*Disclaimer: This list is not an official list and is not in collaboration with TKA. This is just a book blogger/writer making life easier for you to get inside agents’ heads as I try and do the same.*
I love me some Twitter Pitch Contests, and #TKA20 was no exception! The Knight Agency (TKA) was established by Diedre Knight in 1996 and has had authors featured in New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Times, to name a few.
If you have no idea what a Twitter Pitch Contest is, or why one should participate, I recommend you read this introductory post.
This agency is hot, and to celebrate their 20 year anniversary they have held their very first Twitter Pitch Contest! (Details from the agency’s website here.) I hope there will be more, because this is a great opportunity to consistently get a feel of what specific agents are looking for, and I know a lot of authors want to know what’s a hit or miss with TKA.
I’m changing up how I present Twitter Pitch results. Instead of just listing out all the favorited tweets I can find, I’m compiling the stats and a handful of pitches, keeping those shown here at 10 or less per agent. Of course this information is just by what I can unearth on Twitter and I know I’m going to be missing some tweets, so there’s that. But it takes me 2 days so hey, I saved you lots of time!
As always, I’ll still include my analysis of these winning pitches at the end. Hopefully this will be easier for you to understand your dream agents!
Did you get a favorite? Congratulations! Now, hold your horses. Expected response times were tweeted:
@dk_dailey@KnightAgency We’ll all be jumping on these ASAP, but allow 6-8 weeks before following up. We shall be reading fiends. 🙂 #TKA20
Tweets Favorited by @DeidreKnight
Total Fav’d Tweets Analyzed = 136 *Note: Deidre claims to have favorited 142 pitches, so I missed a few!*
And there was also a shocking and awesome+inspiring announcement from Deidra the day after the contest:
One of the 142 just received an accepted an offer of representation! The first one I read. #TKA20@JenniferBolmer Congrats to @AuthorMAGrant
I’m really surprised how many tweets Diedra took on. That’s really amazing. And by already accepting a client the day following the Twitter event, she meant business! This is where Twitter Pitch Contests present a truly unique opportunity. Hosting a pitch contest, especially when it’s a first-ever for the agency means that there’s some “hunger” and you’re going to want to show up to the party with something delicious. Do you think Grant, the author who just got signed, would have queried this agency? Perhaps, but this contest brought an opportunity to spotlight the most important aspect of that manuscript to the agent, and that’s the pitch. If an agent likes a pitch, that’s a long ways to skipping the other irrelevant slush in their query pile, especially if you’ve gotten their attention, even briefly. Never underestimate opportunity.
That said, Diedre really surprised me not only by the volume of favorites she took on, but the variety as well. Her hashtag stats are all over the place, and she’s really open to more than I’d realized. But even if she was open, each pitch did have some elements in common. It was strong, of course, but it wasn’t high fantasy. From what I could tell, the pitches with fantasy or sci-fi had touches of Battlestar Galactica and/or mythological retellings. And pretty much all winning pitches seemed to have a romantic element.
This just enforces to me that if an author wants to go paranormal romance and still land an agent, it can’t be a same ‘ol trope of vampires and such, and even better, should be a fairytale retelling. At least, that’s what’s hot now, who knows what’s hot tomorrow.
Tweets Favorited by @jannabonikowski
Janna also took on an impressive number of tweets, but definitely seemed to have a trend. She seemed to stick to romantic stories, and the more suspenseful the better. She also liked women’s fiction, young adult, and mysteries, and seems to also be looking for a sense of danger or thrills in them.
Tweets Fav’d by @pamelaharty
#TKA20 Step into New York in The Gilded Age 1909: Follow the mystery, romance and drama as Mary builds her design career and falls in love.
A puzzle solving nurse, a hndsm lawyer w/ her family secrets, & questions someone doesn’t want answered. More than hearts in danger. #TKA20
Tweets Fav’d by @writertravis
Total = 19
#TKA20 When 21yr old Karma lands a birthday trip to Ireland, she discovers the Church’s cost to keep geneology secrets may include her life.
A dream holiday becomes a nightmare when customs find 4 kilos of cocaine in her bag. She is sentenced to death. She didn’t do it. #TKA20
Well-to-do 11yr old sent to live with poor relatives in Scottish Mill town – as Father leaves for WWI. Coming of age historical MG/YA #tka20
Travis was difficult for me to analyze, as I don’t really see a trend. If anything, he picked out interesting or unique fiction as long as it didn’t include magical or mystical elements.
Tweets Fav’d by @ElaineSpencer
A M Barkmeier @AMarieHenry5 3 fat camp alumna reunite as adults to reconcile the past & present after the ex-camper they tortured is accused of murder #TKA20 #YA #WF
Aiden left the dust in Syria with PTSD. He & his alert dog are doing well until they find a woman’s body on shore of his Irish home. #TKA20
#TKA20 A southern Cinderella story. 17yo Elsie has a secret. Her moms too stressed to notice. Her dads ill & shes found love worth lying for
AJ Comments:
Elaine seemed to stick to feel-good and women’s fiction, even when presented as YA. Speaking of which, the first tweet I show here has both YA and WF hashtags, how does that work!? (Who cares, worked for the author, ha!)
Tweets Fav’d by @MJeglinskiTotal = 10
AJ Comments:
Melissa seemed consistent with stories which were flat-out mysteries, or had crime-solving elements. But I did love the one #F pitch she favorited which I think had more to do with its cute projection of voice and use of book comps more than anything (which is extremely impressive to squeeze into a single Tweet).
Final AJ Comments:
I really enjoyed analyzing these tweets and I feel I’ve learned a lot about The Knight Agency. They seem to lean towards cozy romances, mysteries, women’s fiction, and a dabble of sci-fi and fantasy elements if towards Diedra’s tastes. It’s great to know what an agency likes, and also those few genres they’ll accept if done right.
Did you like how this information was presented? What would you have liked to have seen differently? I plan on continuing to analyze Twitter Pitch Contests, if for just my own understanding of agencies and their interests and trends.
Happy writing, and congrats to all the winning pitches!
A.J. Flowers 
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