Daniel Aegan

Alright. I wasn’t going to do this. I really didn’t want to, either. But I was big birded big time this morning while posting a pitch during a hashtag game on Twitter. At least I thought it was a game…

Turns out it’s much more than that.

Words like “elitist” and “gatekeeper” get tossed around, and I’m going to use them here. First, though, I’d like to describe what happened.

I like these pitch events in which the writing community of Twitter takes part. I have books in various versions of drafts, and it’s fun to put together a short pitch to see how people react to them. I don’t hold out much hope that an actual agent will react, and that’s okay. I’m still too hot for traditional publishing, and those gatekeeping agents are too scared to champion something different.

But that’s another rant for another day.

Back to Pitch Madness, the aforementioned hashtag game (#PitMad). I usually post my pitches for my unpublished books. Just for fun, though I said that already. I came to find out this morning that what I thought was a simple hashtag game was a regulated event sponsored by a governing entity called “Pitch Wars”.

And this is how quickly I get burned out on this stuff. I was told I’d be disqualified for using the hashtag how I wanted to use it. Pitch Wars apparently tracked it and would knock me out of whatever this is if I post multiple books or more than three tweets. I was even linked to the rules (which I didn’t read) during this big birding moment.

I’ve known people who have taken part in Pitch Wars. A writer I’ve known for years and greatly respect had a wonderful experience through their program. It’s just not for me. Maybe I’ve gotten a little too independent with my writing, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. Still, Pitch Wars provides assistance and workshops from which budding writers have benefitted and will continue to benefit. But again: not for me.

That being said, my whole interaction with the PitMad big bird came off as elitist to me, and there are a large number of writers who post regularly on Twitter who own that elitist attitude. I never knew Pitch Wars to have this aura, but now I’m not so sure they don’t. But this is based on one interaction. Then again, maybe I don’t fit their definition on a pitching writer and should be disqualified from using their holy hashtag. Sounds elitist.

The whole thing has me miffed. I enjoy reading the pitches. Some are good, some are great, and some are… funny. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll get shit for posting this, and it won’t be the first time. You go ahead and do your own thing. I’ll do my own.

Best of luck to all of you pitching and adhering to the rules!

-Daniel Aegan

3/5/20

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