PitDark — October 2023

Welcome to #PitDark, the only Twitter pitching contest for dark literature!

#PitDark is the first and only Twitter pitch event to highlight literature of a “darker” nature. Importantly, this is not limited to horror works; however, any pitched manuscript must contain an element of horror or darker writing. Examples of such categories include pure horror novels, dark fantasy, murder mysteries, psychological horror stories, non-fiction works about darker subjects, etc. MG, YA, NA, and adult age categories are welcome.

The next #PitDark will take place on October 26, 2023. 

You can find the agents and publishers that participated in previous #PitDark events here.

Please follow the @PitDark_ Twitter account for up-to-date information about the event.

Contents

The Basics

The contest will happen on Twitter under a common hashtag (#PitDark). During a 12-hour window on the chosen day, authors with completed manuscripts who are seeking representation or publication can tweet a pitch for their books (at most, once per hour).

Agents and publishers will make requests by marking pitches as a like on Twitter. If your tweet is liked, please follow the agent or publisher’s submission guidelines.

General Pitch Party Rules

  • Pitch limit. Please do not pitch more than once an hour, per manuscript.
  • Time-frame: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern. Please do not pitch before or after this twelve-hour period.

Please follow these guidelines to keep this event fair to everyone involved!

When to Pitch

This event happens biannually. The next #PitDark is scheduled for October 26, 2023. On pitch day, we will go from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern.

What to Pitch

Participants get one pitch per hour, per manuscript.

This contest is for completed, unpublished manuscripts. Complete means that it’s proofed, polished, and ready for submission. Unpublished means you haven’t self-published it online, on Amazon, or in print. For more information on genres, please see below.

Genre mashups, such as dark fantasy, are welcome, as long as you’re not just trying to pass off your book as something that doesn’t contain “darker” themes.

How To Pitch

Your pitch should contain four elements:

  1. First and foremost, the hashtag for the contest, #PitDark.
  2. An indication of the book’s age category.
  3. An indication of the book’s genre in existing terms. See below for hashtags. A genre hashtag is mandatory.
  4. pitch for your book. Ideally, it should tell us character, desire, obstacle(s), and stakes

You should tweet your pitch no more than once per hour throughout the day. Make sure each tweet is slightly different, as tweeting identical text is a violation of Twitter’s guidelines.

Hashtags for Age Category

Please use these hashtags to indicate the target age group for your book:

  • #MG – Middle Grade
  • #YA – Young adult
  • #NA – New adult
  • #A – Adult

Hashtags for Genre

Please use a hashtag to indicate the genre of your book. The following are example hashtags that may be relevant to your manuscript:

  • #H – horror
  • #PH – psychological horror
  • #GH – gothic horror
  • #CSH – cosmic horror
  • #BH – body horror
  • #CH – comedy horror
  • #DC – dark comedy
  • #DR – dark romance
  • #SFH – science fiction horror
  • #PNH – paranormal horror
  • #ZH – zombie horror
  • #MH – monster horror
  • #GRH – graphic horror
  • #MM – murder mystery
  • #FA – fantasy
  • #DF – dark fantasy
  • #T – thriller
  • #PT – psychological thriller
  • #EF – epic or high fantasy
  • #HF – historical fantasy
  • #LF – literary fantasy
  • #LH – literary horror
  • #AH – alternate history
  • #PN – paranormal
  • #PR – paranormal romance
  • #UF – urban fantasy
  • #MR – magical realism
  • #SF – science fiction
  • #AF – apocalypse fiction
  • #ML – military science fiction
  • #PA – post-apocalyptic SF
  • #CP – cyberpunk
  • #SFT – sci-fi thriller
  • #SH – superhero / superhuman
  • #SO – space opera
  • #DS – dystopian
  • #SP – steampunk
  • #TT – time travel
  • #WW – weird west
  • #SPEC – speculative fiction
  • #NF – non-fiction

You are permitted to use two genre tags, as long as they’re compatible (e.g. #FA #DF), but there’s no pressing need to have more than one. For a description and some examples of these subgenres, see the Genre Subcategories post by Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary. Please let me know — by e-mail or Twitter — if I haven’t specified your subgenre!

Additionally, if the work you are pitching reflects a marginalized identity/background, please feel free to utilize an appropriate hashtag such as #OWN (to suggest #ownvoices), #POC, #LGBT, etc. For more information on this point, visit https://www.dvpit.com/rules-guidelines.

Pitching Guidelines

Here are some general guidelines to ensure fairness and respect during the contest.

Please DO:

  • Pitch completed, unpublished manuscripts that represent your best work.
  • Include the contest hashtag, #PitDark.
  • Use appropriate hashtags for age category and genre/subgenre.
  • Pitch your book once an hour to give everyone a chance to see it.
  • Make sure that your tweets are not identical. Twitter will block multiple instances of the same tweet, so be sure to move the hashtags around or change a character each time.
  • Follow submission guidelines. Scroll up in an agent or publisher’s tweets to see what they are, and be sure to follow them.

Please DON’T:

  • Pitch more than once an hour, per manuscript. This ensures that no one spams the hashtag, and gives everyone a fair shake.
  • Pitch directly to agents or publishers (unless invited to do so). In other words, don’t use @ at the beginning of your pitch.
  • Use images, moodboards, or weird formatting to get attention. No ALL CAPS or multiple lines. No images. Please do not use moodboards — the feedback I’ve received from agents is that they, generally, do not like them for this event.
  • Use the hashtag to self-promote. This is not the place to hock your e-book, editorial services, etc.
  • Like other pitches unless you’re an agent or publisher. There’s nothing more disappointing than getting notification that your tweet was liked, only to find out it was just another author.

Agents:

Annie Bomke Literary Agency

Creative Media Agency

Don Congdon Associates, Inc.

Dunham Literary, Inc.

Falkin Literary

Folio Literary Management

The Friedrich Agency

Ginger Clark Literary

  • Maria Ministeri

Jane Rotrosen Agency

Janklow & Nesbit Associates

John Hawkins & Associates, Inc.

  • Moses Cardona

Linda Chester Agency

Olswanger Literary

P.S. Literary

Sanford J. Greenburger Associates

Stevens Literary

Suzy Evans Literary Agency

The Rights Agency

The Unter Agency

Writers House

Publishers:

Indignor House

Pandamoon Publishing 

Winding Road Stories

Pitching Tips & Advice

The following are a few great articles for Twitter pitching advice:

Please contact me if you have any questions about the event.