I just took part in my second Twitter Pitch yesterday, folks. Seriously this time. It was #DVpit. This is for agents and editors looking for diverse manuscripts or stories written by people who identify #POC [#BAME in the UK]. It is serious business. So, I took it seriously this second time round. It’s not to say that I wasn’t serious when I took part the first time round. I was dead serious then. I just didn’t understand the rules the first time round. I seriously have a problem when there are too many rules. And I have a problem when they say [TL:DR]:
“How many times can I pitch?
Each USER is allowed UP TO 6 #DVpit pitches per project, which cannot be tweeted more than once per hour regardless. You don’t need to use all 6 opportunities. If you have 4 good pitches, that’s fine. If you only want to send out 1 pitch—also fine. We recognize that this is confusing, so here are some examples:
ex1. You have 1 project to pitch. Options: you could pitch once every other hour over the whole 12-hr period; OR pitch once per hour over 3 hours in the morning, and once each hour for 3 hours in the afternoon. There will be 6 of the 12 hours during which you cannot pitch in #DVpit at all.
ex2. You have 2 #DVpit projects, up to 6 pitches for each. You could alternate pitches for them each hour; OR pitch 1 project over 6 hours in the morning, and the other over 6 hours in the afternoon. In either case, you pitch ONCE per hour, using up to the maximum 6 per project over the 12hr event.
ex3. Let’s say you have 3 #DVpit projects. You can only pitch once per hour, so you have to divvy up those 12 opportunities to your projects. Options: you could do 6 for project A + 3 each for projects B & C; OR 4 each; OR 2 for project A, 4 for project B, and 6 for project C.
Just remember that your twitter account cannot pitch into the #DVpit feed more than once per hour. Which project you choose each hour is up to you, as long as no single project exceeds 6. This is to keep the feed less cluttered and more fair.”
I read all the rules and I read this particular one a few times. And I realised that I’d failed elementary school maths and can’t do the sums. So, how many times can I twitch, I mean pitch twitch? Or was it tweet pitch? How many times again? Please bear with me on this. Maths whizzes know it’s easy. But if you’ve lived with numerophobia all your life, it’s hard when you read a rule with such intense and focused numerical sense that don’t make sense to you.
Anyhooo, I asked a bunch of very helpful friends in my writing community who had participated in twitter pitch conferences before and they told me “6 x per MS and at 1 hour intervals only”. That explained it.
So I sent my pitches into the twitching tweeting universe.
I had two. That is two manuscripts. So I spaced them out between the hours of 8 am – 8 pm EST, which is Eastern Standard Time. That just means 8 in the morning to 8 in the evening New York time.
But first, what is a twitter pitch conference?
- It all started with #PitMad. This was the original twitter pitch event or conference for unpublished manuscripts and writers who are unagented or agented.
- The event happens every quarterly according to a schedule based on EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)/ Spring-Summer or EST (Eastern Standard Time)/ Autumn-Winter.
- Hashtags are used to denote different categories: #DVpit for Diversity Pitch #PBPitch for Picture Book Pitch #CB for Children’s Books, etc., etc. There is now a #BVM hashtag for Black Writers and Illustrators. [YAY]
If you’re a children’s book writer like me, you’d want to look out for #PBPitch which is open to all picture book writers 3 times a year: February, June, and October. The next one is on October 29th, Thursday from 8 am to 8 pm EST.
Here are the rules.
If you’re a person of colour or someone from a marginalised or under-represented community, you’d want to look out for #DVpit. I took part in #DVpit because I identify #BAME or #POC. DVPit is open to ALL diverse creators or writers, working on ALL genres writing for children, YA or adult. Do look out for the dates as there are two days for different genres and age groups, and for writers and illustrators.
Here are the rules.
I made a couple of boo-boos, like retweeting someone’s tweet with a comment because someone had done that for me and I wanted to pay back in kind. Apparently, participants are not allowed to retweet. You can comment inside their tweet but not retweet with a comment. That was where I misunderstood. Only editors can retweet. These are editors who like your pitch but will only work with agented authors, so I was told.
You definitely cannot like or heart <3 a tweet cos that is the reserve of agents or editors. You’re meant to reply sans hashtags if you want to show support; see above about not retweeting.
Well, I’m learning along the way, as they say.
I don’t know about you but Twitter gives me the jitters, to be honest. There are some real serious trolls out there waiting to get ya. But thankfully, people just laughed my boos-boos off. And, frankly, nobody has the energy to tell you off, cos at the end of it, you’re meant to know what to…read the rules, and don’t be so zealous like me in wanting to boost other people’s tweets.
What came out of all this, you ask. The good news is that I got a genuine like or <3. Why genuine? It was a like from an editor, who then asked to read my manuscript. How did I know that? I went to find out who <3 my twitch and that’s that. And I scrolled down her tweets where she said that “if I like your pitch, it means I’m interested to read your manscript. Please DM me.”
I wouldn’t go private messaging the editor/ agent if they had not tweeted for the author to do that. I’d just go check out their website for submission guidelines and type in DVpit in the subject line. Nobody likes being stalked, editors and agents no less.
So I sent my manuscript to this editor after I’d DM-ed her to ask how I can submit, and she has confirmed receipt of it. So, you see, this was how serious I was about taking part in #DVpit, and because I was serious, the Universe sent out positive vibes, unlike the first time when I took part. So, don’t make the mistake I did the first time round—join in for the fun of it. I’m not saying you mustn’t have fun. Because FUN + PASSION = ENJOYMENT.
#DVpit is now over and I can’t wait to take part in the next one cos the fun of it all is in composing the tweets in 280 characters. It’s an exercise in precision and concision.
Here was what I’d tweeted and pitched for one story.
When a little girl longs for her grandma’s dumplings, but her grandma can no longer cook, she discovers that faith and love are enduring. This 389-word #PB explores the relationship between an unnamed protagonist and their grandma. #DVPit #OWN [this one got me a like but I’ve decided not to pursue this like for personal reasons.]
Like a Tai Chi dance, an unnamed protagonist must grapple with her grandma’s fading breath. DANCING DUMPLINGS FOR MY ONE AND ONLY, a 389-word story that charts the relationship between a child and their grandma rises and falls with each breath. #DVpit #poc #own
You’ve got it!
Good luck!
Hi thanks for postinng this
you’re welcome! 🙂