Writability: How to Write a Great Twitter Pitch

Photo credit: Johan Larsson on Flickr

It’s that time again! We are just days away from yet another fantastic Twitter pitch contest, this one on May 28 from 8AM to 8PM EDT. You can find all the details, rules and extra tidbits here, as well as a post on why you should enter pitch contests here.

That out of the way, on to the real meat of the post: Twitter pitches.

Your goal behind putting together a Twitter pitch should be to sum up or give the essence your novel in a way that’s intriguing—all within 140 characters. Simple, right? (Right, let’s go with that).

By the end of your Twitter pitch, readers should know a few key things about your novel:

Who your MC is.
What’s at stake.
Essence of plot.
Genre.
Bonus: What makes your story unique.
Bonus: Conveying the voice.

That seems like a lot to fit into 140 characters, and it is. But if done correctly, you may just catch the eye of a publishing professional. As an added bonus, a well-crafted Twitter pitch can be turned into a fantastic log line, which is useful in several stages of the publishing process.

Because it would be unfair for me to talk about Twitter pitches without giving examples, I’ll let you tear mine apart. Here’s a variation of what I’ll be using next week:

Cade is unaware a secret society has been watching since he killed his gf w/ a kiss—now an assassin isn't his biggest problem #PitMad YAPar

It isn’t a perfect example by any means, but it hits the main points: you know who the MC is and what’s at stake, the essence of the plot comes across, and there’s the genre tag at the end. You also may have noticed that you need to fit the hashtag into the Twitter pitch. So you don’t really have 140 characters at your disposal, sorry.

For examples of some Twitter pitches that got requests in March’s Pitch Madness, check out this fantastic roundup from Carissa Taylor.

Finally, I’d like to do something a little different here at Writability in anticipation of the upcoming #PitMad contest—I’m hosting a pitch critique session right here in the comments from right now (May 24) until Monday, May 27th at midnight EDT.

I’m going to do my very best to try to critique every pitch that’s posted, but I encourage you guys to lurk around and critique each others pitches as well—not only is it nice to interact with each other and make friends (we like making friends, yes?), but it’s actually fantastic practice. If someone other than myself critiques your pitch, it would be very nice for you to return the favor. As I’ve said before, you can learn just as much from critiquing each other as you can from getting a critique.

Also, if you’d like to critique mine while you’re at it, you’re more than welcome to. It’s not a requirement, but I do enjoy trading critiques, and it might be fun for you guys to have the opportunity to tear my stuff apart. Maybe. If you like that kind of stuff.

Note: If you do critique each other, please be courteous. I may have a thick skin, but not everyone does. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated and all that. Ok.

Anyway, so let’s get to it, shall we? Post your Twitter pitches in the comments below and let’s have some fun!

UPDATE 3/25/14: I am temporarily taking more pitches for a last-minute critique! I'll post here and on Twitter when the critiques are closed again. Good luck! :)

UPDATE 3/25/14: Pitmad is over and critiquing is now closed. Thanks to all who participated!

Twitter-sized bites:

Entering #pitmad? Get some tips and a critique on your pitch at @Ava_Jae’s blog! (Click to tweet)

Having trouble with your Twitter pitch? Here are some tips. (Click to tweet)