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Twitter Pitch Party July 15th with 27 Publishers...

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Okay, that's it for me, guys. All eight pitches are off, thank-yous are off — even to all the people who had no idea how it worked, and favorited my pitches instead of retweeting them — and I got a bite from Fantasy Works Publishing. They sent me a Direct Message: "I thought you'd never pitch, but I found it :)"

If I get nothing else out of this, that was the single furthest I've ever gotten in my publishing efforts. A publisher was waiting for me to make my appearance, and I even happened to be fashionably late.

Thank you in particular, @Carol Rose for prompting me to start a Twitter and join in! It was a hell of a ride!
 
Jason Byrne said:
Okay, that's it for me, guys. All eight pitches are off, thank-yous are off — even to all the people who had no idea how it worked, and favorited my pitches instead of retweeting them — and I got a bite from Fantasy Works Publishing. They sent me a Direct Message: "I thought you'd never pitch, but I found it :)"

If I get nothing else out of this, that was the single furthest I've ever gotten in my publishing efforts. A publisher was waiting for me to make my appearance, and I even happened to be fashionably late.

Thank you in particular, @Carol Rose for prompting me to start a Twitter and join in! It was a hell of a ride!
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WOO-HOO!!!!! Keep us posted!!
 
I didn't take part this time. I will with the next one!

I'm happy Jason got a request! That's awesome! How did they know to wait for you? I hope to read about more successes! :D
 
1408 said:
I didn't take part this time. I will with the next one!

I'm happy Jason got a request! That's awesome! How did they know to wait for you? I hope to read about more successes! :D
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I followed them, then thanked them in a direct message when they followed me back, and said I was looking forward to Pit2pub. When they said they were too, I thanked them for their altruism in going to such effort on behalf of authors struggling to become published. Then when they favorited my pitch, I thanked them for their consideration, bid them enjoy the rest of the competition, and said I looked forward to their response. Then they were like, "we were waiting around for your pitch!" And I was like, "we left late for work to keep our pet out of the way of the community pest control guy, and then at work I got sent to Fairfax, VA to support our integration team, and the whole time I was on this odyssey to get to the computer to pitch to you!"

If there's an event coming up where you want the attention of a publisher, try to catch their attention and ingratiate yourself before it starts, so you don't have to manage both at once. Preferably to key people as an individual, and not the publisher at large.
 
Jason Byrne said:
I followed them, then thanked them in a direct message when they followed me back, and said I was looking forward to Pit2pub. When they said they were too, I thanked them for their altruism in going to such effort on behalf of authors struggling to become published. Then when they favorited my pitch, I thanked them for their consideration, bid them enjoy the rest of the competition, and said I looked forward to their response. Then they were like, "we were waiting around for your pitch!" And I was like, "we left late for work to keep our pet out of the way of the community pest control guy, and then at work I got sent to Fairfax, VA to support our integration team, and the whole time I was on this odyssey to get to the computer to pitch to you!"

If there's an event coming up where you want the attention of a publisher, try to catch their attention and ingratiate yourself before it starts, so you don't have to manage both at once. Preferably to key people as an individual, and not the publisher at large.
Click to expand...
SMART use of social media!!! Kudos to you!!
 
Jason Byrne said:
I followed them, then thanked them in a direct message when they followed me back, and said I was looking forward to Pit2pub. When they said they were too, I thanked them for their altruism in going to such effort on behalf of authors struggling to become published. Then when they favorited my pitch, I thanked them for their consideration, bid them enjoy the rest of the competition, and said I looked forward to their response. Then they were like, "we were waiting around for your pitch!" And I was like, "we left late for work to keep our pet out of the way of the community pest control guy, and then at work I got sent to Fairfax, VA to support our integration team, and the whole time I was on this odyssey to get to the computer to pitch to you!"

If there's an event coming up where you want the attention of a publisher, try to catch their attention and ingratiate yourself before it starts, so you don't have to manage both at once. Preferably to key people as an individual, and not the publisher at large.
Click to expand...

That is fabulous advice. Way to get ahead of the game! :)
 
Carol Rose said:
SMART use of social media!!! Kudos to you!!
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Think of the lady in the smart suit that walks into your office, shakes your hand, and says "I'm so and so with so and so — let me take you to lunch and we'll talk about it." Or how Japanese businessmen will take you out to dinner, and won't even talk about the business deal — they just want to see if they can interact with you as a person enjoyably.

That's what I'm trying to do. Of course, it hasn't resulted in a publishing deal, so I don't know how wise of advice it is...
 
It is wise advice. You're doing it right! :) Social media is just that - SOCIAL media. It's not supposed to be a place where all an author does is pimp their work.

We talk about this on Facebook all the time. A new author will sign with one of our pubs and immediately start spamming all the authors she can find with invites to like her page, buy her book, blog for her, etc., etc., etc.

Um… how about saying hello first? How about taking time to read the posts and realize most of us have been on there for years, and we've gotten to know one another as people first?

I'm more than happy to pimp other authors. I do that as much as I promote my own stuff, but I do it because I want to, not because I was badgered by anyone to do it. I know these authors as friends. I've read their work and love it. We're all in this together. Many of them I now know in real life. We've met in person, we talk on the phone, and we text each other. We have groups on Facebook where we can talk in private about anything and everything.

This is a solitary occupation but using social media to promote your work shouldn't be the only reason you're on there. It's a fabulous tool if you use it right. If all you do is pimp yourself and spam people with BUY MY BOOK!!! stuff, you'll find yourself with no author friends to help you along the way.
 
Carol Rose said:
It is wise advice. You're doing it right! :) Social media is just that - SOCIAL media. It's not supposed to be a place where all an author does is pimp their work.

We talk about this on Facebook all the time. A new author will sign with one of our pubs and immediately start spamming all the authors she can find with invites to like her page, buy her book, blog for her, etc., etc., etc.

Um… how about saying hello first? How about taking time to read the posts and realize most of us have been on there for years, and we've gotten to know one another as people first?

I'm more than happy to pimp other authors. I do that as much as I promote my own stuff, but I do it because I want to, not because I was badgered by anyone to do it. I know these authors as friends. I've read their work and love it. We're all in this together. Many of them I now know in real life. We've met in person, we talk on the phone, and we text each other. We have groups on Facebook where we can talk in private about anything and everything.

This is a solitary occupation but using social media to promote your work shouldn't be the only reason you're on there. It's a fabulous tool if you use it right. If all you do is pimp yourself and spam people with BUY MY BOOK!!! stuff, you'll find yourself with no author friends to help you along the way.
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Exactly! You can pimp your book after they give a **** who you are!
 
Emurelda said:
I missed this. Sorry for lack of twitter support from me :(

Prising my iPad from kids can be tiresome!!
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No worries. It's hard enough to find my own in an empty house. Well! Been about a week; I'm up to 568 followers. Trying to break 1,000 to be considered as having a "sufficient social media following" to be taken seriously as a writer's page.
 
Jason Byrne said:
No worries. It's hard enough to find my own in an empty house. Well! Been about a week; I'm up to 568 followers. Trying to break 1,000 to be considered as having a "sufficient social media following" to be taken seriously as a writer's page.
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That's awesome..you've more than got the hang of it! Well done.

You will be in the tens of thousands in no time :)
 
And thats a good point. I read somewhere that having over 2k is a good target. Alas i don't have time to interact online so much other than for my own quips.
 
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