How to Prepare for Pitch Wars
Q: What is Pitch Wars?
A: It’s a short-term (about 3 months) mentorship program for writers of Middle-grade, YA, and adult fiction. It only opens for a brief period in the early fall. This year, it opens for submissions 9/26/21 and closes 9/30/21. If you are accepted, a mentor will work with you for the 3 months leading up to an Agent Showcase, where you can have your work seen by agents actively looking for manuscripts.
Q: Who can benefit from this type of mentor program?
A: This program is specifically geared toward writers who have a completed manuscript, preferably one that is already fairly polished. Mentor/mentee pairs are announced in early November, and the Agent Showcase is in early February, so you only have 3 months to prepare your manuscript, query, and synopsis. And for many people, these are some of the busiest months of the year. You have to be willing to commit to the process 100% in order to be ready. This is not the place to throw your hat in the ring after completing a first draft.
Q: How can I prepare?
A: Go to the Pitch Wars website (www.pitchwars.org) and read all the rules and suggestions carefully. You need to research the available mentors carefully, to see which ones are taking your genre, and what they are looking for. You can only apply to 4, so choose wisely! You will submit your first chapter plus query letter and synopsis by the due date. If a mentor is interested they may ask for more chapters before making a decision, so be ready (but DON’T send them with your initial submission). The contest is open to unagented, unpublished manuscripts only. Also, not picture books, novellas, or nonfiction (though some mentors may take graphic novels or memoir).
Q: What are the benefits of doing this mentoring program?
A: All the mentors are previously-published authors. Many have successfully mentored other authors to publication. You get one-on-one attention to you and your manuscript for free, for three months. You get the attention of agents who are eager to see the mentees’ manuscripts, because they know they’ve been rigorously worked on and are in top shape. This does not mean, of course, that all entries to the Agent Showcase will be chosen by an agent. But a good number are. It’s definitely a way to stand out of the crowd.
Q: Are there any drawbacks?
A: If you are not ready for real, constructive feedback, or are looking for someone to pat you on the back and tell you your writing is wonderful and your novel is perfect the way it is, don’t bother applying! You may be overwhelmed with the feedback you get, even if you think you have a polished draft. Your mentor will work with you step by step, but make no mistake, it’s going to be a lot of work. Also, although many partnerships are successful, your mentor/mentee relationship may not work out. You may have dramatically different ideas. You are not obligated to take their advice, of course, but you need to be open to it.
Q: What are the odds of being accepted?
A: Honestly, slim. Thousands of writers apply. There are about 75 mentors for each genre, but some work in pairs, so it’s not 75 total. Each mentor or mentor pair takes on one writer. They all have very specific things they are looking for, so not all will be a good fit. The good news is, many are looking for diverse writers, so if you fall into that category in pretty much any way, you will find many more possible mentors than the four you can choose. Overall, there are mentors that work with contemporary realism, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, etc. etc. so there is some possibility for any writer.
If you are not accepted, do not take it as a blanket rejection of your novel, or of your writing, or of you. It’s easy to get discouraged, but the mentors are looking for works that have potential in the Agent Showcase. Like so many other things about writing, it’s very subjective. If you meet the criteria, by all means go ahead and enter, but don’t hang all your hopes on being chosen. You may also find beta readers, friends, and other support in the Twitter sphere if you tag #PitchWars.
Pitch Wars Submission Checklist:
Have a full, revised, polished manuscript ready. Ideally, one that has been beta-read by somebody else. Ditto the query and synopsis. If they don’t make sense or are not compelling, it won’t help make your case to a possible mentor. Also, make sure your manuscript length is within the word count expected for your genre. Writer’s Digest has a definitive post on the subject.
Make sure it is as free from grammatical and spelling errors and typos as possible - i.e., do a line edit, and proofread.
Read the mentor bios and understand what they are looking for. Do not bother to submit to a mentor that is not in your genre (i.e., if you write fantasy, don’t submit to someone who is only looking for contemporary realistic fiction). You only get to pick four, so don't waste slots on people who are clearly unsuitable.
Read the submission guidelines, and make sure your submission follows them to the letter. The last thing you want is for a mentor to think you are unable or unwilling to follow guidelines before they even work with you. They’ll be reading hundreds of submissions. They will likely shortlist fewer than ten. From there, they will pick one. Don’t lose out because you disregarded the rules or were careless.
Use standard accepted manuscript formatting: Times New Roman 12 point font; double spaced with one inch margins; page break after each chapter; space down 2-3 lines before each chapter title; include page number, manuscript title, and your name in the header.
If you succeed, you will learn a tremendous amount, and you will have a great leg up in terms of possible publication. If you don’t, remember that this is just one contest, and you should keep writing, revising, and submitting to agents.
Good luck!
