I discovered this event on Twitter in December by accident. I happened to log onto Twitter the day in December the event was in play, and after some puzzlement worked out what was involved. PitMad is a quarterly event on Twitter where writers can pitch their books to editors and agents. The basic idea is that, for the day of the event, only writers, editors and agents participating in the event are to use the #PitMad hashtag, and this is used in conjunction with a Tweet that "pitches" the book description. Agents or editors who are interested in particular books "like" the corresponding tweet, and the writer then contacts them and forwards a copy of the full manuscript. It is a way for writers and editors both to sidestep the "slush pile" and engage only with projects that are potentially interesting. The rules are, however, that writers must have a finished book manuscript - no works-in-progress to be submitted.
The next #PitMad event is this week, March 5th. So I set aside the month of February to rework my book "Goodness in Small Doses" with a view to preparing it for submission to the #PitMad event. Even up to yesterday, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to meet this week's deadline. The next event is the beginning of June, so I could have slid the whole thing back three months. But I put the final touches on the revised manuscript this morning, and I believe I am ready to go!
Back in early January, I did some preliminary work on the pitches themselves. I am allowed three pitches over the course of the day - all have to be slightly different. So I reworked these, and will probably continue to do so, right up until Thursday morning, when the event starts. The tweet needs to "catch" the editor/agent, but also to describe the text and it must include descriptive hashtags. In my case these are #HF for historical fiction, #DIS for fiction dealing with disability, and #A for adult fiction, and some choice of #YA or #NA for Young Adult or New Adult. Young Adult is considered to apply to ages 12 to 19, while New Adult applies to ages 18 to 30. Since my book deals with sexual abuse, it may be inappropriate for the YA age group, which is why I am considering pitching it for the NA age group.
The illustration below shows the Reignier Farm where the events of the novel begin.
And here is my best pitch tweet, so far : "13-year-old Mags, a Jewish girl with cerebral palsy, must rely on intelligence and courage as well as a helpful French family to get out of Occupied France. Should they succeed, her troubles will be far from over, however. A tale of terror and survival."