PITCHFEST 2025 has begun, and there’s still time to get your ticket!
I participated in Kids Comics Unite’s first Pitchfest in 2022 the competition was formidable, yet the most supportive. I learned a ton about the publishing industry, the (then and) current place for my work in that industry and more.
currently back in the drawing board.
For now, I want to explain why/how this event could be valuable for a creator’s career. There was once a time when a cartoonist could approach a publisher directly. Those encounters quickly became the responsibility of editors and their assistants. More recently it’s become the work of literary agents to act as a bridge between editors and creators and take part in the development process.
The results have been various, but there are two phenomena that are common –
1. Agents are over-committed and often back-logged.
2. Open Submissions are frequently closed.
Events like PITCHFEST serve to offset those factors by making in-depth development available, providing aggregation of high quality pitches for agents and provide direct access to those agents for creators who would otherwise miss-out on these resources.
Take a look at the gallery of past submissions. Those winners & runner-ups have been acquired, self-published or their creators have been hired for other work. I’d be submitting myself, if my work wasn’t already being committed elsewhere. But if you’re preparing to pitch a project, this event could be well worth exploring.