Pages

Monday, January 16, 2023

Ten Rules For Pitching Your Book During #IWSGPit

It's quite a challenge to compose an amazing, agent-attention-catching micro pitch.
The IWSGPit is next week, so here are a few quick tips to get you moving. 


1. DO schedule your tweets. 

2. Follow the rules! 

3. Do NOT use up all 240 characters for your pitches if you can avoid it. Tight, concise pitches are easier to read.

4. But DO be specific. Vague pitches, or pitches that overuse cliches, won’t draw that much interest. 

5. Do NOT use inaccurate comps just to draw attention. You don’t want to promise something you can’t deliver.

6. Do NOT "like" other people's pitches.

7. DO keep a spreadsheet or list of every agent and editor who likes your tweets, and include their specific guidelines (if they tweeted any). Sometimes these will vary from their typical sub guidelines!

8. Do NOT feel like you must query everyone who likes your pitch. This is all fun, and it’s wonderful to have requests, but it’s also a business.  

9. DO research everyone before you query them. Scammers and sketchy publishers love contests. If you’re not sure about someone, check QueryTracker or ask a friend.

10. DO ask your friends to retweet! It boosts you in the feed, and they’re your best cheerleaders!

Are you participating in the upcoming Twitter Pitch? You have approximately one week to practise and polish your pitch before the big day!

8 comments:

  1. Good luck to everyone participating in the pitch contest. Maybe I'll be able to participate next year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good luck everyone ... enjoy - cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm really looking forward to this! It'll be my very first pitch event. I do have a quick question: my novel is a sci-fi fantasy. Should I use the hashtag #SFF or both #SF and #F? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Perfect guidelines for our Twitter pitch event!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Vague pitches won't receive many likes as publishers have no idea what the story is really about.

    ReplyDelete
  6. THank you, Alex, Michelle, and the IWSG. I might jump aboard.

    ReplyDelete