A.J. Flowers

I’m happy to provide you this tidy list of winning tweets for #SFFPit!

If you’re not sure what #SFFPit is, I’ll explain. There are a few Twitter Pitch contests each year, with #PitMad and #SFFPit being among the largest. #SFFPit is exclusive for Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels. Authors will write a short pitch of their novel, small enough to squeeze into a tiny tweet with hashtags, and hope for the best. If a publisher or agent favorites the tweet, then that means they’re interested and would like to know more! The author will then submit to said agent or publisher (assuming they want to), according to any special submission guidelines the agent or publisher has tweeted. Special consideration is usually given to such pitches in an otherwise hard-to-stand-out slush pile. The other benefit is to network with editors/agents/authors that you wouldn’t have had a chance to meet!

This list, while large, may not include all winning tweets. If your awesome tweet was not included and received a favorite from a publisher or agent, please feel free to let me know and it’ll be added!

I am also proud to announce my winning tweets, which drew the attention of 3 publishers and 2 literary agents (though one agent’s favorite was not a request for materials. They just thought it was cool I used their author’s book as a comparison title. SO technically I only got one agent’s interest that was actually about me. But, no such thing as bad publicity I say!)

AJ Flowers (3) winning tweets:

@AJFlowers86

Favs by 2 agents –one fav just for excitement(RedSofa Literary), and one fav looking for materials(Rena Rossner)–

FALLEN meets INKED-Angels aren’t as good as you think. They’re thieves, thugs, and slave traders. So… What’s that make demons? #SFFPit #YA

 

Fav by 1 publisher –PandaMoon Pub–

*Note: On Twitter the PandaMoon Editor requested a direct tweet if authors felt they had a pitch that would interest her. Since she requested dark fantasy with animal companions, it felt like a good shot and turned out I was right. Goes to show, don’t just aimlessly tweet. Actively follow the feed for such comments!*

Descended from Lilith and hunted along with her dark horse familiar, she’ll take on a god or reincarnate trying.#SFFPit @DaphneTuccitto #HF

 

Fav by 1 publisher –REUTS Publishing–

She was an angel born without wings. Then a demon put a time bomb in her soul. Now she must find her best friend’s killer. #SFFPit #YA #HF

 

Other notable tweets (in no particular order):

Fav by 1 agent –Golden Wheat Literary–

Rachna Chhabria ‏@RachnaChhabria1  – ALICE in WONDERLAND with a TORTURE TWIST.Prank prodigy Nina must fight diabolical inventions that snuff out mischief from kids. #SFFpit #MG

Fav by 1 agent –Talcott Notch–

Fav by 2 publishers –Entangled & Fantasy Works Pub–
Vanessa Rodriguez‏@Married2ARod – Slaying dragons. A war for the control of magic. Dragon serum. The truth & one girl’s quest. Welcome to the Drakon Akademie. #SFFpit #YA #FA

Fav by 1 publisher –Fantasy Works Pub–
Gabriella Saab‏@G__Saab – An elf who can’t control her powers hardly seems capable of protecting magic and defeating a king. But that’s what Aelfa must do #SFFpit #YA

Fav by 1 publisher –Entangled–
Ali Herring‏@HerringAli – A journey through Egypt. Clues left by Ra. Earth faces destruction. Life was easier when Gil thought he was human. #SFFpit #SF #YA INDYJONES

Fav by 1 publisher –Entangled–
Madeline Reynolds‏@mad_reynolds – When Miranda learns she might be the exiled queen of the Unseelie Court, she fears being the villain in her own story #SFFpit #UF #YA

Fav by 2 publishers –Entangled & Fantasy Works Pub–
Heather Romito‏@HeatherRomito – Mermaid-hunting pirates. A mother’s spell to save her daughter and her people. A Savage war. Only Delmara can save them all. #SFFpit #YA #EF

Fav by 2 publishers –Entangled & Fantasy Works Pub–
Robert McNeary‏@rmcnearyauthor – A warrior-in-training recruits a ragtag band to fight mythological beings. They will draw on the elements – and each other. #SFFPit #YA #EF

Fav by 1 publisher –PandaMoon Pub–
Brian S. Converse‏@BrianSConverse – #SFFpit #A #SO James’ life changes when he wakes up aboard an alien spacecraft. He’s surprised to discover it’s a change for the better.

Fav by 2 publishers –Aniah Press & Entangled– & 1 literary agent –DGLM–
Kimberly Afe‏@kimberlyAfe – THE MATRIX meets PRISON BREAK when Keen somehow ends up in virtual prison and must escape AI’s control or die trying #SFFpit #YA

Fav by 1 publisher –Word Weaver Press–
Grand Moff Kozen‏@outfortune – Earth misses the call when warring alien factions demand our best peace negotiator, so they settle for Henry Caber instead. #SFFPit #A #SF

Fav by 1 publisher –REUTS Publishing–
Kristen C. Strocchia‏@KCStrocchia – 15 yo Longo must face his fear of re-enslavement to save Barbarine before the Palace of Sand locks them both outside forever #SFFPit #YA #HF

Fav by 2 agents (wow!) –Prospect Agency & Talcott Notch Literary–
Heather Romito‏@HeatherRomito – The little mermaid, if Ariel had hated humans and never wanted to become one. #SFFpit #YA #EF

Fav by 2 publishers –PandaMoon Pub & BookFish Books–
CCavness‏@tripseyc – She’s a socially-inept scientist.He’s a reformed Romeo & crop circle researcher. It’s distrust at first sight but she needs his data #SFFpit

Fav by 1 publisher –REUTS Publishing–
D.M. Domosea‏@DMDomosea – LITTLE WOMEN via Tolkien: 4 winged sisters unite after 17 yrs apart to save their worlds from the royal guards who hunt them #SFFpit #YA #EF

Fav by 1 publisher –REUTS Publishing–
Laura Rueckert‏@LauraRueckert – #sffpit BITTERBLUEmeets A GIRL OF FIRE & THORNS in this #YA #FA murder mystery w/ Vietnamese&Maori-inspired elements http://bit.ly/1koO8GE 

Fav by 1 publisher –City Owl Press–

Marissa Doyle‏@marissadoyle – Crime-fighting super-heroines or high-born ladies in Regency England? Or…both? #A #R #SFFpit

 

Fav by 1 publisher –Curiosity Quills Press–

Ali Herring‏@HerringAli – Modern-day JOAN OF ARC saves Earth when the boy can’t. Epic INDYJONES quest w/ ½-alien teens. Written 4 PERCY JACKSON grads. #SFFpit #SF #YA

Fav by 1 agent –Wells Arms Literary–
Audrey T. Carroll‏@AudreyTCarroll – Witches follow orders & work together. Amber decides to strengthen her own magic & go after a local warlock gang. #SFFPit #NA #WNDB #UF #CF

Fav by 1 publisher –REUTS Publishing–
Mayken Brünings‏@MaykenAlanna – Holding a dragon’s life flame, Naya can take his power to ward off the dragon invasion. But it would kill her dragon friend. #SFFpit #YA #EF

Fav by 1 agent –Prospect Agency– & 1 publisher –REUTS Publishing–
Carol Riggs‏@Artzicarol – Transformed into a genie, Adeelah searches for her love while evading an evil former master and protecting her new one. #SFFpit #YA #FA

Fav by 1 agent –Prospect Agency–
Mark Jensen‏@MarkJensen93 – As aliens try to heal his brother, Trent helps a clone fit into high school and date his brother’s athlete girlfriend. #SFFpit #AH #YA #SF

Fav by 2 publishers –PandaMoon Pub & BookFish Books–
Sage Collins‏@Sagecollins – #YA #SF For superhero Evie, it’s always duty 1st, boys never. Until her celebrity crush becomes the next villain she must catch #SFFpit #SH

Fav by 2 publishers –REUTS Publishing & JollyFish Press–
R. K. Brainerd‏@blueinkdragon – To find answers about her sister’s death, Fairian wades thru altered history, demons, and her mother’s lessons on being a lady #SFFpit #NA

Fav by 1 publisher –JollyFish Press–
L. A. Kelley‏@AuthorLAKelley – #SFFpit #YA #SF #SO Orphan, pirate, enthusiastic spy. Only in an impregnable prison will Jane find the secret to the murder of an alien race

Fav by 1 publisher –JollyFish Press–
Ninan Tan‏@NinanTanster – Future war-torn Greenland. A jaded hero forced to take a young pilot under his wing. A girl who will eclipse him to end the war. #SFFpit #YA

Fav by 1 publisher –JollyFish Press–
Katherine Blakeney‏@YorwickCastle – 2 Earthian descendants of a destroyed alien race return to their home planet to seek the lost tomb of a legendary king. #SFFpit #YA #SF #SP

Fav by 1 publisher –BookFish Books–

Ali Herring‏@HerringAli – Epic INDIANA JONES-style quest w/a #R meets STARGATE-esque ½-aliens w/HEROES style superpowers. Written4 PERCY JACKSON grads #SFFpit #SF #YA

 

Fav by 1 publisher –PandaMoon Pub–
Matthew Bin‏@coffeewriting – Brendan wants to go to an offworld colony. To get there, has to pretend he’s married to a stranger. Didn’t know she’s an assassin. #SFFPit

Fav by 2 publishers –JollyFish Press & REUTS Publishing–
Aimee‏@flickchick02 – A #PN #YA that subverts “the chosen one” and is love triangle free. Emphasis on strong female friendship, Bechdal, Mako Mori #SFFpit

Fav by 1 publisher –Entangled–
Shanna Hughes‏@writerShanna – Meeting her soulmate transports her to parallel world. Her destiny? Saving it from power-hungry leader. #SFFpit #YA #FR #FA

Fav by 1 agent –Bent Agency–
Christopher T Nugent‏@AShortSeries – When a dragon attacks his home, 15yo magical prodigy must slay it to save his family or spare it to save the desert kingdom. #YA #FA #SFFPIT

Fav by 1 agent –Bent Agency–
Jacqueline Aron‏@JackieAron – #SFFpit Sherlock & Watson as two teenaged girls with supernatural powers. Demons, ghosts, fallen gods, catacombs, & unlikely friends #YA #UF

Fav by 1 agent –Bent Agency–
Jay S. Willis‏@atlaslaw – Descendants of wizard war criminals struggle to free ancient ancestors to restore Magic and topple a Theocratic government #SFFpit #A #EF

Fav by 1 agent –Bent Agency–
ET Smith‏@eltsmith – Salem’s witches must ally with the patriots because when dragons are coming it’s 1 if by land, 2 if by sea, and 3 if by air #SFFpit #MG #FA

Fav by 1 agent –Lisa Dawson Associates–
Anissa‏@AnissaAZ – “Lies controlled me, made me kill. When I uncover the truth, you better not be the one who lied” BOURNE IDENTITY + JESSICA JONES #SFFpit #YA

Fav by 1 agent –Lisa Dawson Associates–
Jamie K.‏@Rockets2Writing – When everyone has a tracking chip that interfaces with the brain, one glitch threatens the world. 16yo Kaya is that glitch #SFFpit #YA #SFT

Fav by 1 agent –Lisa Dawson Associates– & 1 publisher –Entangled–
Jared Oliver Adams‏@J_0_Adams – Hae Min is the newest recruit of a secret sorority of world-hopping explorers, but first she has to survive initiation. #SFFpit #YA #CF

Fav by 1 agent –Lisa Dawson Associates– & 1 publisher –Entangled–
Dakota Shain Byrd‏@ShainByrd – THE BONES OF PARIS is THE BOURNE IDENTITY meets BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, but with elemental magic, four POV’s, and an LGBT romance. #SFFpit #YA

Fav by 1 publisher –PandaMoon Pub–
Jacine Robinson‏@robinson_jacine – Antarctica was never meant to be the Garden of Eden, humans were never meant to find the seed of genesis, and evolution was never– #SFFpit

Fav by 1 publisher –JollyFish Press–
Crystal Renee Smith‏@crysrensmith – Bound by two blood spells—one to save her, one to silence her—Aurelia must cast her own to reclaim a throne she never wanted. #SFFpit #YA

Fav by 1 publisher –PandaMoon Pub–
Tess Hunter‏@tesshunter – Save a failing space farm? Hard. Harvest explosive plants? Harder. Escape her convict contract to kill her framers? Deadly. #SFFpit #A #SF

Fav by 1 publisher –BookFish Books–
Tabitha Peyton Wood‏@tabithapeyton – Love is complicated. Especially when her step-dad governs an underwater city & wants to kill all land-dwelling people… #YA #FA #SFFPit

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AJ Flowers Comments — these are purely my opinions so take it or leave it!

It’s interesting to see what publishers favorite versus agents. I feel that the common thread of diversity are two things:

1. Including Comparison Titles

By using a comparison, meaning “Book A meets Book B” is a quick and easy way to give someone else an idea of what your book is about. Bottom line, the trend I have seen says using comparisons will turn off publishers, and turn on agents.

To agents, they can immediately judge if this would be the kind of market they’re looking for or not. It may be the difference between a favorite or not, because with just a short pitch the agent may not get a full enough sense if your book will be something they would care to market or would have potential for the kind of publishers they tend to work with.

But on the other hand, if you are targeting publishing I don’t think having comparison titles is the way to go. To a publisher, they’re just looking for something fresh and new that is within their genre. A simple hashtag will tell them the genre (so you should ALWAYS include one if at all possible!) and they’re just looking for a catchy phrase. Comparison titles will make them second guess if your book is really unique and fresh if you’re able to compare it to other books on the market.

But do be careful when using comparison titles. Some agents may get so excited that you used their author’s book as a comparison title they’ll favorite your tweet without thinking. (Which is what happened to me and was a pretty big let-down after I spent 2 hours crafting a query to an agent that wasn’t even interested in my book’s subject matter.)

2. The Trendy Hashtag

As for the trendy hashtag (like #LGBT), you’ll target a very specific area of agents. I don’t think publishers really care about this level of specification, as I didn’t see agents tweeting that they were only searching for such hashtags. But I did see quite a few agents saying they only searched for tweets with #SFFPit & #LGBT. So, you may limit your audience, but you also may stand out in a smaller pool of tweets.

Looking for professional advice to construct your pitch, in the world of Twitter, in-person workshops, or query letters? I highly recommend these resources:

For the “Elevator Pitch”

Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds: The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Screenplay or Novel Read

For the Presentation of your Manuscript

Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript

For sample material when querying, and the most common, fixable reasons that’ll get you rejected (Written by a Literary Agent)

The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide To Staying Out of the Rejection Pile

For the Query (Free at the time of this post)

How to Write a Great Query Letter: Insider Tips and Techniques for Success

And of course, you need to know who to pitch to. While you can exhaust resources such as AgentQuery.com and QueryTracker.com, a trusted and large list has already been compiled for you:

Guide to Literary Agents 2016: The Most Trusted Guide to Getting Published (Market)