Writer's Resource: Twitter Pitch Contests

You probably know that Twitter can be an excellent resource for writers (if not, this earlier post might change your mind).

But did you know that you can regularly find pitch contests on Twitter, where agents and/or editors peruse a certain hashtag at a certain time to find material they'd like to request?

One of the big Twitter pitch contests, the one affiliated with the blog contest Pitch Madness, is coming up next week on March 25th. If you're interested in participating, the details are on the contest organizer Brenda Drake's blog here (scroll down to find the section about the Twitter contest).

I've personally participated in three Twitter pitch contests, and I received several agent and editor requests to see my partial or full manuscript. Even better, I connected with like-minded writers when they complimented my pitch, or when I saw one that looked similar to mine and complimented theirs. I got a great critique partner that way!

Of course, a Twitter contest means that the entries have to be formatted so they're under the 140-character limit for a tweet. If the very idea has you screaming in terror, this post might be helpful: Writing a Short Pitch.

Twitter contests are often associated with blog contests like Pitch Madness. Follow writers like Brenda Drake (@brendadrake) or read threads like this one on the Absolute Write forums to find more!

Writer's Resource: #MSWL, Agent and Editor Wish List

If you're writing a novel or nonfiction book and hoping to get it traditionally published, there's a good chance you'll be submitting it to agents and/or publishers. It's important to be selective when putting together your list; sending a query for a YA sci-fi novel to an agent who only represents adult literary fiction, for example, only wastes their time and yours.

Today, we have the advantage of agency and publisher websites that often give an idea of what they're seeking. There are also sites that compile this type of information such as Literary Rambles. But wouldn't it be great to get even more current and specific information about what agents and editors wish they were seeing in their slush piles?

Enter the Agent and Editor Wish List.

An active Twitter user had the bright idea of a manuscript wish list for agents and editors. Using the hashtag #MSWL, agents and editors can tweet a short description of the manuscripts they wish they were seeing. Searching this hashtag on Twitter will bring up months of these tweets (and a few other people trying to capitalize on the popularity of the hashtag--as with anything on Twitter, make sure to check the source of the tweet).

Not a Twitter user? Or maybe sorting through all those tweets seems too overwhelming? Don't worry. Some extremely helpful person started the Agent and Editor Wish List Tumblr to collect these tweets in a user-friendly, searchable format. You can click on the keywords in any post to bring up all of those entries. For example, you can search for YA, urban fantasy, or romance.

Make sure to check out the Tumblr's excellent FAQ page before sending a query to any of the agents or editors you find.

Happy querying!

Writer's Resource: Search Twitter for Relevant Information

Hello out there! This is our first Writer's Resource post in a while, but it's a good one.

I talked about how useful Twitter can be in a previous post (Twitter-ific: Twitter for Writers), but did you know you can also use it as a tool to find specific information?

I learned about this method from one of the Literary Rambles website's brilliant Tip Tuesday posts.

You can use Google to search through an agent's posts to see if they've said anything recently that might be relevant to you or your manuscript (such as "Even though my website says I like contemporary, I'm not the right agent for contemporary romance" or "You can send me queries, but I'm really not looking for new clients right now"--both statuses I've actually seen!). Often you'll find much more up-to-date information via Twitter than on an agency website or blog.

Here's how it works: in the Google search bar, type site:twitter.com/[twitter user name, without the @ sign]. Then type your search term.

Here's an example. Let's say I wanted to find out what Janet Reid (one of my favorite Twitter agents!) has been saying about mystery novels recently. I would type the following:

This takes me to a list of her recent comments on Twitter that include the word mystery.

Pretty cool, huh?