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I gave up on PitMad a couple years or so ago. I got interest, but it never paid off, and I also noticed the declining interest of legit agents. It's kind of like the old L.A. story of being discovered sitting in the diner--eventually, a bunch of hopefuls start hanging out at the counter and the talent scouts quit going there for lunch.

I wonder if having PitMad right after NaNoWriMo is also contributing to the problem. I can't imagine many agents are interested in getting queries for many first draft manuscripts.

I'm done with PitMad. I'm going to get an agent the old fashioned way (slipping a note into their locker that says "Do you like my manuscript? Check yes or no")

Ive watched almost all your videos and im not a writer or planning on being one but theyre weirdly calming

Honestly, it feels like only the mentorship style competitions are worth it, like pitchwars or amm. It makes sense because most of these books still need work and those authors then get knowledge and access. Even more so with the books that have snappy pitches, but the book/writing still needs work because those books might become something with guidance. I feel like more events like that will help bridge the gap between outside vs inside the industry. It's one thing to learn through a video, but to learn on a 1 to 1 basis is vastly more informative.

Okay, I'm just gonna point out the irony of agents bowing out because of the demoralizing sting of rejection. Welcome to the query trenches baby

LOVE THE NEW HAIR COLOR! maybe it's the lighting XD but it looks darker and more pink than before and i LOVE it!

I like the point you made about how these sorts of pitching events can cause people to hang onto stories too long because if you query and get rejections, you have proof that the they didn't want the story, but if you simply don't get engagement on Twitter, you can tell yourself "oh, well, the RIGHT person just didn't see it!" I think pitching events could be more successful if they were split by broad genre categories. So one day have an SFF event, another day a mystery/thriller even, another day romance, etc etc. Idk pitch events are hard because there has to be a really specific balance between number of agents/editors participating and number of authors for it to be successful

Caught the end of the premiere and restarted. I hadn’t considered how agents have to deal with the loss of books as well. The average agent getting thrown aside for the ✨Agents✨ is a shame. I feel like a smaller agent will fight harder to advocate for your book cause they don’t have 10 other bangers to fall back on. Maybe that’s a half-baked observation but I am no where near the query stage so I haven’t though much about it.

This last PitMad was my first pitching event ever. And I got 123 RTs, many from people I don’t know, likes from people who definitely weren’t agents, and dozens of comments from people excited about my story concept. I didn’t expect to get an agent from this event because I’ve heard the exhaustion from those in the query trenches. That being said, it gave me the confidence to really go full force with querying my book.

I want to just affirm All The Things -- I had the most retweets ever of my newest MG and got no likes. Even pitches with 200+ retweets didn't have any legit agents/editors liking them. I think we need to seriously scale back. And maybe encourage folks to only pitch a project 1x per contest (i know that can't be enforced, but it could help t shift the culture of the contests). Ultimately, it's just a really tough season to be in the query trenches.

Why do things like this *always* break down? The first few successes are legit and wonderful, which draws a glut of aspirants and the whole process breaks down as successes become undervalued or genuinely less solid. It happens every single time a program/offer/competition meant to help authors get published comes along, which means it's a constant revolving door. And you always arrive just a little too late, when everyone's already saying "it's not what but used to be." It's exhausting.

I've definitely noticed the "buzz culture" of publishing becoming more noticeable in Twitter pitch events (a few tweets getting A LOT of attention with most tweets getting little to no traction). I've also noticed (or at least it "seems") that there's less agent activity overall. It's hard to know for sure since the events are also growing in numbers so it might be a selection bias as well? But, all that said, I *did* end up getting agented from pitmad from a not-super-popular pitch, so I might be a bit of an anomaly. I still think, while I ultimately got agented from pitch contests, I think I got more responses and more feedback from agents I just cold queried. Idk querying was a weird, weird time man.

I participated in PitMad in December and noticed exactly what you described--the majority of the most popular tagged tweets had zero agent likes. The ones with agent likes had 1-2. I did not see a single one with more than 2. I decided to participate because my CP got her agent last year after participating for the 3rd or 4th time. It was pretty stressful, but I did end up with an agent like by the end of the day! A real agent. She requested a full the next day! I got my hopes up but she ended up passing with some constructive crit. I got lots of encouragement from other writers which was nice too. So I would say it's not dead but not thriving either. I would probably participate again!

I agree the 'retweet farms' killed it for me. Once the system got 'gamed' by people who now organize days/weeks prior to the pitch event on reddit etc and form giant retweet hub/farms together, it makes it feel pointless because these 'retweet giants' pump each other on the pitch day and get hundreds of retweets whereas your own tweet can't even be found in the hashtag 'search' on day of....once it got gamed to such an industrial level, I called it quits with pitch events. It started as something "fun" and turned into something industrial that you have to prepare for with massive industrial-scale gaming of the system just to stand a chance for your tweet to be seen. No thanks! Will stick to traditional querying that doesn't leave me feeling quite as dehumanized

I'm honestly so excited for this round of AMM. I've been stalking since round 7 and am finally ready to submit! I've looked up all the mentors for my category and am waiting on the profiles to be updated so I may work on query letters! So nervous but so excited to take this step.

This made so much sense. I was wondering what was going on with PitMad. Also, your hair looks amazing!

Always so fascinating to hear insights on the industry and marketing pulse/status I think another video topic should be your views on, experience/knowledge of industry circumstances, and basically on how AI is effecting the publishing industry. There have already been some major scandals disrupting/closing querying and my gosh, I feel so frustrated with how this will complicate and make getting through the publishing door successfully even more of a challenge - keep trying and giving it your all everyone!

When Jennifer Azantian recommends your video, you know you've hit upon a great topic. (Seriously, love this video. I've been seeing all the same patterns you have and I'm so glad you said it. Fingers crossed this transition period goes as smoothly as possible.)

Your hair! Such a great, complementing colour for you. 💜 Hope you're doing well, back to watching the video haha.

Querying itself has been horrible recently… agents just seem out of it and I feel like the industry is overwhelmed

Wild only discovering this video after Pitch Wars and PitMad officially died.

I've only recently jumped on the writing twitter train, but I've found that PitMads and other events have been good for community building. I've followed so many writers and engaged with their work because of events like these. From what I've seen, writers have also been able to reach out to beta readers and CPs pretty easily too. So, even if they're failing as a pitching contests, it still seems like we're getting *something* out of them. I think they really do need to take a step back and reconsider the format/s. I always appreciate an Auntie Alexa honesty-pep-talk! Thank you for dishing out the realities of this really confusing industry 😅💖

Thank you so much for addressing this. I pitched last week because I thought it wouldn't hurt, but I wondered if I was pitching into the void. Turns out, yes I was. :)

I mean, authors have every right to pit agents against one another to try and get the best deal. I can't feel sorry for agents; they chose this job, which is gatekeeping by nature. Can't fault writers for trying to get over the fence by all means possible. This just highlights further the issues of a system that doesn't reward being nice or playing fair.

I found pitmad extremely annoying. Too many people were posting "I'll retweet yours if you retweet mine" threads, which led to a lot of (in my opinion) not great pitches getting retweeted over and over. I was overwhelmed by it. I can only imagine how agents feel trying to find the needles in that particular haystack. When I'm ready to query, I won't be participating in PitMad.

Am I writer? *Yes* Do I have Twitter? *No* Am I going to watch this video? *Yes* 😂

I love the idea of something like The Voice but for queries. Where a piece of manuscript is anonymously posted and agents (of decent caliber) fight for the piece.

I participated in #PitMad twice with one project, then shelved it. Both times were in parallel with querying agents. I set up a tweetdeck column to track just #F #A (adult fantasy) and wow, that was a lot of pitches!!! I do plan on pitching with my next project, but once again only in parallel with querying. Also, not sure how common this is, but at least one agency I know of the newer agent(s) participated, but the more established ones didn't. It might very well make sense of new agents looking to build their lists, but likely not so much for the ones with a well-established list.

Participated in my first PitMad last week. I don’t use Twitter, so I was caught up in so many new and bewildering things. It was fun to engage with the writing community, but I tempered my expectations. Didn’t get any agent likes, but I queried agents that liked similar pitches to mine. Got a full manuscript request a few days later. My overall experience was positive, though I do see how Twitter pitch events are on the decline.

You said after pandemic everything is worse than ever😌 which adds onto my stressful daily life and job… querying is harder than ever. I will sit in a corner for a bit😔 everything’s overstretched at the moment…

Got any tips for how to follow the scheduling of pit wars/pitmad?

Could you do a video rundown on some of the most well know to least well known agents? I don't have twitter and I've never even heard of 'literary agents' until this year! Love the video!!

"Querying is a Hellscape right now." Wow. No truer words. I've been abstaining from PitMad for the last few rounds. I found the only responses I was receiving were 'smagents' and 'fauxpress'. And after being bitten by one fauxpress - well, twice shy. Plus, I think being a neurodiverse author I do better with more than 280 characters. But, before I get too long-winded... #PitMood? REALLY??? This feels like another obstacle, another hoop, placed in the path of new writers trying - I won't say desparately - even though it's true - to get noticed. I could go on about trying to keep up with the shifting landscape - but I'll call it quits for the moment. Thanks for the video. Cheers.

No clue if they're dead or not. I participated in 3 and never got one agent like (but maybe b/c I suck at these!). I have noticed few people in my category (middle grade) get those coveted likes but those that do get tons of likes. Ha! This video actually gives me some relief b/c these twitter pitches can be so depressing thinking everyone is succeeding except you!

When I was first started my writing journey and started exploring the writing community on Twitter it was hot hot hot. But I wasnt ready. I felt like by the time I was ready the contests didnt have the professional agents anymore and it felt really hard to get noticed. It was a pretty big let down. Now I dont worry about them, but it does feel validating to hear this!

The lower effort to entry, the lower quality the results will be. It sounds snobbish but it’s the truth

Thank you, Alexa.

Alexa, when do you think will be the right time to start querying? Will publishing ever be less-overwhelmed?

What is amm? And Is the yearly pitch dv pit or db pit? I want to look it up. I need to find an agent

Ooooh 😍 love the new hair!!!

Loving your new hair color 😍😍😍

You mentioned some agents who are likely to pick up most of the best prospects.. I’m going to go through your previous videos to see if you’ve already created some content on agents.. and I can understand why you may not want to name agents / agenting companies.. but if you haven’t done previous videos naming agents that are reputable and you recommend (I.e. high quality), and you’d like to, and feel comfortable doing that.. I’d love it :). (You asked for engagement on your videos :) )

Love this channel.

If I were to take a wild guess, the next pitching innovation could happen on TikTok: short video pitches…

Yes. I did pitmad about five or so years ago and had nibbles. I noticed lots of agent interest under the hashtag. Did it a few more times after that and realized most agents didn't even know it was going on. "Oh, shit. That's today?" lol

loved the video! but i was waiting for a quick explanation to what is a pitch event so i could understand the topic of the video right away without googling it

This is a bit unrelated but should you tell agents that you’re querying that you’ve gotten requests for partials or fulls already or is that bad form?

I think that the RTing farms on PitMad have gotten out of control. I've muted the tag completely because it's so much. Hundred upon hundreds of people RTing, completely taking over the feed. It's not authentic engagement anymore. It's all about how many people can you get to possibly RT your stuff while you also RT pitches that aren't interesting to you. I wish they'd eliminate the RT thing. Because even when you're not following the person RTing, Twitter shows it to you anyway because a friend commented on it or an agent you follow liked it. It's overwhelming. And it only works for certain age groups/genres. Adult books seem to struggle on there despite exceptionally cool ideas.

My sympathy for these agents feeling demoralized is none, seriously, many of these agents walk around with a stick up their asses acting all high and mighty being completely indifferent to us writers! How many queries and books didn't they throw away without sending a single letter to that person letting them know that they won't represent them? I say karma is a bitch!

Last year there was one I was paying no attention to, but apparently an author I follow mistook me for an agent and DMed me asking me to like her post, which I gladly did, thinking I was raising her visibility. She realized by my response that I was not an agent and asked me to unlike it. I didn't care, but I think she felt like a jerk.

I like the experience of pitching, and have gotten a few agent likes, but they weren't a fit. Like, during kiss pitch, one like was from an agent of sweet romance, though my pitch indicated a moderate heat level. But I was tickled to be noticed. As time went on, more and more people who weren't agents were liking my pitches, which was frustrating. I'd get all excited seeing them pop up, only to be let down that none of the likes were from agents. Over all, I think it's great practice for blurb writing and getting pumped up for actual querying.

I eventually want to participate in pitchmad. I don’t yet have a manuscript that is ready to be pitched.

Querying is definitely a hell scape. I pretty much gave up on it this year because of how horrible it was

Alexa your hair looks so pretty!!

Seriously, what is the next thing? It needs to be something that filters the query inbox down to make agent life easier but doesn't create cut throat situation for them. I made it into Pitch Wars, I've done every new thing. Honestly, I don't even know if I want to query my new project. I typed the end and need the edit, but I'm not even hopeful now.

Hi Alexa! I highly doubt you'll respond to this haha, but I might as well just try! But I wanted to know if it was possible to query an agent in another country. Let's say, if I'm in Argentina, can I query an agent in the US? Does my location matter? Also, I shared an excerpt of my novel with a literary magazine (more like a zine really) does that make my book unpublishable? Traditionally that is, would it be considered previously published? Thank you so much! your content is always the best!

why do i feel like the next way of pitching would be like tiktok pitching haha sorta like making a mini trailer for ur book

This is why #CookiePitch is the only pitch contest I participate in these days.

Nice auburn hair color!

Considering every book that won the Watty on Friday was werewolves, lgbt, YA or sci-fi. I’m guessing pitman is looking for. Similar books. I tried to query a book about a black woman finding out she’s a princess of a European city. No takers yet it seemed every werewolf book was accepted.

It's just oversaturation, like everything else agent/publisher related. Too many wannabe authors (like me), too few agents and publishers around.

Why do PitMad when you can just as easily get rejected via a direct query? Because it's the same agents and the same pitch, and the same set of rules apply.

Not sure if you've done something new with your hair, but it looks gorgeous!

I loved Pitmad three years ago. I used to get so many likes from quality agents. Now, there's nothing. I'd love to know your thoughts on Berkley's Open Submission windows for non-agented writers.

I participated in Pitchmad once and got nothing but spam likes. Another one, someone (not an agent) wrote on my pitch, I can't remember it all but she ended with, "Your plot seems flawed" -- that same book is being published in the fall. Your words make a lot of sense. I can understand why interest is waning.

"this is a video" - thing I say every darn day.

New hair, who dis? lol love the new hair color Alexa!

I got no likes during PitMad, but i dy=id get some reader/author interraction. I got 3 agent likes during DivPit, but they were all no-s (one hasn't technically reponded but it's been 6 weeks so i am counting it as a no - I didn't expect it to be a yes anyway since that agent doesn't even rep romance so i am not sure why she requested :D) but one of them was personalized so I'm hopeful. I will wait until January and start cold-querying.

Thoughts on pitch events moving to TikTok? I feel like I've seen a lot of writers pitching their books (in various states of the writing process) and drum up a lot of buzz. Though I don't know how many agents are on TikTok atm 🤔

Agent speed dating? Where agents select pools based on age group, genre, etc and have short rounds of pitching or reading a sample page. At the end of the round, they can pass or send a request for a full query package. It could easily be done virtually.

I participated in Sept #PitMad, #DVPit, and Dec #PitMad. Got nothing but extremely suspect hybrid and indie pubs until this latest #PitMad when I got a like from an editor at a Big 5 imprint. I think this may be the last time I pitch this book... or pitch in general. The massive RT lists that folks make cause my eyebrow to twitch, and the anxiety I put myself through as I write and rewrite my pitches weeks in advance... it's just too much.

"Wow, I feel really bad that the agents can't land the books they want. Must be really stressful." said no author ever. Most authors get turned down endlessly and feel similar pain... except this happens over and over and over. I'm sure the agents will survive.

"Wizen Old Publishing Auntie" -- this should be on a mug

I think I finally need a Twitter cuz it seems like I missed out on something awesome in its prime

"Is Pittman dead?" I read. "Of course. Who uses shorthand anymore? Not since the Dictaphone was put in the office. But when did I last see one of those?" Watches video. "Oh, that wasn't what she was on about at all. Boy, I'm really showing my age." Jon in rural BC, Canada

Maybe Pitmad isn't dead, it's just that querying now sucks and agents are tired. I also have a question, Alexa! Do you think this bad situation will stop in the near future? Or do you think it'll take several years?

Is twitter pretty much a must-have for a writer in this day and age?

Oh, I have thoughts. XD

Dear God, the next big thing is going to be a Tik Tok pitch event and we all know it.

My first pitmad I got likes from actual legit agents. I submitted but never heard back, alas, but that's about on par with most my querying. Then for a while I got likes from small publishers, but was still looking for an agent. Now, even with new projects being pitched, I'm only getting likes from 'publishers' that read so much like scams it is just laughable. So yeah, there's been a clear decline in who's dropping those likes (except for friends who don't know the rules of course, they are of the highest quality) and has been pushing me to maybe skip pitmad and other similar events for a while. But at the same time, I do rather love how it helps me connect with other writers. I'm getting double digit retweets from people I had never heard of who are also pitching, and I'm just delighted that they were interested in my pitches. And then I check out what they're pitching, and I find something fascinating and which I'd perhaps like to read some day. And that side of it is the reason I've kept at it this year even when results were declining the year before. I kind of wish that there was perhaps another way to connect like this without the pitch party events. And heck, an alternative way to get eyes on what I want to get out there. I'm tempted to say that these two things should be separated, but that would cause some complications in terms of motivations.

I feel less guilty for taking a break from Twitter for a while.

What is DVpitch?

There is also the frequency. These sorts of events should happen only at the end of every year, when people may have had time to finish their book. Not this monthly nonsense. If I wanted to do monthlies, I would be doing comics. And not webcomics. And often my pitches would be liked by someone in a totally different industry...like comics.

At first I thought it was cool and exciting but after watching these pitch frenzies for several months, I avoid those days on Twitter. It’s just too much. Too overwhelming and feels like a popularity contest, where there’s a lot of problematic issues. I’d rather query with purpose and get an agent I chose rather than the other way around.

Yeah...PITMAD is difference and the quality of agents and fell for sure. And boy is it saturated! I remember back in the day when you knew your pitches were being seen. I've lost faith. Querying is where it's at now as bad as it is right now.

Something described as a 'feeding frenzy' will rarely result in a happy ending or quality product--my hot take. :/

I also think we are seeing the growing pains of trying to figure out the next generation of writing.

Hey Alexa. I have a question about career jealousy… To put it into breif context. I was raised in a christian cult, and left when I was 24. I have always considered writing my story, but it was too painful, and I love writing sci-fi and fantasy. It’s been my dream to be a writer since I was 8 years old. Every time I try to write my memoir I start having these PTSD dreams. Ive been able to start a channel and blog about cults in general, but not the one I left... Now, a few years ago a girl about 10 years younger than me left the church also, and started a blog about it. Within a year from leaving she has been on a radio podcast, been on the cover of a magazine and I;m pretty sure she is getting herself a book deal. She’s vocal, and takes every opportunity to talk about everything that happened to her. Now her journey was not as hard as mine within the church, and there are others who have suffered even more > not that that is important really. My angst comes from her attitude, which is grating on me and my drepession. She posts “bossbitch” and “my face when I realize how talented I am!” on a daily and she gets LOADS of support from all the people in our “circle”. I don’t get any of that, because I think a lot of them think of me as too lberal. lol. I have stopped following her on the socials, but my sister (who also finds her really annoying) will sometimes share her cringiest posts still. Anyways, if you see this Alexa, can you do a video on career jealousy? I know the girls success doesn’t mean I can’t be successful too, but I can’t help but have feelings of loss...