For author and illustrator Corrina Campbell, the key to publishing success was literally at her fingertips.
The Highlands-based writer, who was a primary teacher for 15 years, decided in her mid-thirties to give her dream of creating children’s books a real shot.
By the beginning of 2018, she had written her first book, The Girl Who Stole the Stars, a story based on her daughter’s Christmas wish for “a big ladder because I want a star”.
And after teaching herself illustration using YouTube and Instagram tutorials, mum-of-four Corrina had a book all but ready for publication.
But being, as she describes herself, “completely green and a bit naïve” about the book publishing world, she found herself hitting walls when it came to getting agents and publishers interested.
Now, four years later, she’s just released her second book, The Boy Who Rescued a Rainbow, with Scottish publishers Little Door Books.
And it all started with a Tweet.
The XpoNorth Tweet Pitch is an annual online event from 9am-9pm, where authors across Scotland pitch their books in 280 characters or less, using the hashtag #XpoNorth to try and attract literary agents or publishers.
Those in the book world spend the day checking the hashtag, and if they like what they see, they simply ‘like’ the Tweet, signalling an invitation for the author to get in contact via email or direct message (DM).
For prospective authors, it sounds almost to good to be true. But Corrina’s attitude was one of “I’ve got nothing to lose!”.
‘Foot in the door’
“I just got really excited,” she laughs, recalling her pitch for The Girl Who Stole The Stars.
“By this point, I’d written the story, I’d created the illustrations, and I thought: ‘Oh this is exciting! I just need to fling it out there and see what happens’.
“I had nothing to lose, and I think sometimes the best things happen when you’ve got nothing to lose.”
Corrina’s pitch was picked up by Little Door Books, and since then she’s gone on to see her work in print, do book signings and even attended Edinburgh Book Festival this year as a writer.
She reckons that the format of TweetPitch opened up the literary world to those who aren’t used to navigating it – and gave her a “foot in the door” she might not have had otherwise.
“I know now, from speaking to [Little Door], they get hundreds of manuscripts sent to them, so the Twitter pitch was a really way of having a foot in the door,” she explains.
“They had already seen a bit of the story and were expecting the email to come, so I probably jumped the queue a bit in terms of them reading it!”
TweetPitch 2023 is coming
The good news for authors in a flooded literary market is that TweetPitch is back this year on January 20 2023, and is open to submissions from all genres – fiction, non-fiction and children’s writing.
The only rules are that the work must be currently unpublished, and participants must use the hashtag #XpoNorth.
Peter Urpeth, founder of XpoNorth TweetPitch, said: “Over the last eight years, the TweetPitch has become the best way for writers to kick-start their new year.”
Addressing the concerns around Twitter’s changing landscape in the wake of Elon Musk buying the social media platform, he added: “Twitter as a platform has undergone a change of ownership… which to many of its users has been a challenge.
Tweet Pitch 2023!
Our Scottish Writers' Tweet Pitch returns on Friday 20 January
Pitch your work to our panel of literary agents. Compose a tweet that sells your book in 280 characters and include the hashtag #xponorth
Find out more here: https://t.co/CdBadtgdos pic.twitter.com/Bt38RbTkds
— XpoNorth Digital (@XpoNorth) December 21, 2022
“However, for Scottish writing and publishing, the first 15 years of Twitter has for many been a very positive experience, a source of community, interaction and information… For now, we push on and continue to share that aim and message.”
And ahead of the TweetPitch event, I asked Corrina for her top tips on crafting the perfect pitch to get noticed in 280 characters or less.
How to craft the perfect TweetPitch in 2023
1. Ask a question
“In my tweets, from what I remember, I like to pose a question at the start, so that encourages the person reading it to think about what the answer would be,” reveals Corrina.
“But obviously you don’t give them the answer because you want them to get in touch to find out more!”
2. Create a hook
“Make sure you consider how you’re going to hook the person into wanting to read more,” says Corrina.
“Although you have a synopsis in your head, think about what’s going to make somebody you don’t know want to find out more about your work.”
3. Maximise your odds
“You can TweetPitch more than once, so you might want to word it one way in the first instance, but you could maybe word it in a slightly different way later on during the day, and have a second shot at it!” she advises.
“Also, you can pitch more than one idea, and every idea and story doesn’t have to be perfect or completed in its entirety.
“I think a lot of people think they need to have this fully finished, beautiful manuscript – but really, they’re just looking for potential.”
XpoNorth TweetPitch takes place from 9am-9pm on January 20 2023, on Twitter.
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