Rules and Guidelines.

What Kind of Work Can You Submit?

The participating agents and editors will be looking for a variety of work, including all categories of fiction for adults, teens, and children, as well as nonfiction, and artist originals and commissions—as long as they qualify per the description.

Please only pitch your completed, unpublished manuscripts. If you are pitching artwork, you must be unagented and include samples in your pitch, and must have a complete proposal. If you are pitching yourself for work-for-hire/commissions, include samples from your portfolio and what sort of work you are interested in doing. Nonfiction work need not be complete, but you must have a proposal. You must be un-agented to participate.

How Do You Participate?

You are not required to register for this event. Be wary of any solicitations from third party websites.

If you’re new to Twitter and/or to Twitter pitch events, check out this beginners’ guide.

The event will be broken up over two days: one for Children’s & Teen Fiction/Nonfiction; one for Adult Fiction/Nonfiction and for artists/illustrators. Please make sure that you pitch on the appropriate day.

Your pitch must: (1) fit the 280-character max, (2) include the hashtag #DVpit or #DVart if applicable (do not tag the @DVpit_ account), and (3) include at least one category or genre hashtag and/or art samples if applicable. If you are pitching art, your pitch must also include #WFH (work-for-hire) or #OG (original project that includes text) and the category or genre if applicable, as well as a link to your portfolio/website.

We are working on the honor system here. We will trust that you are an eligible creator per the description on the About page. If the work you are pitching also reflects a marginalized identity/background, and you want a quick way to make that more apparent in your short pitch (and you can fit a few more characters), we also encourage you to include an abbreviation to get that information across. Examples: OWN (to suggest #ownvoices), POC, LGBT, DIS (disability), IMM (immigration), TV (trans voice), NV (Native voice), JV (Jewish voice), LV (Latinx/e voice) etc. Please make the abbreviation as clear and straightforward as possible for our agents/editors. These codes are up to you—we are in no place to judge or police how, or even if, you label your identity or your book. Please remember they are optional. You will *not* be at a disadvantage if you don’t include them and you are not in any way obligated to disclose any information you do not feel comfortable sharing.

Additionally, please refrain from policing the identities of other participants.

We value discourse, and as the conversation about inclusion in publishing evolves, we do encourage people to use the hashtag to share their thoughts. However, during pitching hours, please only use the hashtag to pitch. Or, if you do write a thread, please use the hashtag in only the first tweet to help us cut down on traffic and to ensure that each pitch has space to shine.

Please pitch no more than six times total per project per day. Spread out your pitches so that you are not pitching more than once in any given hour. You may pitch more than one project, as long as they are complete and unpublished, and you must still adhere to the limit of no more than one pitch per hour from your account. This means if you are pitching two projects, you can pitch them six times each (i.e. six times per project) and you can pitch one of them each hour (i.e. twelve pitches total, once per hour from your account). Note: We do not condone use of images unless it’s public domain, you own or have received express permission from the copyright holder, or it falls directly under fair use guidelines.

Artists only: these rules apply for artists as well (except you need a proposal, not a complete manuscript), but you must also include image samples (up to 4 per pitch). If you are pitching your original work, you should use the tweet space to pitch the book idea. If you are pitching for work-for-hire opportunities and general representation, your “pitch” can include your experience, notable awards, preferred style, the kind of work you’re looking for, category hashtags to indicate target age groups, etc. #DVart will take place the same day as #DVpit for the adult market, so if you are an artist pitching an adult work, you can use both hashtags (#DVart and #DVpit) in your pitch. If you are an artist pitching kidlit work, you can pitch on the kidlit #DVpit day, and on the #DVart day, but please do NOT use the #DVpit hashtag when you are pitching on the #DVart day (only use the hashtag #DVart so that your kidlit work does not appear with the #DVpit adult pitches). If you are pitching your portfolio rather than an original work, please only pitch under #DVart.

Please do not tweet-pitch the agents/editors directly!

The event will run from 8:00AM ET until 8:00PM ET, so please only tweet your pitches during that block of time, on the appropriate day.

Should you encounter any issues or have concerns during the event, please feel free to reach out to @DVpit_ via DM. (DMs are open.)

What Happens Next?

Agents/editors will <3 your pitch if they’d like to see material from you, so please don’t <3 other creators’ pitches. Please also do not retweet. To show support, you can always reply or quote-tweet with compliments, but do not use the hashtag in those replies/quote-tweets.

Each agent/editor will have their own preferences for receiving submissions, so if you get a <3 from someone, please refer to their Twitter feed to see what they ask for, and how you can contact them. If you receive a retweet from an editor, this is an expression of interest in your submission once you have secured an agent. They cannot consider unagented materials. Keep track of those names to share with your eventual agent.

All of these agents/editors are invested in finding more marginalized voices, so if you’re comfortable with it (and ONLY if you are comfortable with it), we encourage you to self-identify in your query, or just simply let us know that the story and/or character(s) reflect your own experience (or even let us know in your tweet-pitch if you have the space and the inclination).

If you see that multiple agents/editors from the same company have <3-ed your pitch, please contact them directly for their policy on multiple submissions, or reach out to us and we will be happy to find out for you.

Keep in mind that many agents/editors will get sidetracked with their usual work or unexpected crises and may have to revisit the feed after the event is over. So don’t be surprised if you receive <3s after the period closes!

We are unable to vet all agents, editors, and publishers who participate in this public event. As such, please do your research before submitting to anyone you are not already familiar with. You are not obligated to submit your work to any party who requests it should you not feel comfortable doing so.