Social media is an interesting beast.  It can be fun or infuriating – or both and often at the same time.  It can lead you down a rabbit hole for hours or make you want to throw your phone across the room – or gently put it face down – in seconds.

It is a powerful tool, and for a writer, it can be intimidating but also cathartic to engage with social media.

And, more and more, it can be a way to make connections old and new.  And it is a way to expand your connections in this writing world.

The Professor was kind enough to draw my attention to an event put on by Digiwriting called #CanLitPit and encourage me to participate.  It was an opportunity to connect with agents, publishers and others in the Canadian writing community.

The idea is to pitch your manuscript within the confines of a tweet, no images, no links and hashtags aside from the ones that indicate age of intended audience and genre.  If a literary agent or publisher likes your tweet you are then invited to follow their submission guidelines and have them review your work.

Wowsers!  I just gave my book to a number of folks to give it a read and give me some feedback, and here was an opportunity to present it to a publisher.  Wow.

Honestly, I was feeling a bit intimidated by the concept.  I had yet to be able to describe what my book was about in less than 30 minutes.  (You laugh, but it’s true.)  I did not have an elevator pitch, I had a commute to downtown pitch.  But I think this event was the kick in the pants I needed to wrap my mind around how to effectively describe, and ultimately, market my book.

I crafted a number of pitches.  A lot.  I mean, A LOT.  I read them to some friends and got gonged a lot.  A LOT!  But then, out of the dust and debris came four bright and shiny Twitter sized pitches that I liked and the others thought were pretty good.  I forwarded them off to my dear friend who had finished the book and asked if they captured the essence of the novel, and she said yes.

I was elated.  And I was ready.  The next day (July 11th) was Twitter Pitch Day.  It was #CanLitPit.

I am pleased to say that I got a couple likes and now I am working on getting my manuscript to those publishers that have shown interest.

And in case you were curious about what my novel is about, here are the 4 pitches:

Where do we go from here?  I don’t know, but I’m excited!

And don’t worry…….I’ll keep you posted!