Pitch Madness Interviews Pt. 3 - The Wizard Behind The Curtain

This is the third in my interview series with a few of the people behind the Pitch Madness pitch contest. If you're new to the series and/or unfamiliar with Pitch Madness, please see parts one and two. Yesterday we got to know one of the Yellow Team captains, Sharon Johnston, a bit better. Today we'll spend a little time with the brains behind Pitch Madness and many other fabulous contests, Brenda Drake.

Brenda is a full-time writer and social media whizz. She not only hosts and organizes huge contests like Pitch Madness, she's normally on the front lines as well, acting as a team captain or mentor. It's only fitting that Brenda lives in the Land of Enchantment, better known as New Mexico to anyone outside the state, because clearly there's some magic happening behind the scenes and Brenda's largely responsible for it.

What is the first writing contest that you held and what inspired it?
Brenda: I started with smaller contests such as "Show Me the Voice" with just one agent participating. They were blog hops, where participating writers hopped to each others blogs and critiqued pitches. Then I came up with the idea for Pitch Madness where agents play a game to win their requests. After that first contest, I wanted to give the writers who didn't make it into the contest a chance to pitch to the agents, so I came up with a twitter pitch party on #PitMad. It took off after that. Soon, I got the idea for Pitch Wars while watching Cupcake Wars (yeah, I don't get why it spurred the idea for PW either) one night, and I thought it would be great for writers to have a helper, someone to read their manuscripts, to mentor them, and get their projects ready for an agent round.

You host a number of different contests throughout the year. Which is your favorite and why?
Brenda: Pitch Wars is my favorite because it's more of a mentoring gig. I love the spirit of the mentors and how they really want to see their mentees succeed. It's been the most successful of the contests.

Was there a favorite moment in the Pitch Madness contest for you this year?
Brenda: Next to seeing all the hosts in the Google chat while we were drafting our teams, I'd have to say it was the moment my entire team got at least one request. That excitement was brief, because I'd found out that other teams had entries without requests and my heart broke for them. I know how rejection feels, and I know how not getting a request in a contest feels.

If you could give one piece of advice, and only one, to writers out there in the query trenches right now, what would it be?
Brenda: Writing is a perseverance thing, you can't give up, just keep going. It's a tough journey to publication. If you give up, you'll never realize your dreams.

Silly question time. If you could choose ANY book to switch places with a main character, which book and character would it be?
Brenda: Anna Oliphant from ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS. Because I want to kiss Étienne St. Clair under the Eiffel Tower. Of course, that would mean I have to be her age or it could be really gross for St. Clair.

Huge thanks to Brenda for answering my questions, allowing me behind the scenes and spearheading so many projects and contests that support and build the writing community. Follow her on Twitter @brendadrake or at her website, http://www.brenda-drake.com.

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Pitch Madness Interviews Pt. 3 - The Wizard Behind The Curtain

Pitch Madness Interviews Pt. 2 - Oh Captain, My Captain

This is the second in my interview series with a few of the people behind the Pitch Madness contest. If you're new to the series and/or unfamiliar with Pitch Madness, please see part one. Yesterday we met slush-reader extraordinaire, K.T. Hanna. However, slush readers are just one vital part of the Pitch Madness process. Team captains are the next part of the equation.

Each of the four teams has two captains and together they comb through the slush and the slush-reader recommended entries searching for pitches to fall in love with. But whether or not they actually get to keep their favorite pitches is another matter entirely. All four teams compete against one another in a draft for their favorite entries. Think football draft but with more laughter, threats and a more diverse and intriguing entrant pool.

Part of the fun of Pitch Madness is watching the Twitter feed and seeing the team captains post obscure and maddening tweets about their picks. It's even more fun when they begin taunting one another and attempting to hoard favorite entries for themselves. Their sense of playfulness and their camaraderie spill over to those entering the contest and it makes for an amazing community experience.

Can I Get A Captain, Please
Among the team captains this year was Sharon Johnston, a PR maven, publishing intern, veteran blogger and pitch event expert. In addition to Pitch Madness, Sharon is also a Pitch Wars mentor and helps with the Nest Pitch and Pitcharama pitch events. A native Aussie, Sharon has several published short stories and a keen eye for novels that will appeal to agents.

Approximately how many hours did you spend reading entries for this year's contest?
Sharon: I seriously lost track of the hours. Trying to balance work and family and reading entries was hard. I ended up staying up to the wee hours of the morning and reading as I wanted to read every single entry – and I’m pretty sure I did.

[Note: There were 915 entries and only a week or so to go through them all. That's a lot of reading.]

There was a bit of competition for some of the entries among the team captains. Who made the best threats and were they carried out?
Sharon: Becks’ team was by far the most threatening because you couldn’t tell at all what entries they were considering with their tagging system in the Pitch Madness inbox. They were first in the draft and they picked one we all wanted: Decoy Royale.

[Note: Decoy Royale was beloved by the agents in Pitch Madness as well and received the most agent requests.]

How many years have you been helping out with Pitch Madness and how did you first get involved?
Sharon: I’ve been hosting Pitch Madness for about three years now. It started because I noticed that one of the hosts was stepping down and I offered Brenda the use of YAtopia. However, with YAtopia being a group blog it didn’t work the best as we couldn’t have any other posts while the game was on, so it moved across to my personal blog.

What was your favorite moment in this year's contest?
Sharon: The reaction of everyone on the Google chat when they found out I had covertly been taking photos on the chat on my phone. It was priceless. There were really so many favourite moments – every time I read a pitch and it gave me goosebumps or I was like “I HAVE TO READ THIS.” Every time a team stole an entry from another team’s wish list and the groans that ensued. Every time I see a bid on my team, or an entry I loved on another team. Every time I see a tweet where people have become friends/betas/CPs though Pitch Madness. Yes – a lot gives me the warm and fuzzies.

If you could give one piece of advice, and only one, to writers out there in the query trenches right now, what would it be?
Sharon: Write your pitch/query keeping in mind the person reading it knows NOTHING about your book. Test it on people who know NOTHING about your book and take this feedback into account and be prepared to rewrite your pitch/query based on that feedback. Yes, pitches need editing and redrafting too.

Silly question time. You have a magic pencil and the ability to rewrite any book ending you like. Which book and what do you change?
Sharon: Gone Girl – (if you haven’t read it – LOOK AWAY NOW. I mean it. Stop reading this if you don’t want spoilers). I wanted Nick to outsmart Amy. I didn’t like that he was caught in that marriage. I wanted him to beat her at her own game and set her up the way she set him up.

Special thanks to Sharon for answering my questions and volunteering her time. Follow her on Twitter @S_M_Johnston or at her website, http://sharonmjohnston.com.

Tune in tomorrow for an interview with Pitch Madness creator, Brenda Drake.

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Pitch Madness Interviews Pt. 2 - Oh Captain, My Captain

Pitch Madness Interviews Pt. 1 - It's All About The Slush

Pitch Madness is a popular pitching event created and overseen by Brenda Drake. This year the event took place in the first week of March and there were over 900 entrants vying for one of 60 coveted spots. Slush readers read hundreds of entries, combing through pitches and first pages to find the stories they though agents would most connect with. After the slush readers had weeded out the most promising pitches, team captains from four different teams selected their top 15 choices during a draft which was covered live over Twitter. The selected entries were then posted on one of four blogs and agents were able to request pages.

I Have Some Questions
Brenda allowed me behind the curtain after the team selections had been finalized so I could run stats on this year's Pitch Madness event. That glimpse behind the scenes made me curious about the people who bring this popular contest to life each year. With Brenda's permission I emailed one of the Pitch Madness slush readers, one of the team captains and Brenda herself. I kept it brief, 5-6 questions at most. These are busy people with books and blogs to work on. But they were each gracious enough to spare some time for me. Their answers show how truly fantastic Pitch Madness is, not just for those entering, but for those helping out each year as well. Over the next few days I'll share each of their interviews with you.

A Professional Slush Diver
Up first is slush reader K.T. Hanna, one of many people helping out with Pitch Madness this year. Her slush-diving credentials are impressive considering K.T. is a New York agency intern. In addition to filling out reader reports for agents, K.T. also helps run an editorial service, Chimera Editing. She's been helping out with Pitch Madness for the past three years and was a Pitch Wars mentor in 2014.

Approximately how many hours did you spend reading entries for this year's contest?
KT: I went through about 685 entries. I think I spent about 15, maybe 18 hours on the entries.

What inspired you to volunteer to help with Pitch Madness?
KT: I took part in the original Pitch Madness in March 2012 and met my first agent (who sadly left the business). But, since then, I’ve always offered to help Brenda out in anything she runs, because I think this sense of community she fosters is amazing and I love that writers don’t have to feel alone.

What was your favorite moment in this year's Pitch Madness contest?
KT: When so many of my favorite entries got picked and requested! That and all the camaraderie on the hasthag (#PitchMadness). Love the community so much.

Is there one pitch that really stood out for you?
KT: There were a lot of pitches that stood out for me. In fact, I had like 30 on my list, haha. I really can’t narrow it down better than that.

Silly question time. You sit down at a bar, look over and your favorite author is sitting next to you. Who is it and what is he/she drinking? What do you do?
KT: Ahhh this one makes me sad. My favorite author is Louise Cooper (and if you haven’t read the Time Master Trilogy, you need to). Sadly she passed away on my birthday in 2009. But if she were there, she’d probably be having a cup of tea. I’d go sit down next to her and chat to her, because those books made me not only want, but need to be a writer.

Special thanks to K.T. to answering my questions despite a rather hectic week. Follow her on Twitter @KTHanna or at her website, kthanna.com.

Tune in tomorrow for a perspective on Pitch Madness from one of the team captains.

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Pitch Madness Interviews Pt. 1 - It's All About The Slush