We want to take a moment to thank EVERYONE who participated in our inaugural event. Whether you pitched a project, supported your friends, or perused and liked pitches as an agent or acquisitions editor/publisher, we couldn’t have done it without you. Stats are in and they look GREAT! We couldn’t have asked for a better turnout for our first event.

Speaking of stats, a huge thank you goes out to an invaluable member of the #WritingCommunity, Robert Mosley, who provides stats after pitch events so participants can see information about the events and so organizers like us can see how successful the event was. If you’d like to see the info he pulled and broke down for us, take a look on Twitter here:

In our case, even though it was our first pitch event, numbers were booming! We expected lower numbers because that’s the nature of a new event. But even with fewer participants than other more established pitch events, agents and publishers were out there liking pitches just as much if not more so that in other events. Nearly a quarter of all pitches received likes by industry professionals, and more than 11% of those were from agents. Stats like that are on par with big events like PitMad (no longer in operation) and DVPit!

That is all you, #writers! You all did such an amazing job with your pitches and moodboards!

We are so thrilled and absolutely cannot wait to grow this pitching platform for querying writers.

Many agents and editors have reached out saying how much they enjoyed it and can’t wait to participate in the next one, which is scheduled for Thursday, November 3rd. We already have a list going (and growing!) of participating agents and publishers!

Remember, even if you didn’t receive a like, it is in no way representative of you or your work. Unfortunately, none of us can control the Twitter algorithms, but we can say that the more engaged you are in the writing community, the better your chances of getting seen will be! And interacting with writers and finding new writer friends is the best aspect of pitch events!

A pitch event is only one path to finding an agent or publisher, so don’t fret, and don’t give up. Keep being the amazing writers you are, and you will reach your goals!

And here’s a reminder to please do yourself the favour of fully researching any agent or publisher who you’re considering sending query materials to. Ensure that they are a good fit for you and your story. We are unable to control who participates in our event, meaning that we can’t stop the shady ones from liking pitches and conning writers into sending materials to vanity presses, schmagents, etc. We are also not a platform for editors to look for clients, so if you do get an editor like, just check to make sure that they’re an acquisitions editor, not a freelance editor looking for clients. Some genuinely don’t know that’s not what a pitch event is for, so give them the benefit of the doubt. But a general rule of thumb is you should *never* have to pay for having your query material read or for any services with traditional publishers. If you are choosing to self-publish/indie-publish with say, a hybrid publisher, then yes, there are typically up-front fees involved. But presses who claim they are traditional publishers should not be asking for any up-front fees from you. Traditional publisher typically means they cover expenses on your behalf as part of your contract. If they’re asking for fees and you’re aiming to traditionally publish, it’s a red flag.

Regarding agents, check out their manuscript wish list. It’ll be on their agency website, but in many cases it’s also on www.manuscriptwishlist.com and/or on the agent’s Twitter page. Sometimes an agent or agency will like a pitch for a genre they don’t typically represent. You can still take the opportunity to query, though. Perhaps they are looking to expand their represented genres. Check out Victoria Strauss’ Writer Beware website to ensure there’s nothing shady going on with an agent or agency. And remember, use your own judgement, too. Trust your instincts. Newer agents are still agents, so just because they don’t have a big client list doesn’t mean they aren’t good at what they do and won’t be the biggest champion of your book. Check to see where they interned, who they learned from. You sign with an agent, but also with the agency, and that means you have the benefit of the agency’s contacts and expertise. Sometimes agents have come from an agency who had a fallout of some sort. Don’t hold this against the agent. Do your research to the best of your ability, and if it feels right to query, go for it!

We wish everyone who is querying the best of luck!

We were impressed that many of you remembered to use alt text on your moodboards, and hope to see more folks using it regularly so that visually impaired people can participate and feel included, too. Here is a fantastic thread to explain why it’s so important and how to easily add it to your tweets that include images.

We will soon be adding some testimonials to our website, so be on the lookout for that! We may also call on some writers to ask if we can showcase their pitches to help other writers learn the elements of a good pitch. If we don’t ask you, this does not mean we didn’t like your pitch; it simply means we don’t always see every pitch and may have missed it, and we aren’t able to post everyone’s pitches. If you were successful at getting agent and publisher likes and especially if you went on to sign with an agent or publisher, please let us know so we can share with other writers the #MoodPitch that got you your contract!

Once again, thank you so much. We are celebratinig this success and can’t wait to see #MoodPitch grow!

Did you participate? How did you find it? Reach out to us and let us know how you found the event, and keep us up to date if you received likes and submitted your query package to an agent or publisher! We would love to share your success stories on our page!