2020 Pitch Wars Winners Named!
(December 2020) – Thanks again to everyone who attended a workshop, joined the panel discussion, took part in the AGM, watched readings from 2019 Pitchers, and tuned in to our live Pitch Wars (with a special thanks to our host Krissy Holmes, our panel of Publishers and our PHENOMENAL Pitchers.)
This year’s roster of Publishers included:
Thanks again to everyone who participated and tuned in!
Pitch to the Publishers returns at WritersNL’s 2020 Annual General Meeting!
Enter for the chance to present a two-minute pitch of your project to a panel of publishers at Pitch Wars, our wildly successful pitching panel first held at the WritersNL AGM in 2019.
This event culminated in half of the pitchers securing book deals… Could yours be next?
Panel includes Breakwater Books Ltd., Flanker Press Ltd., Boulder Books, Engen Books, and Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides, Problematic Press, with more publishers to be announced!
Please note: only ten submissions will be accepted for the 2020 event, and due to massive interest coupled with time limits, pitchers will be determined via random draw.
How to register for Pitch Wars:
Pitch submissions open to pre-registration for WritersNL members only.
Submit by emailing info@writersnl.ca with your name, email, writing genre and one sentence description of your pitch with the subject line “WritersNL PITCH WARS.”
Deadline to register: November 13, 2020, at 5 p.m.
What last year’s Pitchers had to say about their Pitch Wars Experience:
From Ainsley Hawthorn, author of Land of Many Shores: Stories from a Diverse Newfoundland and Labrador, pitched at the 2019 Pitch Wars, to be released by Breakwater Books in Summer 2021:
Two minutes may sound short, but it’s more than enough time to get publishers (and the Pitch Wars audience) excited about your book. I treated my pitch like jacket copy. Jacket copy doesn’t provide a comprehensive summary of a book. Instead, it covers the highlights of the book’s contents, gives some tantalizing details, and leaves the reader wanting more.
I’d recommend checking out the jackets of books similar to your own for inspiration.
If you’re a non-fiction author like I am, you might want to include a few comments about why you’re the right person to write this book. What’s your expertise, experience, or special perspective? The identity of the author is a major selling point for non-fiction, and it’s information you would normally include in a written proposal to a publisher.
My last piece of advice is to take advantage of the public speaking format to make a strong first impression. I started my pitch with rhetorical questions to the publishers and the audience to grab their attention and give my presentation some pizazz. A powerful speaking style won’t sell the book on its own, but it will make your pitch more memorable and show publishers that you would be able to handle readings and public appearances to promote your work.
From Emily Hepditch, author of The Woman in the Attic, pitched at the 2019 Pitch Wars, and released by Flanker Press in April 2020:
This event gives you the unique opportunity to stand up in a fun, supportive, and encouraging environment and talk about your passion project. Better yet, it’s an opportunity to make a personal impact on a publisher while simultaneously skipping the slush pile (i.e. the typical six-month wait to hear back on your manuscript).
This event is an opportunity to network, make new friends, and get the insider scoop on some upcoming projects by talented peer authors. As a newbie author, this event was instrumental in finding the publisher that was right for me? In fact, it was the reason I landed a book deal, just one month after I pitched!
You never know where you might find yourself a year later, surrounded by new friends working on your projects, in a publisher’s office signing a deal, or maybe even on a shelf in your local bookshop.
From Susan Flanagan, author of The Supermarket Baby, pitched at the 2019 Pitch Wars, released by Flanker Press in 2021:Get your grandmother to ask you what your book is about. You should be able to answer in two sentences. For your pitch, add to this blurb, the genre, number of words, point of view, audience, two comparable books and a short excerpt. That’s it.
For your excerpt, choose a snappy piece of writing from your manuscript. Don’t be afraid to set up the context. Read it aloud fifty times, and if you stumble over a word, change it.
Practice morning and evening between now and pitch day. Practice until you can pitch without your notes. If you’re nervous, practice in front of a stranger, so you get your nerves calmed before the big day.
Above: Glovertown based author Phil Riggs pitches his children’s book to a panel of publishers, taking notes as they prepare to question Riggs about his plans for his latest works at the 2019 Pitch Wars.