Anyone tried this? I'm a querying neophyte and stumbled across this while researching agents. They're quarterly twitter pitches and agents tag author tweets to request samples. Next one isn't until September. It seems very efficient (creating a forum to connect authors/hungry agents), but the dinosaur in me is skeptical. I'm sure people have found success with these types of things. But I'm also sure there are sketchy agents/publishers lurking on there and I wonder how legit the participating agents are. But I suppose you don't have to respond or send samples if you don't want to (and would want to thoroughly research anyone who tagged your tweet before sending them anything). Just curious if others have experience with this.
I’ve done it and got a full MS request via it (later rejected). The odds are small but there’s no harm done. The latest one was focused on POC in view of the black lives matter movement but for the September one it might be worth trying. Ultimately it’s 3 tweets per project so no big effort. There are some rogue agents and publishers that like your tweets so just beware before sending off!
Thanks, very helpful. Will see how things go between now and then and maybe give it a shot. I think I'd want to set up a new Twitter handle (rather than use my personal one).
Darn it, should have tried the latest pit then! My current one has an all Chinese cast lol. It's got nothing to do with any cultural or identity stuff - it's an urban fantasy crime - but they are Chinese. Ah well, maybe by Sep I'll have a book? Anyway I've tried it once or twice - a few different pits - chances are very slim you'll get anything, but why not. However, for it to work, you need to be live on Twitter for as long as you can manage, because the best way to get RTs (retweets) is by RTing someone else's pitch. It's general courtesy to RT someone who RTs yours. The more RTs you have, the higher the chance someone will see it and like it. You also have to repost your own pitch multiple times over the period of the pit (no more than 10 times for the entire duration and I think no more than once an hour). There are some etiquette rules you should google. You should also pin your pitch onto your profile so those coming back to RT yours and return the favour can actually find the pitch. This is very important! However, if you don't already have a Twitter presence at the time of a pit, you'll be RTing to no audience at all lol - while it obviously doesn't mean you can't do it anyway, it might come off as a bit... disingenuous. Of roughly 3 pits I've tried, I had just one request, which led to a rejection. However I was given one line of personal feedback. Again, it seems to be an etiquette thing that agents will give you a little morsel of an opinion because the query was requested. It feels good, but is not ultimately that useful.
