MY 7 STEP TWITTER PITCH PARTY PLAN!

A lot people make New Year's resolutions and by the end of January the majority of those resolutions fall by the wayside. I joined the bandwagon of resolutioners this year and made a list of writerly goals I wanted to accomplish in 2016.

One of those goals was to go in search of an agent and one of the best ways to find one is to participate in a Twitter Pitch Party. I know this because it was how I found Anaiah Press and my wonderful editor, Jessica Schmeidler. Jessica helped put me on the right path to the publication of my picture book, THE STORY CATCHER and, fingers crossed, I can repeat my luck with the new year.

But, in order to increase my chances of enticing an agent to look my way, I had to have a plan and maybe MY plan can help YOU capture the interest of YOUR dream agent as well:

1. WRITE IT DOWN
      
I made a long list of EXACTLY what I wanted to accomplish this year. I even bought a cool calendar to pencil in all the different Twitter Pitch Parties being held all around the blogosphere all year long.  I've studied each party and narrowed down which ones were right for the genres I write in and which ones I need to pass on.

2. REVISE, REVISE, REVISE

Now was the time to take those manuscripts back out and re-read them to make sure they are as polished and sparkly as I can make them. I have 7 completed picture book manuscripts with about 5 more in the final stages of revisions, 2 completed early reader narrative nonfiction chapter books with the third one in the process of being written, and 1 revised draft of a young adult fantasy novel. This shows me I have some choices on which Twitter pitch parties I can participate in.

3. MAKE A LIST

Next I've made a list of potential agents and will group each into some sort of sequential order so I can slowly check any off the list should they...or I...decide they are no longer the potential right agent for my work. Some Pitch Parties will let you know who some of the participating agents will be and you can cross match them against your master list to see who might benefit the most from your targeted pitches.

4. DO YOUR RESEARCH
 
Learn the likes/dislikes of the agents on your list. Check out their websites. Google their name and read their interviews. See what they saying on Twitter. In other words, take a little time to find out all you can about the people you plan to share your manuscripts with. For myself, it wouldn't do me much good to add an agent to my list who mainly represents women's fiction and memoirs. I write for children of all ages and want an agent whose writerly passions match my own.

5. PERFECT YOUR TWITTER PITCH

Take the time to decide the best 140 characters to describe your book. Realize certain hashtags MUST be included like #PitMad, #MSWL, or #PB which all count toward those precious 140 character limit. Ask the advice of those around you to see if the tone and hook of your pitch is right. Read the rules of the Twitter Pitch Party you plan on participating in and find out how often you can tweet your pitches. You would hate to be banned from participating because you failed to realize you can only tweet twice a day when you were planning on blowing up Twitter with your pitches every single hour!

6. POLISH YOUR QUERY LETTER

It's okay to go into these Twitter pitch parties for the fun experience of it all. You might even take time to read other pitches to see if YOU would want to read those books...to determine what might work and what falls flat. But in the back of your mind you should realize that the main reason you are going to a pitch party is to hopefully get a request for a partial or a full manuscript from one of them. When that chance comes you don't want to blow it by not having a sharp, attention-getting gem of a query letter just waiting to be shared with Ms. Potential Dream Agent.

7. PLAN YOUR SUCCESS

Finally, I do a quick check of all my social media outlets to make sure the information presented there has current contact information, make sure my blog has interesting content that my readers enjoy, and track my interactions with others through different channels to find out what works to help promote the STORY CATCHER entity as well as my own writing. I treat my writing career as a business and I measure the successes...both large and small...I make along the way so I can look back at the end of each year to see just how far I've come in following my dream of become an author.

To all my writerly friends who plan on participating in a Twitter pitch party over the coming months...GOOD LUCK! And right now, for myself, all I can say is...SO FAR SO GOOD!

Blurb: Addie comes from a long line of readers or "story catchers" as her family likes to call themselves. Every time Addie tries to catch a story on her own the wiggly words play tricks on her. She tries different ways to make those words sit still but it will take a little faith for Addie to become the next STORY CATCHER.

Buy Links:Amazon Kindle ¦ Paperback ¦ B&N ¦ Smashwords

JOIN THE STORY CATCHER FAN CLUB!Membership includes:

Membership Certificate

Bi-montly Newsletter full of mazes, puzzles, games, news, and other goodies

Reading Log for earning STORY CATCHER AWARD

 

STEPPING INTO THE FAMILIAR UNKNOWN

January is usually the time when you make a new year's resolution. Maybe to shed some unwanted pounds. Sometimes to add a little exercise to your daily routine and eat healthier. If you're a writer, you probably have a long to-do list of stories to write and manuscripts to revise in the coming months.

And sometimes January comes with the realization of a bittersweet goodbye...

For me, the new year brought with it an unexpected change in my agent status. Jessica Schmeidler of GOLDEN WHEAT LITERARY is an amazing person and I will be forever grateful for all she has done to help further my writing career.

I first met Jessica when she requested my STORY CATCHER manuscript from a Twitter Party pitch I had submitted. She was the first person in the publishing industry to believe in my work and I was thrilled beyond words when she offered me a book contract with Anaiah Press. Over the past two years my stories have been strengthened by her exceptional editorial skills and knowledge of what editors are looking for in their acquisitions. Golden Wheat Literary may be a young agency but I have no doubt Jessica will continue to provide exceptional support and guidance for her existing clientele. I wish her nothing but the best and am honored to call her my friend.

January...the month of new beginnings and sometimes, bittersweet goodbyes. I might be stepping into the familiar unknown once again, but I do so with a bit more confidence than this time last year and I have Jessica Schmeidler to thank for that!

Blurb: Addie comes from a long line of readers or "story catchers" as her family likes to call themselves. Every time Addie tries to catch a story on her own the wiggly words play tricks on her. She tries different ways to make those words sit still but it will take a little faith for Addie to become the next STORY CATCHER.

Buy Links:Amazon Kindle ¦ Paperback ¦ B&N ¦ Smashwords

JOIN THE STORY CATCHER FAN CLUB!Membership includes:

 
Membership Certificate

Bi-montly Newsletter full of mazes, puzzles, games, news, and other goodies

Reading Log for earning STORY CATCHER AWARD

MY 5 FAVORITE WORDS

(wikimedia commons)

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Way too long to be an actual word and yet Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke had no problem making a hit out of it in their Disney musical, Mary Poppins. That one word reminds me every day to see out the strange and wonderfully unique happenings to be found in the world.

Do-over

It means nothing is ever carved in stone and even the most ghastly of mistakes can usually be mended if you try hard enough. Revisions of my manuscripts are my literary do-overs...a chance to correct, enhance, and tweak my way to the closest thing to writerly perfection I will be able to perform as a writer.

Hunky-Dory

This means all the stars are in alignment and my writing is going in the right direction. It doesn't necessarily mean everything is perfect and I'm not running into problems with a tricky word here or ill-placed phrase there. But it DOES mean I have a plan to tackle any obstacles to come my way and I just have to remember to work my plan.

Huggles

My editor, Jessica Schmeidler, will use this word on me every once in a while. It tells me she understands what I might be going through at the moment and I'm not alone. It's a virtual hug of comfort and camaraderie coming from someone who has been in the writing trenches long enough to see exactly where I'm at in my own publication journey as well as my potential future. 

And my most favorite word?

Belief

There have been many people in my life over the years who attempted to destroy my belief I would one day become a published author. It took a lot of belief in myself to keep going when the ones closest to me said my writing was foolish and a waste of time. Even when I laid down my pen for more than twenty years in answer to all the negativity surrounding me at the time, there was still a belief deep inside me that one day my words would mean something. That my words would matter in a world filled with them and someday those words would speak to children everywhere.

That day is today.

 *************

I hope you learned something new today and be sure to check back tomorrow for the next post in my month long celebration!

You can preorder my book, THE STORY CATCHER, now through Amazon, www.amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble, www.barnesandnoble.com. It is available in both ebook and print copies. Here is the book blurb and book trailer.

 

Blurb:

 
Addie comes from a long line of readers, or "story catchers," as her family likes to call themselves. Every time Addie tries to catch a story on her own, though, the words play tricks on her. Addie tries everything she can think of to corral those wiggly letters, but it will take a little faith to become the next STORY CATCHER.
 

Trailer :

 

 

 

 

A Rejection Reflection

In order to make it in the writing world, an aspiring author has to realize two things:

1. Your work is going to be "rejected" by others at some point in your career.

2. This will probably happen more often than you would like.

It can come in many forms. Sometimes the "rejection" can come by a publisher simply not responding at all to your query letter. That happened to me back in March of 2011 when I sent out my very first story into the world. I had the naive notion just because my immediate family "loved" my story that everyone else would. What a rookie mistake on my part, but one I'm sure most other aspiring authors can relate to. That publisher did me a favor by NOT taking time out of their busy work day to tell me just how unprepared I was as a writer to start submitting my work. But as I grew as a writer and learned what editors expect from the work making its way to their desks, I began to wonder if maybe what we commonly call a "rejection letter" should be called something else instead.

Rejection.

Even the sound of the word has a negative ring to it. The word implies the writer is not good enough or worthy enough to become a published author. Maybe sometimes someone just isn't cut out to be a writer and they are fooling themselves. But a lot of times a manuscript is "rejected" because a mistake was made and it was sent to an editor who doesn't publish that particular genre. Sometimes the editor has more than their fair share of one particular type of story and simply doesn't want to take on another one just like their current lineup. Sometimes the editor doesn't feel enough personal connection with the story to pursue the hard task of taking it all the way to publication. Just because someone "rejects" your story doesn't mean they are "rejecting" YOU and it doesn't necessarily mean there is anything wrong with your story either.

My manuscript for THE STORY CATCHER was "rejected" by a number of agents and editors before being picked up by Anaiah Press. My editor, Jessica Schmeidler, saw something in my story that others did not. Maybe she even saw something in ME as an writer other people haven't connected with yet. I don't know why I was lucky enough for Jessica to want to work with me, but I do know one thing...I don't like to think of those other missed opportunities to be published as being "rejected".

So I plan to do something about it.

I'd like to suggest that from now agents and publishers who reply to query letters start sending out REFLECTION letters instead of REJECTION  letters. These letters would REFLECT on the strong points of the submitted manuscripts and then give insight as to why an offer of publication or representation couldn't be made...not right for them, didn't connect with the story line, currently have similar stories, etc.

We writers should also not take those replies as REJECTION, but as opportunities to REFLECT upon our work and our roles as aspiring authors. We need to REFLECT on the strength of our stories...is it as polished as we could have made it? Are we sending our work to the right people to begin with? Are there ways we can grow as writers so we may increase our chances of becoming published in the future?

The writing world is a harsh enough place without having to struggle with the idea of feeling "rejected". How about we rename the REJECTION LETTER and start calling it the REFLECTION LETTER? I would even be willing to start a petition to get the name changed but I'm wondering one thing...

Would YOU sign it?