Writing Mentorships & Pitch Contests Aren’t The Only Path to Success: My Experience With AMM & PitMad!

Happy New Year, friends!

Now, if you’re an un-agented writer, you may have spent the winter months holed up with many cups of coffee surrounding you, wearing the “editing sweatpants” you *swear* give you good mojo, fingers furiously typing, while trying to perfect your manuscript in time to apply to the numerous mentorship programs and pitch contests coming in the next few months!

If you’re thinking: “Wow, Sydney, that was… an oddly specific and slightly concerning description.” Well, it’s because that’s exactly how I spent December 2020. I wrote my YA Contemporary with #OwnVoices Deaf, Queer, and Mental Health rep during NaNoWriMo 2020 and in mid-December—on a complete whim—decided to apply to Author Mentor Match (AMM), which opened up for applications in early January… talk about a time crunch!

But today I’m not here to talk about this whirlwind editing and revising. I’m actually here to share my experience with NOT being accepted to AMM and how participating in #PitMad (a Twitter book pitching contest) wasn’t my road to “success.” Let’s dive in!

Disclaimer:

I use the word “success” loosely because it comes in all different forms; there’s no one way to be “successful.” I’m also not saying mentorship programs and pitch contests can’t bring you “success”—just that they’re not the end-all, be-all to a traditional publishing career!

Writing Mentorship Programs:

There’re loads of mentorship programs out there—Author Mentor Match, Pitch Wars, DVMentor, Write Team Mentorship Program (*cough cough* I’m currently a WTMP Mentor-in-Residence *cough cough*)—but I only have firsthand experience applying to AMM, so that’s what I’ll be discussing. However, this can apply to any writing mentorship program!

Applying to AMM was one of the best choices I made. (Yes, even though I didn’t get in!) Through the application process I met SO many fellow writers, most of whom became best friends and valued CPs/beta readers! I also grew close to some of the 2021 mentors—who are amazing and have offered me such intelligent feedback.

When the list of 2021 AMM mentees was posted and I didn’t see my name, I cried and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Emotions are valid! After working incredibly hard to revise my manuscript and pull together the materials needed to apply, it stung to not be selected as a mentee. After discovering my MS wasn’t selected, I was overwhelmed by imposter syndrome and flooded with thoughts of “Is my book even good? How will I ever get an agent without help?”

But after getting over the initial sting, I realized how proud of myself I was! In the span of roughly two months, I had written and revised a whole novel, written and rewritten—I cannot stress rewritten nearly enough 😩—a query letter and synopsis, made tons of awesome friends, and put my work out into the world for the first time. Those were all major accomplishments!

Anyone who applies to a program—hell, anyone who writes a book!—should be INCREDIBLY proud of themselves! I’m talking a Dog-Who-Just-Caught-Its-Own-Tail-After-Spinning-In-Circles-For-Ten-Minutes levels of proud!

In the following months, I went through several more rounds of revisions, had 20+ beta readers, and rewrote that damned query letter at least ten more times, but by June 3rd 2021, I had a polished manuscript and all the necessary querying materials, and I was ready to participate in my first ever #PitMad!

Pitch Contests:

(Nice segue way into the section about pitch contests, eh? 😉)

There’re also tons of Twitter book pitching contests out there—#PitMad, #DVpit, #PitchDis, #Apipit—but I’ve only participated in #PitMad. Though, most pitch events work similarly: you post pitches and if an agent or editor ‘likes’ the pitch, it means they’re interested in seeing your query and/or reading your MS! (That’s a huge oversimplification so if you’re considering doing a pitch contest, please read the rules for that specific event!)

A week before #PitMad—again, on a complete whim—I decided to partake! Now, some people EXCEL at writing eye-catching but extremely short pitches! Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. For me, writing Twitter book pitches was a special kind of torture. But after lots of help refining my pitches from writer friends, I had three solid pitches and was ready to traverse the pitch contest waters!

I came out of my first #PitMad with eight agent ‘likes’ and I was ECSTATIC! I ended up querying four of the eight (please thoroughly research any agent you query! Just because someone ‘likes’ your pitch, does not mean you have to query them), and out of those four, only one requested a copy of the Full MS. And that agent ended up passing on the Full…

“Ohh-kay, Sydney… but why are you telling us about people who passed on your book? How is that important?”

Ah, because those four agents I queried had all requested to see it. They enjoyed my pitch and wanted to learn more. But even though they basically tapped me on the shoulder and whispered: “Hey kid, lemme see your query,” none of them panned out. I signed with my agent through cold querying! My query was part of the infamous Slush Pile but somehow wormed its way to the front and piqued her interest.

Now, I’ve had a lot of friends whose manuscripts are SO good it’s hard to believe they aren’t already published and a #1 NYT Bestseller—but their pitches got zero agent/editor ‘likes’ during #PitMad or other events. I’ve seen pitches that are mind-blowingly amazing and make me want to pre-order the book RIGHT NOW—but they also got no ‘likes.’

• I never got into a writing mentorship program, but I got an agent.

• I have friends who did get into mentorship programs, but are still unagented.

• I got eight agent ‘likes’ during #PitMad but got my agent through cold querying.

• I have friends who got no pitch event ‘likes,’ but got an agent shortly after, from cold querying.

All this to say: “Success” is not linear. It’s not something that’s guaranteed to come from getting agent ‘likes’ during pitch events or getting into mentorship programs. Publishing is a unique journey, and everyone has a different definition of what being “successful” means, anyway!

If you do get into a mentorship program or sign with an agent through a pitch event ‘like’—congratulations!! That’s amazing! I love mentorship programs and pitch events, but I’m simply here to assure you, as someone who has experience with both: mentorships and pitch events aren’t the only path to a writing career. You’re not a failure if you don’t get ‘likes,’ if you don’t get into a program, or if agents who ‘liked’ your pitch ultimately pass. No matter what your journey looks like or how long it takes, you can reach your end goal! You can do this.

I’m rooting for each and every one of you!

See you soon,

- Sydney