It’s becoming more and more common for aspiring authors take to Twitter, distilling their books down to 280 characters or fewer, in hopes of attracting the attention of an agent or acquiring editor. On a specific day, they’ll post a tweet tagged with a specific hashtag, such as #divpit or #passorpages, then wait to see if an agent or editor will “like” the tweet—a sign that they’d like to see a query or manuscript.
This phenomena is known as pitch parties—organized events with the goal of helping unpublished authors with completed works query agents and publishers using a tweet. The first of its kind was #PitMad, short for Pitch Madness, founded by young adult fantasy author Brenda Drake. Since 2010, #PitMad has been a quarterly event that has helped hundreds, if not thousands, of authors find representation. And that was just the beginning.
Julia Rocchi is one such writer who found a publisher for her book with the help of pitch parties.
For two years, Rocchi participated in pitch events, including #PitMad and #FaithPitch, before her book found a home. She was pitching a collection of essays and modern prayers targeting the spiritual but not religious crowd. “I
