5 More #PitMad YA Favorites
June 21, 2016
by
David T. Allen
Last week, I wrote about five of my favorite #PitMad pitches. In this article, I give a little more info on what PitMad is and list five more equally great pitches that employ different techniques.
What is #PitMad?
PitMad is a Twitter competition where agents, editors, and publishers can favorite pitches that strikes their fancy. A favorite equates to a request for submission, which usually entails a query, synopsis, and first so many pages of your (completed) manuscript. They typically happen four times a year.
It’s a great way to find agents who are looking for books to represent and who are interested in your genre. Even if you’re not ready to participate, it’s nice to read through the feed and discover what catches your eye. Keep those pitches in mind when you need to begin pitching your own work.
For more information, see Brenda Drake’s article. You may want to follow @HeatherCashman and @brendadrake to keep up with various Twitter pitch contests.
(More of) My Favorite #PitMad Tweets
Almost two weeks ago, I watched the #PitMad-YA feed and noted anything that caught my attention.
These are more of my favorite YA pitches. They’re not necessarily the tweets that received the most favorites, but the ones that grabbed my attention. They’re not organized by relative favorites, as that would be difficult for me to do.
Newspaper Advert
#Pitmad #YA #SF Seeking 17yo girl to become the mother of an evolved all-female human race. Must be willing to let men (&BFF) go extinct.
Not only did this wanted ad buck the trend of the other pitches, it made the target demographic clear and states the source of tension (losing her BFF).
The style makes me think it’ll be campy, sort of like My Teacher is an Alien, so I’m expecting a light, fun tone.
Hidden Truth
Pastor's Daughter's Survival Guide: keep your head down, be quiet, smile. Most important: never let them see you sin. #pitmad #YA #CON #LGBT
The first four words reveal the character and her source of tension: her father, whose occupation, in this context, is at ends with her lifestyle (made even more apparent with #LGBT).
The shortening length after the first colon makes me read slowly: keep your head down, be quiet, smile. This tactic drew me in, but only because the words were so perfectly chosen.
Never let them see you sin implies a wild side. I’m guessing the focus is on evading being caught over tension-filled fights between father and daughter, but I’d have to read more to find out.
Women Warriors
In this alt-history, Norway never lost its gods--or its shieldmaidens. A reawakened blood feud calls a reluctant heir home #PitMad #YA #HF
Leslie got excited when I showed her this one. It’s got Vikings, gods, and women warriors. The first five words reveal the time and setting. The word shieldmaden really pops, too.
String of Statements
Punk shows in fields. Parties in barns. Being branded Jezebel in a spiritual war. MN is nothing like new girl Thora expected. #PitMad #YA
Amanda MacGregor was able to fit four short sentences into 126 characters, which gave an excellent glimpse at her story.
I’m not sure what the spiritual war will end up being (zealots? angels and demons?), but the punk shows and barn parties remind me of high school. It finishes smoothly with the location, protagonist’s name, and her perspective.
Off The Wall
#Pitmad #YA #R Grab thy surfboards and hit the waves! Love and laughs in Shakespeare's Much Ado on the beach. Danger lurks in the dunes.
This screams fun. We know it’s Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing but with surfboards in a modern setting.
That’s All For This Time
Watching the PitMad Twitter feed was a lot of fun. If you’d like to see more examples outside of YA, there’s currently eight age categories and thirty-four genres. Give them a peak, and get ready for the next PitMad event!
