Here's how you can pitch your book directly to publishers using Twitter

Virgin Radio

27 Jan 2022, 09:20

Do you think you've got a novel in you but have no idea how you would go about getting it published? Well, if you don't fancy the unenviable and seemingly futile task of sending your manuscript to publishers, where you don’t even know if it will ever be read, then you'll be interested in something that's happening on Twitter,

There's an inventive way of getting the attention of publishers and agents, which is as simple as sending a tweet.

Here’s how it works. 

On particular days, writers are invited to create a Twitter-length pitch for their completed and polished manuscript, leaving room in the tweet for the genre, age, and the hashtag. They then send their tweets into the world with the hashtag #IWSGPit and use specific hashtags to show the age/genre. For instance #C - children’s, #YA - young adult, #LF - literary fiction, and #R - romance.

Loads of publishers and agents then keep a close eye on all of the pitches that use the relevant hashtags, and let writers know that they are potentially interested by Liking the tweet. The writer then knows to check the publisher/agent’s submission guidelines and send their requested query.

What a great idea!

In case you are wondering, IWSG stands for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, which is an organisation that offers assistance and guidance to writers. It aims to help writers overcome their insecurities, and create a community of support through encouragement.

This clever Twitter idea gives the opportunity for writers to send out one Twitter pitch every hour per manuscript on the allotted day. The latest Twitter pitch day took place yesterday (26th January) and was so popular that the hashtag became a trending topic. 

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group website proudly states that “many writers have seen their books published from a Twitter pitch”, so it’s definitely worth a go if you’ve written something that you think has a chance of being published.

For instance, one writer, Chuck Suddeth, posted on Facebook about how he signed a publishing contract for his middle-reader's historical novel from a Twitter pitch. The publisher, Dancing Lemur Press, have apparently published a number of books that were originally pitched to them on Twitter.

There doesn’t seem to be a date for the next #IWSGPit Twitter pitch day yet, but keep an eye on the IWSG website for updates. 

And, in the meantime, get cracking on finishing up that novel that's been bouncing around your brain for ages.