Pit Mad

Tinderbox Pit Mad (#TBPitMad)

#Pitmad pitch template: Protagonist must [GOAL] or [CONSEQUENCE] but [OPPOSITION] (not necessarily in that order!).

— Ava Jae (@Ava_Jae) September 10, 2015

Friday 9^th October 2015 (9am-5pm)

Just for Tinderbox people.

If you have a Finished Manuscript which fits Young Adult, Junior Fiction, Picture Book or Non Fiction or combination eg #PB #NF

To craft a pitch that has a good chance of being noticed follow Ava Jae's advice above. PROTAGONIST MUST GOAL OR CONSEQUENCE BUT OPPOSITION

Examples

A teenage girl’s romance eerily mirrors that of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, down to the impending swing of an axe. #pitmad #YA thriller

Alison Green Myers @alisongmyers

Falling for the hostage is never a good idea. Especially for Jess who’s being paid to deliver him. Think Buffy meets The Sopranos #pitmad #YA

David Purse @davidpurse

Lucy longs to be a perfect big sister but each big sister flop makes her less big sister, and more big monster. #pitmad #PB

Margaret Greanias @Margaret Greania

Cuddly characters are at the mercy of an author who gratuitiously interrupts their idyllic garden to make the book more exciting. #pitmad #PB

-Peter McCleery @petermccleery

12-yo Charlie works with the ghost of his middle-school crush to prove his grave-robbing dad didn’t actually kill her. #pitmad #MG

Donea Weaver @DoneaLee

Bounty Hunter/Oliver Twist/Percy Jackson. 14yo creature catcher in 1910 London. Goblins, Trolls, Goddesses + attack on London. #pitmad #MG

Pete Catalano @Pete­_Catalano

Hashtags #

The important part to remember is the hashtags. The hashtags enable agents and publishers to just search for what they want. In the Twitter search bar Publishers and Agents can put in #TBPitMad and #YA and Twitter  will isolate all the pitches in that category.
(If you are researching #pitmad it’s a good way for writers to see what types of things are being requested overseas.)

The Tinderbox  Pit Mad hashtag is

#TBPitMad

So make sure you have it on every pitch.

Further identifiers,

#YA = Young Adult

#JF  = Junior Fiction

#PB = Picture Book

#NF = Non Fiction

You may pitch up to three times an hour but each pitch has to be slightly different, because Twitter hates Spammers. So don’t keep Tweeting the same thing. You may Retweet someone else’s pitch... DON’T STAR A PITCH! – That is for the publishers and agents to do.

You can schedule your tweets by using Tweetdeck or some other application that schedules tweets if you can’t drop into Twitter throughout the day. (Check Time zones! Often these Apps have a default US Time zone.)

Be nice and courteous to each other, and especially to the industry professionals. Don’t tweet agents and publishers directly unless they tweet you first. (I probably didn't need to tell you that as Tinderboxers are the nicest bunch of people around!)

If Your Pitch Is Starred.

1. Breathe.

2. Follow their guidelines. They will either Tweet what they want so check their Twitter stream profile or you will need to go to their website and check their submission guidelines.

3. Craft your query letter carefully - Don’t be a horrible example in the next Barbara Else presentation.

4. After your Query, paste the first chapter (or whatever they want) in the body of the email.

5. Don’t forget to put in the subject line of the email: Tinderbox PitMad Request: Title of your book

6. You should send your Query within a week... (So take the weekend to really work on your queries.)

HAVE FUN

(The next big U.S. pitmad on Twitter is December 4 -US time. Research this first! #pitmad)

Illustrators

Prepare your tear sheets and send them to

Kate de Goldie and Julia Marshall at Gecko Press by email or snail mail.

In your cover letter tell them you were at Tinderbox.

Julia asks that you include a short C.V.

Good Luck Everyone!