#pitchdis 2025 Wrap-up

#PitchDis 2025 was a great success! Here's a breakdown:

541 eligible pitches

1,089 requests

39 agents and 9 editors participated

These numbers are incredible! First and foremost, I want to thank the agents and editors who participated in the event, and the authors who shared their work. I have no way of knowing how many pitches and requests were made when the event was on Twitter, but the numbers this year are much higher than the numbers last year, which is when we moved the event to the site. We also trended on Twitter two days in a row! For an event that doesn’t even take place on Twitter anymore, that’s amazing.

In our usual fashion, I’m going to break this post up into a few different sections. I also have some important things to discuss near the end. So, let’s dive in.

What worked

The site! We had so many technical difficulties last year that resulted in headaches and missing requests (that were eventually found), and the glitches made it difficult for agents and editors to sort through pitches and actually request them. This year, our friends over at SmallPitch told me about their request system and helped me set it up. You guys…this was a total gamechanger. There were barely any reports of issues with the site or making requests and the requests all went through automatically. It saved so much time, energy, and frustration. Please show some love to the SmallPitch crew and make sure to check out their next event if you’re interested in working with a small publisher! It’s safe to say they helped make this year of #PitchDis so successful.

Once again, the BVM category was very successful, with 94% of the pitches receiving at least one request. We also had double the amount of BVM pitches from last year. So, the BVM category is here to stay.

What didn’t work/What will change

The first things I'm going to mention are based off feedback that I received from a few people who were making requests. Authors who used categories/age groups not listed on the form tended to get very specific with their category—or not specific enough. This led to some agents and editors having a difficult time sorting through the pitches.

For instance, I had about seven different age groups entered that were all children’s books. I plan to add a separate category next year, marked Children’s. This would encompass many niche categories entered, like Seek and Find, Board Book, Learn to Read, etc., that aren’t necessarily Picture Books. On the other hand, I had some simply marked Crossover. Crossover on its on is not a category. It could include any age group. Yes, books can have crossover appeals, but ask yourself this—where would your book be placed in a book store? Adult? Middle Grade? THAT is your category.

As for genres, I still had people entering more than two. I deleted the extras, but I need you to know this—the more genres you have listed, the more confusing it may get. I also had people getting REALLY specific with genres, like dark comedy, satire, and metafictional comedy. That would all be considered comedy or humor.

I’m going to add one or two more genres for next time so you can pick from those. If none of them apply to your book, I need you to do two things. 1. Ask yourself if it would fit into one of the genres listed and 2. If it doesn’t, email me. We’ll talk about it and see if it would work better somewhere already listed, or if that it’s a genre broad enough that it should be added to the list.

I think that this will give pitches more clarity and visibility, and make it easier for agents and editors to search through them. The more we can streamline things, the better.

Onto the optional hashtags. For the most part they were helpful and worked well. But this is not the place to give us entire paragraphs. Again, keep it simple. If you use other, just one or two words. I really don’t want to remove or limit this section, but it’s so time-consuming to edit them into manageable pieces that I might be forced to set a maximum number allowed next time, or a maximum number of characters for “Other”.

Emails. Oh, dear, did we have an issue with emails this year! I was able to catch a few emails with missing @ or ms in .coms before the pitches were posted and fixed them. But after requests started coming in from agents and editors, several emails were undeliverable. I was able to track down most of the authors and get their correct email and forward them their requests. Unfortunately, to this day, I am still looking for an author who received several requests, but all of them have been undeliverable.

So, friends, PLEASE ensure your email address is correct before you hit the submit button on the pitch form. Any pitches that are undeliverable next time will be set aside until the end of the event so I can focus on the event itself while it’s happening. After that I’ll try to track the rightful owners down, but I can’t make any promises.

The newsletter. This is a good news/bad news issue. The good news is we have close to 700 subscribers! The bad news is our newsletter host, MailerLite, is now going to charge accounts with more than 500 subscribers. Because of this, I’m going to have to switch to a free newsletter provider. So, the next time you get a #PitchDis newsletter (which probably won’t be until next year) it may look a little different.

A few things I want to say

Many reading this have been around since the inception of #PitchDis in late 2020 and the first event in 2021, so this is old news to some of you. But I want to explain why we moved the event to the site and away from Twitter for the people who may not know.

Twitter was a great platform for the first couple of #PitchDis events. It was social and fun, and we got to see all the pitches. However, we had problems. People stole pitches (but didn’t get very far with them), and authors would get likes from people who weren’t agents or editors, making it very hard to know who was legitimate at times. The timeline moved quickly and it gave somewhat of a frantic pace, which wasn’t ideal. Also, sometimes it ended up feeling like a popularity contest, with the same pitches being liked and retweeted while others seemed to get lost in the algorithm. After Twitter changed hands and the site got worse and filled with trolls and bots, I knew it wouldn’t be a good place to hold the event. So, we took a year off until I figured out what to do, and I decided that hosting the event on our site was the best option. That way, all requests made would be from real agents and editors, they could take their time and browse through the pitches, and authors could also take their time pitching. This option also was more accessible for many people, and I even had a few friends and acquaintances with various disabilities test it and make suggestions before it went live.

Though accessibility was my main focus when making this decision, safety was high on the list as well. I didn’t want just anyone having access to your pitches if you trusted me with them. I wanted to make sure that only industry professionals would be able to see them and request them—people who have been vetted and actually have good intentions. People that truly wanted to help disabled authors and not just claim that they did. So the site, and the event, is set up in a way that only allows those people access to your work.

Now that you know a little about the history and why the event is set up the way it is, I want to say the following:

As an event host, it’s my duty that I do what I feel is right for everyone involved. If I feel someone isn’t being upfront or I’m getting a bad feeling about them and/or how they conduct business, I’m not going to give them access to you or your manuscripts. If that means having one less editor or agent on the list, so be it.
Please know that I have never, nor will I ever, prevent anyone from querying or contacting an agent or editor who is not a part of #PitchDis. If you want to go with a vanity publisher, that’s fine! If you want to try a new publishing model, great! My goal has always been getting more disabled authors published, and #PitchDis is just one of many ways to start that process. No one way is right for everyone, and no matter your path, I will gladly cheer you on.
I’ve said it so much this year that I should probably get a tattoo of it, but please, PLEASE be cautious of anyone using the #PitchDis hashtag or name if they haven’t been mentioned on our official site, Bluesky, Twitter, or Instagram. I sometimes repost agents and editors who have participated in #PitchDis, our current and former volunteers, other pitch contests, and #RevPit. But that’s pretty much it. And no, if an agent or editor reposts or retweets us, that alone does NOT mean they have a relationship with us. If that were the case, I’d have a relationship with all my celebrity boyfriends 😊 Seriously, though, if there is ever ANY doubt, please contact me.
I’m humbled and proud to say that #PitchDis has organically grown to what it is. I’ve never asked anyone to promote it, nor have I given or promised anything in return for promoting it. I am, however, incredibly appreciative to those who do promote the event.
This goes with anything in your life, not just writing or querying—always trust your gut. If something feels off, it usually is. Your intuition will never steer you wrong.
Finally, it’s a shame that I even have to say this, but #PitchDis will not tolerate anyone who harasses, threatens, gaslights, or mocks people—especially disabled people.

What happens next

As usual, now begins my #PitchDis hiatus! You can still reach me via email and social media, but I may not be as quick to reply.

PLEASE let me know if you become a success story—or if you are a previous #PitchDis success story! I know many of you are out there and I would love to share your news and/or book information on the site.

I haven’t even thought about next year’s dates yet, but I do plan on bringing #PitchDis back in the same format next year. Look for news early in 2026.

I still have a few #PitchDis stickers left for Ko-fi donors! Thank you to everyone who has donated thus far. It has taken a huge burden off of me for the next event. In the meantime, I’m also in the process of looking for more cost-effective options for the future. Or maybe I’ll win the lottery by then and this won’t be a problem 🙃

Lastly, please feel free to reach out anytime about anything. I want to help you with your publishing journey any way I can.

Take care, everyone! 💜