The Pitch Madness submission window will be open for 24 hours on February 24!
What is Pitch Madness? It’s a contest held every March, where writers enter for a chance to win requests from the participating agents. Writers submit a 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of their completed manuscript on submission day. Then a team of readers choose the top sixty (60) entries to go onto the agent round. Though Pitch Madness has a game theme, the next contest will transition to more of a critique based contest with agents simply requesting in the comments of the entries’ posts instead of having the agents play for requests. Also, hosts will coach our team members, helping them polish their entries and first pages.
We’ll have an agent introduction post up next week.
The submission window will be open from 12:01 AM EST on February 24 until 11:59PM EST. You should have plenty of time to get your submissions in. There is no limit of how many entries will be accepted. Please note: All entries sent before or after the allotted times will be deleted.
There will be 60 finalists moving onto the agent round. Pitch Madness will accept Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult completed fiction, novel length (no novellas) completed and polished manuscripts only. This time around we will not accept non-fiction. Only one entry per writer this round.
What do you need to enter? A 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of your finished manuscript. If the 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of the sentence. I will post formatting instructions before the submission window opens. There will be a form on the submission post to enter your pitch into.
Pitch Madness will be on six blogs and each blog host will have a co-host helping them choose their top 10 entries.
We’ll have a small team of first readers ranking the entries for the host round.
All the twitter fun will be happening on the hashtag #PitchMadness!
Meet our first round readers …
Jami Nord
Phone monkey, former Lit Agent intern, freelance editor for @Chimera_Edits, & writer under a pen name. Bi, pagan, nerdy, & liberal. I don’t bite, promise.
Kerbie Addis
Writer. Feminist. Slytherin. Bacon mage. Future librarian. Lit agent intern. Army wife. Lover of dark stories & dark lipstick. #PitchWars co-mentor. #WNDB
Mary Anne Marlowe
Author of SOME KIND OF MAGIC @KensingtonBooks Feb ’17 * Repped by @mike_hoogland at @DGLM * #PitchWars Mentor, Whovian, & Sassenach
Samantha Joyce
Author of the LOVE IN DISGUISE series. FLIRTING WITH FAME and DEALING IN DECEPTION out now from Pocket Star! Repped by @KatRushall of ABLA. Broadway Geek Girl.
Here are the links to the host blogs and their co-hosts for the contest …
Team Ice Cream Sea hosted on Brenda Drake’s blog …
Brenda Drake
NYT bestselling author of YA fiction. Latest, THIEF OF LIES & CURSING FATE. Next, GUARDIAN OF SECRETS 2/7/17. Rep’d by @petejknapp #PitchWars & #PitMad Creator
Monica Hoffman
Website | Twitter
YA Spec-Fic Rom Writer | Trekkie, Dr. Who, & Star Wars fan | Music is my blood | SCBWI Member | #PitchWars Mentor | Rep’d by @agentsavant & @4triciaskinner
Team Gumdrop Mountains hosted on Heather Cashman’s blog …
Heather Cashman
All things wordy, generally nerdy. Editor at @CornerstonesLit. Agent intern. #SCBWI member. Assistant to @brendadrake #PitchMadness #PitMad #PitchWars
Nikki Roberti
YA Contemp author rep’d by @sztownsend81 of @NewLeafLiterary, @BrendaDrake‘s assistant, #PitchWars Mentor, @StarkEditing Query Editor, Awarded Playwright
Team Peanut Brittle House hosted on Pintip Dunn’s blog …
Pintip Dunn
New York Times bestselling author of YA fiction. RWA RITA® winner for Best First Book. The FORGET TOMORROW series; THE DARKEST LIE; GIRL ON THE VERGE (Jun 27).
Darcy Woods
Counts laughter as exercise. Lives to swoon. Award-winning YA author of SUMMER OF SUPERNOVAS (Random House/Crown). Repped by @cjdrayton.
Lollipop Woods hosted by Rebecca Weston’s blog …
Rebecca Coffindaffer
Author, shipper trash, all-around nerd. Freelance copy editor at http://www.rawestoneditorial.com . Making my own fun since 1983. Repped by @lara_perkins.
Marieke Nijkamp
#1 NYT bestselling author of THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS (Sourcebooks Fire) | Dreamer | Wanderer | #WNDB | Secret Agent: @suddenlyjen, Barry Goldblatt Literary.
Team Licorice Castle hosted on Sharon Johnston’s blog …
Sharon Johnston
DIVIDED & SHATTERED: Open Heart Novels out now with @CityOwlPress #PitchWars mentor. #LoveOzYA
Jeyn Roberts
Author of the Dark Inside trilogy, The Bodies We Wear and When They Fade. Vancouverite. Animal lover. Destroying words in a coffee shop near you.
Team Peppermint Forest hosted on Wade Albert White’s blog …
Wade Albert White
Author of THE ADVENTURER’S GUIDE series. #PitchWars Mentor. Member of @TheSweet16s. Also, I own one pretend cat and one real one.
Timenda Wertz
Middle Sschool science teacher, SF/F geek, Ravenclaw, equal parts football & Broadway fan, Pitch Wars MG co-mentor, represented by Elizabeth Kaplan of Kaplan Literary
Here’s the schedule for Pitch Madness …
February 24: Pitch Madness submission window opens for 24 hours
February 24 – March 5: Pitch Madness Slush Readers sort the entries
March 6: Pitch Madness Draft – Hosts pick their top entries
March 6 – 14: Hosts coach their teams
March 16 – 17: Agent Round
March 23: #PitMad Twitter Pitch Party (Even if you made it in, didn’t make it in, or didn’t enter Pitch Madness, #PitMad is open to everyone!)
That’s it for now. Look for our agent announcement post next week and join us on Februrary 24 when the submission window opens!