Pitch Wars is almost here!

Much of the year, writing can be a lonely existence, with faceless paper rejections and long periods of silence. But sprinkled amid the gloom are sparkling opportunities that remind us we’re really anything but alone. There is Pitch Madness, for example, and Twitter’s famous #tenqueries. And just one week from today, PITCH WARS will begin!

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What is Pitch Wars? 

Pitch Wars is a contest in which agented authors, literary interns and editors (hereafter known as “mentors”) work with aspiring writers to polish their manuscripts and pitches for a participating group of agents.

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How do I participate?

For the next six days, hop around to the 47 mentors’ blogs to determine who you’d like to work with. Read their bios, peruse their wishlists, and find up to four who have signed up for your genre/category. Also, polish your query letter and the first five pages of your manuscript. (That’s the first five double-spaced pages, though they’ll be single-spaced in your application.)

On Monday, December 2 (from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. EST), send up to four applications (one for each of your desired mentors — see below) to brendadrakecontests@gmail.com.

The mentors will read all of their applications and choose the writer they want to mentor for the next five weeks. The agent round will take place January 22-23.

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How do I format my application?

As taken directly from organizer Brenda Drake’s website, format your application according to the following.

SUBJECT LINE: Pitch Wars Application: Coach Name you want to apply for: Title
(Example —  Pitch Wars Application: Brenda Drake: GONE WITH THE WIND)

NAME: Your Name
GENRE: The genre of your manuscript
WORD COUNT: The word count of your manuscript

Query letter here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentations. A space between each paragraph.

First five pages of the manuscript here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentations. A space between each paragraph.

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The fine print:

– Writers can only apply for mentors who are in their category. Applications that disregard this will be deleted.
– No nonfiction, picture books, or previously published works.
– The contest is open to finished manuscripts only.
– You may only enter one manuscript.
– And just to reiterate: Write four separate emails addressed to each of your chosen mentors, not one email for all four. And send those emails to brendadrakecontests@gmail.com, not the mentors directly.
– If you are chosen for Pitch Wars, you may not enter any other contests until after the agent round. You may enter Baker’s Dozen.

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Some additional info:

There will be a Twitter Pitch Party from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, January 8. Those who make it into Pitch Wars may not pitch, but it’s a great opportunity for everyone else. #PitMad

Each mentors will also pick two alternates in case, for some reason, their writer drops out. 

For more details or see what else organizer Brenda Drake is up to, please click here.