Well, non-mentees, #PitMad is tomorrow from 8am-8pm. If you're confident in your novel, feel that it's as shiny as it's ever going to get, and are ready to query, I have to ask: are your twitter pitches ready?
If not, don't stress. With the prevalence of twitter contests (#PitMad, #PitchMas, #SFFpit, #AdPit, etc), there are hundreds of resources for us to learn from across the web. To help you alleviate stress I've compiled some of the advice I used for my own twitter pitches here.
Schedule your tweets
Scheduling in advance means not kicking yourself for missing an hour or two of potential favorites because of that meeting that runs over. There are many free apps to choose from (TweetDeck, Hootsuite, Buffer) so choose the one you’re most comfortable with.
Tweet 1-2 times an hour MAX – don’t swamp the hash with your tweets. It’s unprofessional and not fair to all the hopefuls
Tweet at odd times to help your exposure (:02, :16, etc)
Make sure to in clude:
MC(s) – not necessarily by name, a fun description works just as well
Stakes – what’s on the line
Consequences of failure – what happens if they don’t
Relevant hashtags - #PitMad of course :)
Category Genres
#WNDB = “WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS”
Still stuck?
Let a tweet generator give you some ideas
Imitate!
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
When escaping WWII 4 children go to magical, tyrannical land through wardrobe to fulfill prophecy & save both worlds. #PitMad #SFF
The Three Little Pigs
Brothers devoured by a killer known as Big Bad Wolf, third pig fights for his life with a pile of bricks between him & death #PitMad #A
Alice in Wonderland
Girl abducted by rabbit from family picnic to fight war in magical dimension. When put on trial for her life, will she wake up? #PitMad #YA
Use comparative titles if you can find them.
Try to find recent stories/movies/shows that match your plot, setting, or story arc. They don’t have to be dead on, but will help the agent/editor form a picture of your story. (This might be easier for those of you who read in your genre)
Format like TITLE+TITLE to save some of those precious characters
I created 4 tweets following these principles, rearranged hashtags so that one of them would be tweeted once an hour, for the 12 hour #PitMad window.
I say would be because...though I slaved over those four pitches, I've made the decision not to take part in the contest. Not because I'm not ready, but because I have conference requests to fulfill. Rather than take attention away from all of you lovelies and your shining, sparkling, not-yet-picked-up, soon-to-be-published works of art, I want to root for you.
I'll be trolling the feed, retweeting all of my twifriend's awesome pitches. My fingers are crossed for you.