it has been another month and i know you guys just heard from me a week ago, i feel like writing once more because this month has been the most hectic month for me in terms of writing and publishing and i want to share my journey on that with you.
if you have been following me on instagram or twitter/x, you’d know that i have been attending pitch events. pitch event is a non-mandatory event for authors who are seeking to traditionally publish. this is a place for you to send in a 280-character pitch of your book and if an agent/editor likes it, you can submit your manuscript to them. this month hosted two big pitch events called #DVPit and #PitDark !
#DVPit this month moved to Discord, with much better organisation and helpful staff. it ran for 24 hours with requests from agents coming in for the next 2 weeks. before the event of DVPit, i was stressed. it was the first time i ever wrote a pitch so i made so many mistakes and i had to rewrite it every day. a few days before the event starts, we also had a #preDVPit event to get feedback from agented authors. in the end, i pitched 3 times and i got 2 good pitches that gathered good responses.
what i learnt:
be more creative. while i’m happy with my structure, i could have tried wildly different pitch formats.
answers three questions: 1) who is your main character (no, not their name, WHO are they? their profession? their personality?) 2) what is the inciting incident? 3) what is the stake?
don’t expect results if you don’t put your mind to it. agents will know if you’re excited about your manuscript
and the other event #PitDark is for dark literature, this doesn’t stop at horror, but it includes any other genres that touch upon darker themes. this event happened on twitter/x for 12 hours and you can pitch once per hour. because of the different in pitch limits, i could be more experimental and goofy with my pitches.
what i learnt:
timing is important. it dies out after the first few hours so scheduled your good pitches to go up first.
speaking of which, schedule your pitches so you don’t have to think about them on the day.
get and swap supports with other authors beforehand! this is very important to get your tweets higher up instead of being swallowed by the algorithm.
pin your good tweets at the top and have a thread pooling all your tweets together for others to find.
have fun with it. i had like 4 goofy tweets that got me more friends, so why not try?
finally, i just want to conclude by saying i went into my first pitch event super stressed and frustrated, but i ended up having a good time with it. i met three new good friends thanks to the event and i know we will be a supportive group going forward. i am thankful for every like and support i’ve got. a full request doesn’t equal offer of rep, but it is one step there. thank you for being on the journey with me. more news coming soon.
On Repeat Playlist
Vũ Trụ Có Anh // Phương Mỹ Chi, DTAP, Pháo
So I Danced // DPR IAN
Hai Đứa Trẻ // Phương Mỹ Chi, DTAP, Suboi
Sugar Rush Ride // TOMORROW X TOGETHER
Criminal // TAEMIN
Bóng Phù Hoa // Phương Mỹ Chi, DTAP
Animal Farm // BIBI
Mood // DPR IAN
Red Light // Jdp, Lydia Paek
Nerves // DPR IAN
Autumn Read (from September to planned November)
Girl, Woman, Other // Bernardine Evaristo (woman’s fiction)
Our Beloved Summer // 이나은 (manhwa)
Exhalation // Ted Chiang (science fiction anthology)
The Sixth Death of the Saint // Alix E. Harrow (fantasy short story)
What the Dead Know // Nghi Vo (fantasy short story)
The Monster of Elendhaven // Jennifer Giesbrecht (horror novella)
A Study in Drowning // Ava Reid (dark academia)
At Night All Blood is Black // David Diop (literary fiction)
Thằng Huyện Con Hầu // Vân Võ (romance)
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea // Rita Chang-Eppig (magical realism fiction)
The Grace of Kings // Ken Liu (fantasy)
The Art of Prophecy // Wesley Chu (fantasy)