Back in September, I submitted to Pitch Wars. Spoiler alert: I didn’t get in.
When the announcements came out, I was pretty devastated at first. I cried a lot and stayed in bed basically that entire Saturday. But, after a day of feeling sorry for myself, I felt a lot better about it.
We’re still in a pandemic after all, and I know the contest is NOT a life or death scenario. Also, I knew my story wasn’t where it should have been, I literally wrote and revised it in a span of four months, then submitted it. I needed more time, I knew that. But I couldn’t squelch that tiny flicker of hope that I could be chosen anyway.
my submission process
I submitted to four mentors. Pitch Wars gives you an option to submit to four but you can submit to less.
I received a partial manuscript request from Rona the first night after submissions closed, and then I received a full manuscript request from the Amelia and Sophie team two days later. I was particularly excited to receive a request from Amelia and Sophie because they were the only mentors who specifically asked for stories with gamer girls!
About a week later, I was excited to receive a questionnaire from Amelia and Sophie to complete. I felt like this meant that they were truly considering MY story. They said they sent the same questionnaire to every person they asked for a full from. It had a lot of questions to help them understand what stage my story was in and how they might best help me. Some of the questions included:
What is your favorite part of your story?
What part of your story do you need help on?
Have you queried this story yet?
why did you enter pitch wars?
What aspects of your manuscript are you unwilling to change?
After I submitted the questionnaire I didn’t hear back from Amelia and Sophie. And I didn’t hear back from Rona after the partial request. I didn’t receive requests from any of the other mentors.
The Outcome
A week after announcements came out, Rona and Amelia emailed me with feedback, which was incredible. For those who don’t know, it is OPTIONAL for mentors to submit feedback to the writers they didn’t pick. They are not required to do this, so I felt very grateful to receive feedback from them.
Their feedback was honest but gentle. It also wasn’t very surprising to me. After submitting to Pitch Wars, I let a few others read my book, and everyone kept saying the same thing:
- Too many play-by-play gaming scenes
- The main character is not driving the plot
So, now we’re up to date. I’m trying my best to revise my manuscript based on the mentors’ feedback and make my story more character-driven. It’s been tough but I think it will make my story SO much better.
After going through this experience, there are a few things I’ve learned and things I would have done differently which I outlined below.
Submit to Mentors who are similar to you
Something I noticed with the mentors’ picks was that LGBTQ+ writers chose other LGBTQ+ writers to represent, same with if the mentors were Asian or Black or Hispanic. This is not to say that mentors will ONLY choose writers similar to them, but it probably helps to identify with your mentor because they most likely have a deeper understanding of where you’re coming from and how to best convey that through your writing.
A lot of the mentors were very open on their wishlists about favoring marginalized voices. So, be sure to submit to people who have written books like yours or who represent your particular demographic in addition to other mentors whose wishlists line up with your book.
Your pitch is VERY important
Although I only received two requests, others continuously noted that my pitch was fabulous. While your story is obviously more important than the pitch, your pitch is what is going to entice prospective mentors to read your story, so make it pop. Spend a lot of time on it, get others to read it, and help you improve it.
Talk to the mentors on Twitter
I think I missed out on submitting to mentors who might have been a better fit for my book just because I didn’t ask enough mentors on Twitter if they were searching for a story like mine. After the wishlists came out, we had a week or two to ask mentors questions and ask for clarification on what they were looking for, and I wish I had talked to more mentors about their wishlists, not necessarily just the ones that were on the top of my list. So, if you’re planning on submitting to Pitch Wars next year, I highly recommend you talk to as many of the mentors as you can and get a feel for whether or not they might like your story.
Pitch Wars was a good experience for me, I don’t regret it at all. Pitch Wars made me actually finish a book for the first time in a reasonable amount of time. It also allowed me to make new friends and get valuable feedback. So, to everyone who’s thinking of submitting next year please do, you never know what will come of it.
