenda Drake | Sawyer Lovett |
Laurie Dennison | Megan Scott |
Laurie Dennison | Briana Johnson |
Leila Siddiqui | Samira Ford |
Lindsey Frydman | Melissa Poettcker |
Liz Lawson & Jeff Bishop | Anne Applegate |
Lyndsay Ely | Emily Varga |
Michaela Greer | Melissa McKinnon |
Nancy Werlin | Siana LaForest |
Olivia Hinebaugh | Meg Gaertner |
Rachel Griffin | Karyn Riddle |
Ray Stoeve | Kirt Ethridge |
Rebecca Coffindaffer | Michelle Wong |
Rebecca Schaeffer | Tanvi Berwah |
SA Patel | Aashna Avachat |
Sam Taylor | Beth Kander |
Sandra Proudman & Raquel Vasquez | Briana Miano Ruiz |
Sarah Nicolas & Leigh Mar | Ridley Adams |
Sasha Peyton Smith & Kristin Lambert | Mara Dabrishus |
Sonia Hartl & Annette Christie | Thais Vitorelli |
ST Sterlings | Kat Hillis |
Zach Hines | Mike Jeavons |
First, I want to commend Pitch Wars team, especially Brenda, for not veering when the vision came that she establish a platform like this. Sarah too, the Managing Director, deserves a special mention. She’s an amazing brain and her presentations wowed me I must say. Through Pitch Wars I met true creative initiates from around the world who desire to be successful like other household names who walk/walked the path. It’s something I’m proud of. This is my first year to pitch and I ran into Pitch Wars barely a week before the SUBMISSIONS. How I did find Pitch Wars? I was reading Tomi Adeyemi’s(a countrywoman) YA debut, “Children of Blood and Bone” and I was completely drawn into the novel by her power of imagination and marvelous treatment of the themes that I wanted to know more about the book and the writer’s journey. My search on Google helped me as I also learnt that she was a Pitch Wars mentee before she was agented. Pitch Wars? Let me find out more about them, I said. Behold, I was very impressed with what I read about Pitch Wars. That many known great writers have been mentors and mentees of Pitch Wars makes the whole idea an effective shot in the arm. Deborah Falaye, too, is as a matter of fact. A fellow compatriot and I’m proud of her and her creative strides. No hard feelings. Let’s not be stuck in our craw that we will never want to try again.
However, I want to encourage others like me who were not chosen as mentees for this year’s Pitch Wars. Pitch Wars had 3,547 SUBMISSIONS this year with just a hand full of mentors and each to choose just “a mentee” from the pile of pitches staring them in the face. We all prayed and hoped to be chosen. That was the spirit of optimism at its greatest though there wasn’t any way we would all be chosen. Writers are subjective; readers too, are. Our Pitch Wars mentors have been our readers and they have only picked a few whose works appeal to them. If you weren’t picked as well, it does not mean you haven’t written a great piece. The reason is simple: either you weren’t chosen because the mentors allowed to choose more than a mentee or your work didn’t appeal to their own subjectives. Do not relent in your search for a mentor and representation. Every piece is great and unique and you only could have written that. It sure will appeal to another mentor and agent. After the SUBMISSIONS I took up another piece, wrote it and still rewriting it. I never waited for Pitch Wars announcement before doing so. Many of us did. We will be chosen someday, too.
To the would-be mentees, my biggest congratulations to you guys. To write to be able to draw a mentor’s interest is not a walk in the park. We all were neck and neck with you in the “Wars” but you ended up being chosen. I wish you all the best of luck in your quest to be greater in this path. A path where there’s no victor and no vanquished. We are only poised to expressing the human mind in the most creative form. One love!
Hello,
I just wondered why mentor Michael Chorost wasn’t on the list above. He was one of my choices to submit to.
Thank you.
We’re sorry to share that Michael will not be mentoring this year.
Congratulations to all the chosen ones, and a big ‘Thank you!’ to all the mentors for their hard work, sifting through the entries, and of course, the hard work still to come 🙂 🙂
I was not chosen as a mentee, but I’m grateful for Pitchwars. Preparing for it made me a better writer. Congrats to the chosen.
Congratulations to all the 2919 mentees!