The agent round for Pitch Madness starts tomorrow. If you aren't sure what Pitch Madness is, check out this post or this post for information. Each team has picked their top pitches to go onto the agent round. For a list of agents competing in the game, go to this post.
It was such a difficult decision to pick our final entries, and there were many talented writers we couldn't choose. A total of 407 pitches came into the contest email, and only sixty-four made it to the agent round.
The road to publication is at times a heartbreaking journey, but it's the small accomplishments like making it into a contest that helps lighten the heartache. Our writing community amazes me at every turn. We lift each other up in times of sorrow, cheer for each other during times of accomplishments, and laugh together during frustrating moments. I hope you will all join me in cheering on the writers who've made it into this contest.
“Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
~Harriet Stowe~
GAME rules
Starting on March 26 at 8AM EST through 12PM EST on March 28 the agents will go around the host
blogs, read the entries, and make their dart hits (bids) for the pitches they
want to read more of. (See the rankings below for a list of dart hits – request types.)
Here’s the participating
blogs' urls (I’ll have the urls posted on my site to make it easier to hop
between them):
http://brenleedrake.blogspot.com
http://shelleywatters.blogspot.com
http://www.fizzygrrl.com
A dart hit is placing a
bid for a pitch (see Dart Ranking below) in the comments of that entry’s
post. The agents have a limited amount of hits for each request type (partials, fulls,
and trumps). The comments will be set to moderation so the agents won’t see what the
other agents’ hits are until the reveal day.
March 28 is
reveal day. We’ll post all the comments and reveal the winning bids starting at
12:01 PM EST.
The best hit wins the bid for that entry. We will @ the agents on Twitter with the
results. You all can watch the game
on the hashtag #PitchMadness.
What happens with ties, you ask? Well, that’s where it
gets tricky!
While placing their bids,
agents will have to save some dart hits or trumps for the challenge round. If there
are ties, the agents will be asked to go back to that entry with their competitor to
make another shot against him/her. The best dart hit trumps the other and wins
the bid for that pitch.
This is where the agents must
come up with a strategy on what hits or trumps to use for the first round and
which ones to save for the challenge round.
The challenge round starts
after the reveal and if there are tying hits. We’ll announce the pitches that
tied on the hashtag #PitchMadness and @ the tying agents on Twitter. Agents
will then go to the entry post and “throw” another dart in the comments. Each
challenge will continue until there is a winner or until all but one player is
eliminated (runs out of dart hits and trumps for that pitch). Best dart hit
wins!
Dart Rankings
Dart hit: Number of hits:
20 10 Query & 1st 5
pages
19 10 Query & 1st 10
pages
18 10 Query & 1st 25
pages
17 10 Query & 1st 50
pages
16 5 Query & 1st 75
pages
15 5 Query & 1st
100 pages
Double Line 5 Query & 1st 150 pages
Triple Line 2
Trumps all Partials
Outer Bull 3 Full Request
BULLSEYE 1 Trumps all
hits
(Blogger is not my friend - I've tried to line these up the best I could.)
Tomorrow we'll post the sixty-four (64) entries on all four blogs that made it into the arena with the agents!
And don't forget we're hosting a Twitter Pitch Party, so get your twitter pitches ready!
For more information and rules for the Twitter Pitch Party go to this post!
And don't forget we're hosting a Twitter Pitch Party, so get your twitter pitches ready!
Okay, so just to make sure I understand this correctly...the "Dart hit" column is what the agent will write in the comment box, and "Number of hits" is how many of each type an agent gets? So, if an agent writes "20" in my comment box, I've had a request for query and 5 pages?
ReplyDeleteSo excited for tomorrow! :)
I'm so glad you got it! I'm excited too!
DeleteAwesome - thank you! :)
DeleteMakes sense to me! Good luck to all the entries!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait!! :) Very excited to read all of the pitches.
ReplyDeleteSo the authors won't get to see the bids until Thursday afternoon either, right? Just checking whether it's worth constantly refreshing on Tues and Wed. ;)
ReplyDeleteCool, so tomorrow we can just look forward to reading all the pitches :D
DeleteI'm so green. But - am I missing something? Have the 64 entry titles been posted somewhere already? Or have the chosen entrants been notified?
ReplyDeleteLOL I saw that...but when I saw this...
ReplyDeletehttp://minavaughn.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-twitter-pitch.html
I thought I missed something?
That is a regarding a spin-off opportunity that ANYONE can participate in. Here's a blurb from one of Brenda's previous posts:
DeleteAnd, if you don't make it into Pitch Madness we're holding another Twitter Pitch Party on March 29. So get your 140 word pitch ready and make sure the word count includes the hashtag #PitMad and category (YA, Adult, MG, NA, and so on). Tweet your pitch when you see an agent come on but don't do it too obsessively. The agents will read the feed.
Okay. Thank you! Good luck to everyone!
ReplyDelete