#PitchWars 2018: The Night Before the Sub Window Opens

Hello, Pitch Warriors! A few of you PW community veterans may be thinking this post looks a little bit familiar … because it is! This is my third year mentoring Pitch Wars, and my third year posting a version of this little advice column on Submission Window Eve–updated for 2018, of course!

Ready? Strap in!

It’s almost here: the day you’ve been waiting for … finally! You’ve nipped and tucked and tweaked your query. You’ve drafted and revised your one-page synopsis. You’ve polished your opening chapter ’til it shines. You have your revised and polished full manuscript lying in wait, just in case. The sub window is opening late tomorrow night … now what!?

First, don’t panic!

No, Ron, we cannot! Or rather, there’s no need to, so let’s all take a deep breath and not let panic take over, shall we?

The submission window is set to open August 27 at 12:01 AM EDT–New York time. (For the temporally challenged, that’s late Sunday night/wee hours Monday morning.) OMG SO SOON! But wait–when the clock strikes midnight, there is no advantage to being the first to hit submit.

Let me repeat that: there is NO ADVANTAGE to being the first to hit submit.

So, take your time. The 2018 Pitch Wars submission window will remain open until August 29 at 10:00 PM EDT–New York time. That’s oodles of time to enter. Mentors will read every single submission: last, first and in between. Some mentors will make requests right away. (And then they will request more–the excitement a mentor feels about an August 27th submission has no bearing on the excitement they’ll feel about an August 28th or 29th submission. Promise.) Others will wait until after the window has closed. Still others will do a mix of both. Some requests won’t go out until right before picks are announced (really). And this year, mentors have more time to read your submissions than we have in the past, which means not all mentors will dive into reading right away, and many of us will be reading and requesting for weeks to come, right on through September and into early October.

So how does this affect you? It doesn’t. Because you’re going to keep your eyes on your own paper and take your time. *High five, you!*

When the window opens, you’ll see a blitz on the hashtag of excited mentee hopefuls rushing to enter. That’s totally fine. (Except if you all do that, our website will crash. Extra incentive to take a deep breath before you dive in.) Okay. If you’re calm and ready at the start of the window, go for it… Or, do what I’d do. Get a good night’s sleep. Get your morning cup of coffee (or tea, or kale smoothie–whatever sparks your brain into awake mode). Enter when you’re fresh.

Everything’s clearer after that first cup, am I right?

Fun fact: I entered Pitch Wars as a mentee hopeful three years ago, in 2015. For those of you who are new to Pitch Wars, let me tell you a little story about what happened when the submission window opened that year. Here’s the short version:

First, there was a mad rush to enter.

Then, there were regrets and tears.

Yes, there was also much celebrating on the hashtag, but in the general excitement to click submit, some hopefuls selected the wrong mentors from the drop-down list. Some had copied the wrong text into the query field. One memorable regretful hopeful had misspelled his own name.

A version of these same events took place in 2016 and 2017, too. It happens every year.

Friends, do not let this be you.

When you do open up the submission form–which is not yet live and will be shared via the PitchWars website and hashtag when the submission window opens–Take. Your. Time. There’s no prize for rushing. There’s only the cone of shame. And no one wants to wear that! Instead, do like your third grade teacher told you, and check your work.

So, what can you do now, in advance, to prepare?

First, review the official Submission FAQ and Submission Formatting Guide compiled by the awesome PW Committee. Between these two posts, all your nitty-gritty questions about what you’ll need to have prepared to enter on the submission form should be answered!

And then when the link to the submission form is live, and you’re ready to submit?

Here’s a little checklist I’ve put together for all of you Pitch Warriors. When you open up the submission form, keep this post handy. Here we go:

1. Are you in the correct age category (Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult, or New Adult) for your manuscript? This year, the submission site is divided by age category. If you’re in the wrong category, you’ll find that the mentors on the drop-down list may not look familiar–because the drop-down will only list those mentoring your selected age category. If you’re in the wrong place, go back and start over in the correct age category!
2. Have you selected the correct mentor names from the drop-down? Don’t do it from memory; cross-check the list on the sub form against the list you have prepared on your spreadsheet or in your notebook or on the back of your grocery list. Whatever works for you. Many mentors have similar first or last names. Be absolutely sure you’re selecting the correct mentors!
3. Have you entered your name, email address, Twitter handle (optional), website (optional), title of your manuscript, genre, and word count correctly? Are they spelled correctly? Is your manuscript title in ALL CAPS? (CAPS aren’t required; it’s just good formatting.)
4. Have you entered the complete, correct text of your query letter into the submission field?
5. Have you entered the complete, correct text of your one-page synopsis into the submission field?
6. Have you entered the complete, correct text of your first chapter into the submission field? Before you cut & paste, check that your first chapter is prepared in standard manuscript formatting, i.e.: Times New Roman, Courier, or Arial 12pt font; lines should be double-spaced with no additional spaces between paragraphs; insert scene breaks by centering # or a similar symbol in between.
7. Finally, have you checked the radio buttons to grant/not grant us permission to swap your submission materials among other mentors who may be interested in your work (yes or no; bottom of submission form) and to indicate if you are under 18 years old (yes or no; midway through submission form).

That’s it, Pitch Warriors. Your seven-step plan to a sweat-free submission experience.

Congrats, you kept your cool. You entered Pitch Wars. You did it!

Still have questions? Refer back to the official Submission FAQ and Submission Formatting Guide. You may be surprised to find your question answered right there! Still have questions? Just #askmentor on the hashtag. Someone will respond, or we’ll get answers behind the scenes if we don’t know off-hand. We’re here for you.

Now, breathe. Celebrate! You wrote, revised, and entered your book into Pitch Wars. You rule!