This may interest only me, but I'm here waiting for twitter pitches to critique, so I figured I'd share it for entertainment purposes.
Back in late 2015, I'd just finished Pitch Wars and had queried all the top science fiction agents. Pitmad came around, and I wasn't going to do it, but I saw one agent I hadn't queried already who I really wanted to. The reason I hadn't queried her was because I had a partial request from another agent at her same agency -- the thing is, I didn't want the other agent, as I knew she was not a good fit. But she had been my only request in the Pitch Wars agent round, so I'd sent her my materials. 2015 me thought that if the agent I *did* think was a fit requested during Pitmad, then that would be my in to send her my pages. So I dashed off a (140 character) twitter pitch at the last moment and threw it out into the world. I got exactly one agent like on my pitch all day. From the exact agent I wanted. This was in late November or early December (that becomes important later). Wanting to be up front about things, I immediately queried the Pitmad requesting agent, but in my cover letter I indicated that another agent (I gave the name) at her agency already had pages. I mentioned, though, that I thought that she was a better fit than that other agent (This wasn't at all debatable. Like it wasn't even close, based on genre). I got a response almost right away. It wasn't what I hoped for. The agent said that she didn't want to interfere with the other agent, and that if the other agent thought the Pitmad agent was a better fit, the other agent would share it with her anyway. At this point, the other agent had had my pages for a month or so, and I was getting no love on my other queries. I was in a hurry for someone to love my book. The agents, alas, were not in a hurry. Nothing happened for a couple of months. I had a couple of partial requests from other agents, but not much more than that. In February, I got a note from the agent who had my pages. She said it was good, but not a good fit for her, and that she was passing it on to another agent in her agency who repped that kind of thing (the one who had requested during Pitmad). The Pitmad agent reached out, said she had a referral, and could I send her my first 3 chapters or 20 pages or something...it was just a small bit. Of course I did.
Within an hour or two, she'd emailed back, said she loved it and that she had to see more. Could I please send the full. Of course I did. I think this was on a Thursday or Friday. On Sunday, a friend of mine contacted me to say she'd been at a conference with this agent, and the agent couldn't stop talking about this book she just read. They asked her about it, and it turned out it was my book (Planetside).
Monday I got an email from the agent asking for a call, and Tuesday I had my first offer of representation.
Ultimately I didn't sign with her. I got another offer from Lisa Rodgers, who I signed with and is my agent today. Although I think I'd have been fine in either case, I just connected more with Lisa (And, as it turns out, I made the right decision as Lisa is perfect for me and we've done well together).
No real point to this story beyond entertainment, unless it's to maybe say that it's a weird business, and you never know how things will turn out.
Thanks for sharing! This shows that there is never one path to publishing success and you never know how yours will look until you've explored the options.
Love this! Thank you for sharing!
It's a good story because you detail the pitch contest process you went through – it shows the ups and downs, and that you ultimately ended up with an agent unrelated to the contest. But it shows that participating is helpful, even if it's a last-minute decision, and you learned. Win-win! Thanks for sharing, Michael!