Ally Aldridge Books, Query, Tips, Writing

Seven Secrets to PitMad Success

I met debuting author Roxy Eloise through Instagram. We connected during a very exciting time for her author career! Roxy has just landed a publishing deal following her first attempt at PitMad.

In the spirit of authors supporting authors, Roxy agreed to share her experience and some tips to help other hopeful writers find success with PitMad.

What is PitMad?

Well, before we get into things, I should probably cover what PitMad is. PitMad is an event held on Twitter by Pitch Wars. It enables unrepresented writers to pitch their novel in the hope of attracting interested agents/publishers. Those interested will like the tweet to signify a request for the manuscript. Read more about the event on the Pitch Wars website.

Roxy Eloise’s PitMad Success Story:

I joined Twitter in January 2021 with the hopes of connecting with fellow writers, but feeling like the new girl in school, I remained silent for the whole month! For some reason, I felt nervous to send out my very first tweet. Instead, I just watched my timeline, during which, I picked up a few key hashtags, #PitMad being one of them. I kept seeing it over and over again until one morning my curiosity got the better of me. What is this #PitMad? After a quick google search, I discovered I had been on PitchWars.org a few months prior, and I had already bookmarked the page to check out at a later date. Well, I stumbled upon it again, but this time it just so happened to be on the morning of their Twitter event called PitMad.

I only had a short while to prepare my pitch, and I was at a huge disadvantage because I hadn’t gotten myself on any retweet lists, but I decided to try my luck at it regardless and chalk it up as experience. My pitch could’ve been better and there are a few things I would have done differently but I never needed to. 

On the morning of March 4th, I started the day by reaching out to a few of my followers and asking them for help. After a few retweets, my pitch began to take off, and by the end of the day, I was on the ‘TOP’ page for the hashtag PitMad. The next day, I had a full request off Entrada Publishing, and then, after a few rounds of proving myself and my book, I got offered a traditional book contract. Thanks to PitMad, The Guidal: Discovering Puracordis will be coming April 2022!

Here is my original pitch which attracted the attention of my publishers:

Now after you read this article, you will notice its flaws, and this is what I would have done differently:

THE LAST AIRBENDER X DIVERGENT

A suspiciously paranoid man adopts children to protect him. All raised in a strict academy together, one trouble-maker discovers she is dangerously different. #PitMad #YA #D #MR #R

Roxy Eloise Revamped Pitch if she were to do it again

But with everything in life, we learn as we go. Isn’t it crazy how when we were newbie writers we believed our first drafts were outstanding? But then we grew as writers and now we cringe at our early drafts. If you still think your first draft is amazing, unfortunately you still have some growing to do. But one day you will see it, and when you are at that stage, you are ready to pitch your work.

Follow the seven secrets below, and you too could see yourself a PitMad success.

Seven Secrets to PitMad Success

7 Secrets to PitMad Success

1. Read the Rules

This point may be self-explanatory, but it’s surprising how many tweets I see before the start time or how many I see with GIFs. What’s the point of going through so much effort to create an awesome pitch only to risk your chances of success with an image? Don’t hinder your chances; read the rules carefully before participating.

One last thing to remember is to not like your friends’ pitches. The like button is reserved specially for agents and industry professionals. You can show your support by leaving comments or retweeting.

2. Create your Ultimate Pitch – CONFLICT IS KEY

So you’ve read the rules and now you’re ready to create your eye-catching tweet. Well, first off, what’s not eye-catching is a sentence with unfamiliar names which instantly make the agent feel lost. If you have a unique MC name, keep it for the full proposal. Refer to your character as a boy, a woman, a witch, a lawyer, a narcissist.

You only have 280 characters to entice your agent, so do just that… entice them. You don’t have to explain the plot of a 100K novel in 2 sentences. To entice them, focus entirely on the conflict. Any other elements can be revealed after you’ve reeled them in and they’ve asked for a full request.

Which one of these would you hit the like button for:

Saraiya walked the street at night when she was kidnapped by Kanhoa and put in an enclosure with other prisoners. She falls in love with Fenrir and they devise a plan to escape. (All names taken from actual pitches.)

VS. 

A man steps from the shadows and covers her mouth. When she wakes up naked and exposed, she immediately needs to fend for her life. She is not alone in this prison.

One focuses entirely on the conflict, whilst the other introduces stakes that I could take or leave. Escape is obviously the stakes. Life or death is another. It is not necessary to TELL the agent. You have already SHOWN it in the pitch.

One pitch also made me stumble over unfamiliar names. The agent will learn your unique names in the synopsis. This is also the time for them to learn about the added romance.

3. Use Hashtags and Comp Titles

Got a romance in your genre-blend sci-fi, adventure novel? Tell them with Hashtags. The agent may be very specific in what they are looking for. If they want sci-fi with a romance they can search #PitMad #SF #R and your tweet could suddenly appear on the ‘TOP’ page. Visibility—when you’re in amongst hundreds of thousands—is fundamental. Find which hashtags to use on their website.

Comparative titles can very quickly build a picture in an agent’s mind and it only takes a few characters. If I said to you HUNGER GAMES X HARRY POTTER, you suddenly think “okay, witches and wizards fighting it to the death in a sinister survival game.” You know there’s magic, and you also know there’s a survival of the fittest game. You got all that from just 27 characters. It’s a good use of your limited 280.

4. Have fun and Be Active

Being active can help tremendously on the day. If you support other authors, they are likely to support you back. Positivity can go a long way, so have fun and enjoy the day engaging with fellow writers.

You will also learn a thing or two by reading other pitches. You learn what to do and what not to do. If you find yourself saying “who cares?” after every stakes question, then don’t use a stakes question. “Who will win?” “Will they do it in time?” “Will they survive?” Who cares?

5. Pin your Pitch

So, you have the pitch of your life and your friends want to come and support you, but they go to your profile and are met with a list of other people’s tweets. Or worse, the agent liked your pitch but wanted to see your profile before they hit the like button, and now they are on your page and can’t find your pitch. What they do see though, are your fellow writers’tweets. Great for them but not great for you. You potentially lost an agent.

To solve this, simply pin your tweet so it stays at the top of your feed on your profile.

6. Make a Retweet List and Get on Retweet Lists

So this is not one-hundred-percent essential but it does help. Not only are you engaged, active, and having fun, you are receiving support on your own pitch.

Retweets may sway an agent to hit the like button if they think other people are interested. Sometimes they could be undecided and 200 retweets could be the one thing that persuades them.

7. The Flaw to THREE Variations

And finally, you come up with three variations of the same book, you send them out a few hours apart, and they all get 50 retweets each… Well, if you weren’t distributing your retweets between three pitches, you could’ve potentially had150 retweets on one post. Having 150 on one, looks better than 50 on three. And guaranteed they are 50 different accounts on each post.

Now, I know agents may not be biased and like pitches according to the amount of retweets they have, but I can also guarantee that if you go and look at a pitch with 500 retweets, it has at least one agent like on it. It’s all about making your pitch look popular and generating a bit of excitement about your story; after all, it is fabulous!

Why not let the retweets reflect that. Retweets also get you on the ‘TOP’ page for that hashtag, and this means even more exposure for you.

Thank you Roxy

I want to thank Roxy for taking her time to write this post for my blog, and I hope this helps another aspiring author to achieve their dream.

I also love that despite getting a deal on her first PitMad, Roxy is already reflecting on what she could do better. And, that is the key quality of successful people, to keep growing and improving. I’m sure this book deal is just the start of her author career and I can’t wait for her book to release and to see the other titles that follow on for this debuting author.

Make sure you follow Roxy Eloise to keep up with her journey and book news. Here are her links:

www.instagram.com/RoxyEloiseOfficial

www.Twitter.com/RoxyEloise_

If you enjoyed this, you will like:

PitMad September 2019 – My Experience

PitMad June 2019 – The Tweets

PitMad December 2018 – My Experience

Writers Beware – Know who you are querying

[kofi]

Ally Aldridge Fiction, Novel, Tips, Writing

Writers beware! Know who you are querying.

Sadly, there will always be con artists looking to prey on the vulnerable. It is easy to manipulate someone if you promise you can make their dreams come true.

When I started modelling I was aware of rogue agencies that offer to build you a portfolio for a charge. They sell it as your big break and that it will open doors for you into the industry but the truth is it is just a photography package. There is nothing wrong in paying a photographer if you want photos, but don’t be fooled into thinking it will guarantee you work.

If an agency really likes you, they won’t charge you for the privilege. You should never have to pay your employer for the opportunity to work. Especially with no guarantee of any return.

Sadly, writers don’t always realise this. With so many barriers to the publishing industry they are relieved when they finally get an interested agent that sometimes they fail to check them out. They are so happy they naively agree to costs their agent tells them are necessary to start the publishing process. This is untrue. The only time you would pay up front to publish is if you wish to self-publish or if you have chosen to use a vanity publisher.

Travis Heerman

Here is a story by Travis Heerman about his early experience of the industry. He was conned out of a large sum of money in pursuit of his dream, by a scam that seemed to never end. Even worse, he was not alone. Cautionary Tales for writers – part 1.

Travis shared his story in the hopes of saving other hopeful writers from the same heartache and stress he went through.

I would like to highlight that one of the defendants (found guilty in court) of this scam was a man named Don Phelan. Why this is interesting will be raised later.

September 2018

During the September 2018 #PitMad event I got a request by Burchette and Ferguson, however, I chose not to follow up and send them my MS as I was put off by their website and here is why. They had only existed for three weeks and had no details about who worked at their company or their background.

I started drafting this article in February 2019 (screenshot below) and checked out their website again only to be greeted by the a message informing me that they are preparing for their big launch and the site had been down since October 2018!

However, I checked the site again today (almost a year later), 1 September 2019, and the site no longer exists!

With Pitch Wars #PitMad (September 2019) in just a few days, I felt it was a good time to remind people that just because someone likes your pitch, doesn’t mean you have to send it to them. This company was ‘preparing for a big launch’ a month afterwards that I don’t think every happened, and vanished in less than a year.

February 2019

This year I have been connecting more with other writers on Instagram. It’s been great for motivation, support and tips. One of the connections is The Writers Advisor.

On 20 February, they posted about a Literacy Agency actively seeking submissions. Here is the post.

It wasn’t clear to me at the time that they are a Literary Agency. I thought it was a post they were sharing. I said I would check it out later.

Later on, I visited the site but could not find any details about who works there or any authors already signed or books published. So, I returned to Instagram to comment publically asking if they knew anything about which agents work there.

They responded with a private message:

It might be a coincidence and a completely different Don Phelan to the one in the publishing fraud case but with the lack of further information I decided to pass on sending him/her my manuscript.

Then Don replied to my message publicly on 23 February 2019.

His response strikes me as rather rude. I understand that when I query I am hoping the agent would like to work with me but it is a two way partnership. I always research an agent before I query to check they are a good fit for me too, otherwise I’m just wasting their time. His/her response gave me clarity that they were not someone I wanted to work with.

Do you need an agent?

If you are looking to traditionally publish then you’ll find most publishers won’t deal with writers directly. It will say no ‘unsolicited manuscripts’ meaning you’ll need an agent to approach them on your behalf.

It is important to research Literary Agents to ensure they are a good fit for your book, someone you want to work with and most of all to ensure they are authentic. Don’t fear, there are simple ways to check them out:

Agent History

For example, check the agents history. Legit agencies often have a page about the agents and the authors they’ve signed. They often promote the books they got published as their success is a reflection on them.

New literary agents often start out supporting an experienced agent, which gives them a platform to prove themselves and some assurance to writers and publishers that they either know what they are doing or are surrounded by the guidance of those that do.

You may be able to find their employment history on LinkedIn or try a website like Writer Beware to see if anyone else has raised concerns about them. You can also buy Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook by Bloomsbury Publishing (check for the latest version as it is updated annually).

Online presence

At the very least they should have a website with a profile to tell you a little about who they are and what they are in to. Check to see how the site been published. Businesses use the internet to have a presence so if they have not been around long, you need to ask why? Have they re-branded and if so who were they before. Are they just starting out and what previous experience have they got.

Not all Literary Agents use social media, however, most do and it is beneficial to discover more about them. Are they promoting books/authors they’ve represented and how well have they done? What are their interests and would they enjoy your book? See how active they are and how long they’ve had their account.

Conduct

How do they behave? Many agents are drowning in submissions. It is highly unlikely they will have time to look for you and request a submission. They only time agents will reach out to someone is for non-fiction if you’ve done something that they feel their audience would be interested in and wish to ask you to write about it.

They should be upfront about what they are able to offer you and answer your questions in a professional manner. If they start hounding you with phone calls trying to push you to spend money, then you should block them and move on.

If they are rude or do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, trust your instincts. It takes on average two years to get traditionally published! If that sounds long, it’s going to feel even longer if you don’t like them.

I wish you every success and hope this post has been helpful in what to look for when considering who to send your novel to. It is a personal decision and you have to do what feels right for you.

If you enjoyed this article, you may enjoy:

Seven tips for querying agents

How I edited my novel – 12 tips for self editing

Felixstowe Book Festival – The Publishing Industry

Book Review: Save the Cat – Writes a Novel

 

Click My Link Tree To Connect On Social Media
Click My Link Tree
To Connect On Social Media
Ally Aldridge Books, Festival, Tips, Writing

Felixstowe Book Festival – The Publishing Industry

This event was hosted by Phoebe Morgan who promised to share her advice on how to get published, attract an agent and attract an editor. It was held at the Sailing Club with stunning views of Felixstowe Ferry.

Introductions

Phoebe Morgan is the best selling author of The Doll House and works at Orion as an Editorial Director. She explained a little about the books she works on (crime, thrillers, women’s fiction and saga). She had created a presentation especially for us.

Before she started, Phoebe went around the room and got each of us to introduce ourselves and what we are writing and hoping to get out of the talk. There was something very endearing about Phoebe. People instantly warmed to her and wanted her to know about their writing. I think it is the way she appreciated and valued every writer in the room.

I shared that I have just finished editing Jewel of the Sea and sent it out to Beta Readers.  I explained that I have queried a lot, been rejected a lot and then edited again and have lost count of the cycle.  I confessed that I am now considering self publishing and believe my query letter and synopsis is not having the right effect on agents.

First Impressions

Phoebe’s talk began talking about bestsellers and popular genres and why these books are doing well. She emphasised why it is so important for writers to know what is trending when they are querying because this links to how it will be pitched to editors and publishing houses.

Phoebe had put together examples of pitches to illustrate how important it is to quickly get agents up to speed on what your novel is about in just one sentence.

Example: The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins – Woman sees inciting incident through her train window.

Phoebe told us what genres are trending right now. However, it is best to write the novel you want as these are constantly changing. She talked about why genre fiction is popular and why it is important for us to identify the genre where our novel will be placed. This helps the publishers identify where to market, package, design and price it. She pointed out how we need to be passionate enough about our books to promote it for two years!

Phoebe had collected examples of the first line of successful books and discussed how these sentences grip the reader right from the start. She pointed out how agents are often very busy and if they are not pulled in from the start, they will move on to the next. She pointed out how in a shop, a reader may pick up a book and look at that first line to decide whether to buy it or not.

Example: The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins – There is a pile of clothing on the train tracks.

Then, she got us to share the first line of our books and discussed their strengths. She also suggested that some writers should consider starting further into the story where the action starts.

Novel Writing

She went on to talk about how to use suspense and pacing in our novels giving us tips on how to use these to make our novels a page turner. For examples, shorter sentences and chapters can speed up action but you can do the opposite for when you need to pull the reader in for more detail – there needs to be a balance between the two.

Ending a chapter on a cliff hanger can leave a reader needing to read the next chapter, to do this successful you need the reader to care about the character and be worried about them or the invested in the outcome. It helps to make the characters life full of obstacles – if it is too easy, it is boring. Obstacles create conflict.

Phoebe briefly covered different ways to structure your novel and why this is important.

Characters are incredibly important in your novel so Phoebe had collected a few tips to help us. In my notes I jotted down:

  • Not too many – you only need three to five main characters.  If you have more then you can lose the reader as they won’t be able to connect with them.  If you have too many, see if two characters can be merged together to fulfil one role.
  • Zoom in technique – Imagine a lens and zoom in and think of little things that makes the character who they are.
  • Back stories – Make sure you know your characters back stories, even if this doesn’t come into the story it will influence who they are and make them more vivid when you write.
  • Motivations – Understand what drives your characters.  What are their goals and what they want to achieve, etc.
  • Likeable?  – It is not necessary for the reader to like your main character whoever readers do need at least one character they can emphasise with.  

Phoebe then got us to think about one of the characters in our novel and write for five minutes about their backstory.  I chose Luna who is a secondary character but her back story and actions are the catalyst for the entire series.  She is a character I need to know inside and out.  I may one day write a short story about her. 

Roles

She then told us about the steps to getting published. There were twelve steps! I’ve always been focused on ‘getting an agent’ that I have not thought much more about ‘what next’. It turns out there is a lot that happens after you get an agent, and a lot that happens after you an editor and after all that, when you finally get an offer from a publisher, you can say no.

Phoebe went into more detail about what an agent does and how to pitch one. I felt like I knew a lot of this as it is something I’ve done a lot of. Phoebe was able to recommend some good agents and resources like The Writer’s and Artists’ Yearbook.

She then told us what editors look for. It was very insightful to hear this as the agent will be looking for these things in your query. The agent will be trying to figure out whether they can pitch your novel to editors. Here are the main things editors want:

  • A strong, clear, one-sentence hook
  • A good sense of voice – character needs to feel new and unique
  • Fill a spot on their list – keep an eye out for out for wish lists
  • Pleasure to work with – they will check out social media to see if you take writing seriously but this is not a deal breaker.
  • A clear vision – they need to believe in the book and be able to see it doing well.

She ended by warning us that rejection is something almost every published author has experienced. She gave us tips on how to deal with and was very encouraging that a rejection doesn’t mean give up.

Summary

She finished by giving us a list of resources for further information and how to contact her if we have further questions. She also took our emails so she could send us a copy of her presentation.

Phoebe was so lovely, approachable and genuinely wanted to help everyone in the room. Writers who get to work with her are truly blessed.

I did have a damsel in distress moment in the car park where a knight in shinning armour came to my rescue. More about this in my next Felixstowe Book Festival post.

I hope you have found this useful. If you want to connect with Phoebe, you can find her:

Twitter: @Phoebe_A_Morgan

Facebook: @PhoebeMorganAuthor

Instagram: @phoebeannmorgan

And don’t forget you can buy her debut novel The Doll House, or The Girl Next Door.

Learn more about Phoebe Morgan on her website.

If you enjoyed this, you may like:

Literary dates calendar

Seven tips for querying agents

#PitMad June 2019 Summary

Felixstowe Book Festival – Containment

  if_twitter-01-01_3066980  if_instagram-01-01_3066990  if_youtube-01-01_3066976  if_g-01-01_3066962

Ally plus text