One Day Until the #SFFpit Pitching Contest

Tomorrow is the #SFFpit pitching contest, a Twitter event for authors, editors, and agents of science fiction and fantasy. From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. CENTRAL time, authors with completed manuscripts who are seeking representation/publication will pitch their work under the #SFFpit hashtag. It’s very similar to, and in fact inspired by, Brenda Drake’s #PitMad. But it’s only for SFF manuscripts, hence the name.

#SFFpit Communication

The first thing you should do, if you haven’t already, is join my e-mail list and follow me on Twitter . Not so I can spam you, but because there are going to be important announcements and surprises related to #SFFpit that you’ll definitely want to hear.

What’s Happened Already

In the weeks we’ve spent planning #SFFpit, there have been lots of exciting new developments. Here’s just a sample of those:

• 2 weeks ago, the assistants at New Leaf Literary held their own Twitter pitching party for some of their agents. With my technomancy skills, I provided an analysis of the pitches made and the ones that got a request. And I hijacked the hashtag to promote #SFFpit. Apologies!
• Last week we held #SFFpit #practice, a warm-up exercise in which I challenged everyone to craft pitches for Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. Fun and hilarity ensued. Laura Rueckert and Michelle Collins won their choice of e-books for crafting the best practice pitches, as announced in Countdown to #SFFpit.
• Today we introduced ourselves on Twitter by playing Two Truths and a Lie. If you haven’t done so already, jump on the #SFFpit hashtag and tell us 3 things about yourself.

How to Get Ready for Tomorrow

If you’ll be joining us tomorrow, here are some tips on how to get ready.

Participating Authors

If you’re an author and hoping to pitch tomorrow, I hope you’ll do the following:

1. Introduce yourself today on the #SFFpit hashtag. Tell us your name and three things about yourself (2 truths, 1 lie). We’re having a LOT of fun guessing which one is made up. Follow some other participants and make some new friends!
2. Craft your pitch using the guidelines and appropriate hashtag for age category and genre (along with #SFFpit). You should pitch your book about once an hour, but make sure you mix it up (move the hashtags around, change a character) so that you don’t violate Twitter’s TOS.
3. Get your query and partial ready. If you’re successful tomorrow, you’ll get a “favorite” from an agent or editor. That’s an invitation to submit, so your stuff should be polished and ready to go.

Be sure to also check out my post on 9 ways to get ready for #SFFpit.

Editors and Agents

If you’re an agent or editor who’s agreed to look at pitches tomorrow, brace yourself! I think we are going to see a LOT of great pitches. We (authors0 realize that you’re already very busy, so we appreciate what little time you might be able to spare to read pitches. All I’d ask is that you:

1. Announce your presence on the #SFFpit hashtag (if you desire). This will get everyone excited, and probably win you many new Twitter followers.
2. Share the guidelines you’d like authors to follow, should you favorite their pitch. We’ll encourage everyone to follow them. No promises, though… you know how authors can be.

Everyone Else

Even if you can’t participate in #SFFpit — maybe your book’s not ready, or you’ve already found representation — it doesn’t mean you can’t join us tomorrow! Here are some ways you can share in the fun.

• Help us spread the word. Give us a plug on Twitter or Facebook or Google+ or your favorite network! Be sure to share the main #SFFpit page so that people know what to do.
• Tweet your encouragement. It’s not easy to put your own work out there for others to see. We all need a nudge from time to time!
• Retweet pitches that you like. This is your way of supporting aspiring authors who are doing well. Please do NOT favorite tweets unless you’re an agent or editor… down that road lies momentary heartache for the author.

Tomorrow, Twitter belongs to SFF!

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