Bitchfest! I missed #PitchMAS

Oh sorrow! Oh my! Oh me! I just discovered PitchMAS ten days too late. And I'm going to post about it, so you and I never miss it again.

PitchMAS seems to be a query-fest that occurs between December 15th and 16th during which authors can submit a 35-word pitch through email to the twitter pitch geniuses.

On December 19th, the top 75 pitches will be posted on this blog http://pitchmas.blogspot.ca/ and agents and publishers will weed through and make comments or request manuscript pages.

On December 20th, everyone and anyone can tweet their 140 character pitches with the hashtag #PitchMAS. The line-up of ready and willing publishers and agents just waiting to find that perfect twitter pitch is pretty impressive, not to mention all of the authors and other industry folk following for fun. (Check out the list here http://pitchmas.blogspot.ca/2013/11/epic-announcement-pitchmas-2013.html).

So, it's over. How can it help us now? Easy.

Read through the list of pitches and see which ones generated the most feedback from agents and publishers. Study what makes the pitches good enough to score in the top 75 or good enough to capture a comment.
Find genres that match your novel, and see if you can create a pitch in as few words with as much impact.
Check out the list of agents and publishers. Link through to their Web sites and see if they're taking submissions. In other words, strike while the iron is hot!
Mark the date or follow the blog so you don't miss PitchMAS, next year.

And because this is my blog and my bitchFEST, here's the pitch I would have sent, had I been less tardy.

Title: The Precious Quest

Category/Genre: Adult/High Fantasy

Word Count: 90,000

Pitch before I read the twitter-pitch examples: Blinded by a fanatical desire to restore her goddess as the one true deity, Laywren is dethroned by her people, deceived by her lover, and stalked by the first-sons, as she quests for heroic glory.

Pitch revised after reading the examples: Blinded by fanatical devotion, bound by honour codes and threatened by the decay of her world, Laywren, Queen of the Horde, drives her people to fight for their future, but they choose the present.

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