XpoNorth Tweet Pitch returns on Friday 15th January
If you have always dreamed of having your very own book published, 280 characters could be all that is standing between you and securing a literary agent to make your dream a reality.
Now entering its sixth year, the XpoNorth Writers’ Tweet Pitch returns on Friday 15 January 2021 to give writers from across Scotland the chance to pitch their work to a panel of Scotland’s literary agents and publishers.
From 9am to 9pm on Friday 15 January, writers of all levels from across Scotland can tweet pitch their work to top Scottish literary agents and publishers including Jenny Brown, Birlinn, Sandstone Press, Canongate, Floris Books and Saraband simply using #XpoNorth to be in with the chance of a book deal. Completed work or projects still in development from all genres including fiction, non-fiction and children’s writing and illustration will be considered from writers living and working in Scotland. The only requirement is that the work must be unpublished.
The panel of esteemed agents and publishers will review all tweet pitches in real time and will contact the author directly to find out more or make a deal to represent or publish their work.
Produced by XpoNorth and the Association of Scottish Literary Agents, last year’s Tweet Pitch was a trending topic throughout the day with over a thousand direct pitches and reaching more than 650,000 people.
Over the past five years, the project has turned numerous applicants in to published authors including author of Scottish historical and eco-fiction for children, Barbara Henderson; picture book author and illustrator, Corrina Campbell; author of This Golden Fleece – A Journey Through Britain’s Knitted History, Esther Rutter and Leonie Charlton who successfully had Marram published this year by Sandstone Press.
Jenny Brown, Co-Chair of the Association of Scottish Literary Agents said: “The Tweet Pitch gives everyone in Scotland the chance to pitch their ideas to Scotland’s agents and publishers.
“This year, alongside fiction, I’m hoping to see more memoirs, not celebrity biographies, but extraordinary and well-told stories from ordinary people which give insight into their lives, be they care workers, vets, shop owners, firefighters, or mountain rescuers.
“One of the most successful memoirs I’ve represented is Shaun Bythell’s Diary of a Bookseller about his experiences running a bookshop in Wigtown. It’s now been translated into 25 languages. I’d love to find more memoirs which shed light onto experiences and ways of life we know little about.”
Peter Urpeth, Publishing Sector Specialist Advisor at XpoNorth said: “The annual Tweet Pitch has become a very important and unique part of Scotland’s writing and publishing calendar and provides a key moment of open access for Scotland’s writers to the nation’s amazing literary agents and publishers.
“This year more than any other I would say if you have not tried this approach try it now, and that’s especially true of writers in communities who might feel that professional publishing is not open to them. This platform enables a pitch to a very wide range of different editorial needs and tastes, and all at the same time.
“We all know that so many events for authors and for the writing development process have been a victim of the pandemic. But many of us have also witnessed and benefitted from the incredible energy and commitment that the community of writers, writing agencies, agents and publishers in Scotland have shown to each other and to the cause of just keeping going.
“We’ve also seen the immense role that stories, books and all forms of creative narrative whether for escape, for connection or for truth and deep realism have played in getting many of us through these difficult times.
“The tweet pitch is that first moment in the new Year when we connect again, when we try and when we hope, and when we take that vital step of promoting our work. That energy is at the heart of the Tweet Pitch day.”
Aspiring authors keen to learn more about how to make the perfect tweet pitch should visit www.xponorth.co.uk