Pitch Festival
Get your foot in the door
You may have heard of pitch parties – online twitter events in which authors can try their luck pitching their books to agents – well, we have a whole pitch festival for you!
From the 1st August to the 5th August 2022, we’re running a pitch day every day (9am-4pm BST) of the week, from the Jericho Writers Twitter account, in association with our York Festival of Writing. Each day will be dedicated to a different genre, with a different guest agent ready to read your pitches (and maybe find their next client!)
What do you get?
As well as a valuable chance to practice your pitching, our dedicated agents will be interacting with the pitches they find most engaging. Those that take part will be offered a massive 20% discount on a ticket to the York Festival of Writing, where you’ll be able to pitch to all these agents directly and connect with your genre community in-person.
Pitch days are also a great way to get your ideas out there. You never know who might notice your pitch and have the connections to move it forward.
Pitch Guidelines
Once upon a time, tweets were an excellent way to sharpen your elevator pitch – with their 140-character limit and before the implementation of threads.
Nowadays there is much more room to work with in a tweet – however, we want to keep the spirit of short, concise pitches alive.
Your pitch should contain the following:
Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch, denoted by quotation marks at either side. The elevator pitch should be as short as possible – remember, if you have an elevator pitch of 12 words or less, it’s probably a good sign your idea is saleable!
Short Description
A short (emphasis on short) description of your story that allows you to explain what you think makes it so good. If you wish to include a title here, you can do.
Hashtags
A hashtag of the genre you’re pitching for, and the hashtag #JWPitchFestival
Comps
Optionally, you might also like to include a comparable titles, to help agents identify where your book would sit in the market.
Example: Harry Potter:
‘An orphan boy goes to magic school’
Titular character Harry Potter (10) has his bleak life turned magical, taking a seemingly ordinary boy and placing him at the heart of mystery, enchantment and ghoulish prophecy.
#Fantasy #JWPitchFestival
Who can enter?
Anyone! Whether you have a completed manuscript or are just a few chapters into one, there is so much value to be had in pitch days. You can be from anywhere in the world, at any age.
That being said, our days are split into genres for a reason. To ensure you meet the agent of your dreams, you are heavily encouraged to pitch within the genre of your choice.
Also, while there is no strict limit on how many pitches you could do, do be considerate of others in the space. If our agents can see you spamming the hashtags, they are far less likely to think kindly of your work. Keep focused, stay polite, and let your idea speak for itself.
Meet the agents
Romance
Monday 1st August
Does your novel make hearts flutter? Then today is the perfect day to snatch our agent’s heart with your romantic pièce de resistance.
Use the hashtag #Romance, along with #JWPitchFestival
The Agent: Hannah Todd
Hannah Todd is a commercial fiction literary agent for the Madeleine Milburn agency, focusing on books with both digital and traditional appeal.
Children’s & Middle Grade Fiction
Tuesday 2nd August
Are you looking to engross the mind of the next generation? Is your book filled with fun, playful wonder and maybe even a lesson or two? Our agent is ready to be inspired your children’s & middle grade fiction.
Use the hashtag #ChildrensBook or #MiddleGrade, along with #JWPitchFestival
The Agent: Davinia Andrew-Lynch
Davinia is the director of Andlyn, a boutique agency, offering an intimate service tailored around the client’s needs. Her agency is a place that nurtures a client’s talent as well as their careers.
Crime & Thriller
Wednesday 3rd August
A cunning detective? A murder most foul? If your novel is dripping with mystery, intrigue and heart-pounding tension, you might just catch the eye of our watchful agent.
Use the hashtag #Crime or #Thriller, along with #JWPitchFestival
The Agent: Eli Keren
Originally trained as a research scientist, white lab coat and all, Eli pivoted to the arts and started his career at Curtis Brown before joining United Agents in 2016. He loves a thriller with a hook that makes a book impossible to ignore, a mystery that keeps the reader guessing to the very end and domestic suspense that cuts a little too close to home.
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Thursday 4th August
Calling all ghouls, goblins, wizards, astronauts and aliens! This is your chance to pitch your SciFi or Fantasy work and paint your vibrant world and epic characters to our agent.
Use the hashtag #SciFi or #Fantasy, along with #JWPitchFestival
The Agent: Zoë Plant
Zoë Plant is a literary agent at the Bent Agency, where she represents a list that includes New York Times bestsellers and award-winners.
Literary Fiction
Friday 5th August
Does your work ooze with class? Is it alive with metaphor? Does it perhaps break the chains of convention in favour of style, character and theme? Our agent would love to hear your literary pitches.
Use the hashtag #Literary, along with #JWPitchFestival
The Agent: Emily MacDonald
Emily is a Literary Agent at 42. After 7 years in the talent industry, Emily moved to publishing to be closer to the heart of storytelling, and to start building her list across fiction and narrative non-fiction.
What if I don’t see my genre?
Not to worry – we’ll be running pitch days in the future where we’ll open up the floor to plenty of different genres.
In the meantime, if you’re keen to get your work in front of these agents, their wish lists are wide-ranging. They’re all available for in-person one-to-ones at the York Festival of Writing, 2-4 September 2022.
Not your thing? You can also browse our 70+ agents available for one-to-one sessions over the phone – and get your work in front of top agents even faster.
