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Writer's pictureRose Rivers
Jan 30, 20227 min read

My two cents on Twitter Pitch events

Updated: Jul 10, 2022

Hey there lovelies! It's Sunday and that means another entry to my new, lovely blog. (Plus it’s pre-Monday 🙄)

Today I’m giving you my two cents on Twitter Pitch events.


So first of all, as usual, let me start out by saying, I am not an expert and if you’re looking for the advice of an expert, I’m not your gal. What I am is someone else who is going through it and trying my best to share what things I‘ve done wrong, so you can avoid them, and what things I think I may have done right.



You see what I did there?👆👆👆 I know, I was much more confident about the fact that am sure I did things wrong, but alas, I still don’t have an agent/publisher so I am not quite sure what (if anything) I’ve done right yet.



Ok, now that I’ve gotten the warnings ⛔️ out of the way. Let me get into the meat of it. This past week, I participated in my first ever Twitter Pitch event. If you’re new to querying/writing, you may be confused about what this is, so here’s a brief breakdown.


On a certain day/time, a Twitter group will set up an event hashtag and ask writers to post a pitch (Twitter length-270 characters) using said hashtag. In advance, they advertise, letting agents/publishers to check the hashtag during the time/date of the event to see pitches.

If you (the writer) receives a like from an agent/publisher, they are inviting you to query them, using their query guidelines. Easy enough right?



The event I participated in was #IWSGPit (Insecure Writers Support Group). Their rules were that you could post one post per hour per manuscript between 8 am and 8 pm. You could post multiple manuscripts, but I chose to focus on just one. You do you, but just make sure you check to see what the pitch you’re participating in allows.


During my event, I got likes (❤️) from a couple agents and a couple small publishers. Since submitting, I have also gotten at least one request for additional material so I guess I did ok coming up with a decent formula. So, in my true fashion, I’m going to share what I did so hopefully you can take it, make it your own (hopefully even better) and it can work for you too!



Before I decided to do it, just like anything else, I did a ton of research, and here’s a simple summary what I learned (not everything, but the basics).


  1. Twitter Pitches aren’t the same as queries

  2. They aren’t meant to give away everything about your book

  3. They need to be catchy

  4. There should be relatable comps (tv and celebrities are ok in this scenario)


So what does all that mean? I’ll break it down.



1. Twitter Pitches aren’t the same as queries

When I say that Twitter pitches aren’t the same as queries I mean it. You should be crafting a special pitch that is specifically geared for Twitter. What I mean is, you need to spend time on it, you can’t just pick a sentence from your query and expect that to work. I saw a lot of those during the event and they didn’t get likes, so do your research and craft a perfect pitch meant specifically for that event.


During my event, I was allowed to pitch once an hour. So, I created several. I think I ended up with about 10 total pitches. Each of them were similar, but had a slightly different vibe to hopefully draw agents who prefer different things. My book is also a dual POV, so I made one from the FMC POV and one from the MMC POV and one that combined the two. Some were snappy summaries and others were ‘staccato’ style.



Below are examples I created of my book based on my research of standard vs staccato:


STANDARD:

SOOKIE ST JAMES X MICHAEL VOLTAGGILO


Curvy foodie Kaytlyn’s life's in shambles-A series of slimeballs has her avoiding men like a salty-spinach 🧁


Enter Blayke… a successful restaurateur who could be what she needs, if he can assure her not all men are sleazy



STACCATO:

(Heroine POV):

SOOKIE ST JAMES X NASHVILLE X TOP CHEF


Crazy family. ✅

Stalker. ✅

Sexually-harrassing, slimey, boss ✅✅✅


For curvy foodie Kaytlyn dating is as far off the menu as salty spinach cupcakes. She needs a man as much as an excuse to eat a good meal. Until him...


(Hero POV):

MICHAEL VOLTAGGILO X NASHVILLE


Thriving Restaurant ✅

Great Family ✅

Best friend who may be stalking his curvy dream girl ✅✅✅


For Blayke, Kaytlyn was just his friend's crush—until he met her… If only he can bypass bro-code ➕ convince her he isn't a creep

(I posted this as a comment under my FMC post as well as its own post)


So now that you have an idea what they should kind of look like, we can breeze through the rest of the outlined bullet points.


2. They aren’t meant to give away everything about your book

You want to draw the agent/publisher in, so give enough information to make them want to read it. This means you should include stakes and main conflict, but it shouldn’t really give specifics.


In the above example, you can see that we get a clue about what the main conflict is, and why they should/shouldn’t be together but we don’t know it all, just enough to get someone interested.


3. They need to be catchy

I don’t know for sure how catchy I made mine, but I did catch some attention, so I guess catchy enough.


One of the most commented on lines (by other writers) from my pitch is ‘salty spinach cupcakes.’ It is a part of the book, but obviously not the hugest part. It does however convey the tone. My characters are lighthearted and they share a mutual love of food and the food industry, so if I want to find an agent that’s right for my manuscript I need to convey that, and I think this line does it.


4. There should be relatable comps (tv and celebrities are ok in this scenario)

During the pitch events, TV, movie and celebrity comps are perfectly acceptable. In your query, you should use other books, but in Twitter pitches, it’s not necessary.


In mine, I tried to convey what my characters would remind people of. My main character is a curvy, foodie who’s funny but often second guesses herself. She also sometimes feels like the sidekick in her own life. Who better portrays that than Sookie from Gilmore Girls? She is one of my favorite characters in the show too, and if you’re a fan, you would probably like my book. Plus, a curvy, body positive, main character who isn’t afraid to admit she loves food? What’s better than that? More of that is needed in the market, we aren’t all size 2s so let’s portray that in what we read and watch.



Similarly, Michael Voltaggio (actually both Voltaggio Brothers) are among my favorite all time Top Chef contestants. My book’s male main character is a sexy, successful chef and restaurateur, who has a great family. So Michael Voltaggio is a good description. Plus fans of Top Chef will also likely like and understand my book. The book isn’t about a food competition, but it is heavily influenced by the main characters' shared love of the food industry, so fans of the show get it.



Also, Nashville is mentioned because the book takes place in Nashville and there are some secondary characters that work for a label as well as some funny scenes that include some fairly well known music celebrities that fans of that show would probably know.



These comps probably won’t be relatable to everyone, but remember, I’m looking for my agent or my publisher. If I want to find the right representation for my work, I should be putting out what is important about the book to me.


So… What does this all boil down to? As in every post I’ve ever made, ever… do your research. Find out what your pitch event is looking for. If you can post multiple pitches, do it! Make them different so you’ll open yourself up to different styles of agents/publishers. Take advantage of the opportunity and plan ahead. If you put out a half cocked pitch, it probably won’t work out for you, so figure it out ahead of time.


Also, on a side note… Don’t forget to support your fellow authors. Comment on their pitches and help promote them however you can. I tried to comment a lot and retweet when it was appropriate. Just remember we’re all in it together and trying to get to the same place. And if you support them, they’re likely to support you, so even if you don’t do it out of the goodness of your heart, do it in an effort to get yourself to where you want to be… but do it out of the goodness of your heart 😂😂😂



One word of caution⚠️ …


I wasn’t the most productive employee in my ‘real job’ the day of the event because I was on Twitter basically all day, so make plans for that if you’re a little obsessive or anything like me.

(Since at the moment most of the people reading my blog either are me, or are related to me, you probably are like me, but someday maybe this caution will reach someone else… 😂)




So that’s it folks! That’s my Two Cents on Twitter Pitch events. Do your research, prepare ahead of time, and happy hunting! Also, I—10 out of 10 recommend doing it, even if you don’t get any likes (❤️), it will likely help you identify any weak spots in your manuscript. Good luck out there query friends!



Have a great week!


-Rose Rayne Rivers




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