Can Literary Agents Find Your Pitch Without You Querying Them?

The traditional path to querying for writers entails preparing your query submission materials, researching agents who are a fit for your work, and then submitting your work for consideration. But there is another path to get the attention of a literary agent.

Instead of the writer searching for the agent, the agent can actually discover your work first through pitches. This is called Pitch Discovery in QueryTo.

Pitch Discovery flips the process around. The process goes from writers asking: who should I query? to agents asking: who do I want to query me. In the traditional querying path, the author seeks out the agent. In the Pitch Discovery path, the agent seeks out works that may match their interests.

Pitch Discovery Is Not the Same as Publicly Posting Your Query

Making a pitch discoverable does not have to mean making your full query package publicly available on the internet.

Consider how pitches work on social media (Threads or BlueSky for example.) When you participate in social media pitch events, you still need to query the agent after the agent likes your pitch. The agent liking your pitch doesn't mean the agent will now offer you rep. Agents still need to see the goods even if the pitch hooks them.

On QueryTo, Pitch Discovery is opt-in. Authors choose whether they want a pitch represented there.

That means your pitch does not suddenly become visible (to agents using QueryTo) just because you created it, added agents to a query list, or started tracking submissions.

The idea behind Pitch Discovery is to give participating literary agents another way to find projects that may align with what they are looking for.

Are materials outward facing? Can agents search or view projects?

Not by default.

There is a big difference between using a platform to privately manage your querying process and deliberately choosing to put a pitch in front of participating agents. Authors should be able to make that choice themselves.

On QueryTo, Pitch Discovery is not automatic. Creating a project in QueryTo does not make it visible to agents. Your project and query materials remain private. For an agent to see your pitch, you must opt into Pitch Discovery.

Participating agents can then explore pitches and identify projects that interest them based on their set preferences. Agents can review pitches,

If something catches an agent's attention, they can request more.

Does This Replace Querying?

No.

Traditional querying is still one of the primary ways authors land literary agents. As an author seeking representation, you still need to be proactive. You should not sit back simply because your pitch is up.

There is no discovery system that can guarantee that the right agent will happen to see your project. You should still continue to research agents, to build query list, send out queries, track your query responses while your pitch remains discoverable.

Why Would an Agent Browse Pitches?

Agents already spend a significant amount of time reviewing hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of queries. Pitch discovery provides agents with another avenue to find projects.

Instead of opening another unsolicited query from an inbox, an agent can intentionally browse projects and look for something that matches a particular interest.

That can be especially useful when an agent knows the kind of book they would love to find but does not necessarily know which authors are currently querying it.

Why Would an Author Want to Be Discoverable?

Pitch Discovery provides authors with another avenue for an agent to find their work. I also think of it as maximizing your chances of an agent finding out about your book.

It's possible that while researching, you didn't come across an agent who is actually looking for a book like yours.

You could have also self-selected during your research process, deciding not to query an agent because you believed they would not be interested in your book.

You could have also missed an agent during your agent research process.

Pitch Discovery provides one more way to put your work out there.

Try Pitch Discovery on QueryTo

With Pitch Discovery, the author is still in control of if they want to query an agent. The agent is also still in control of if they want to request more materials for a project. The difference is who finds whom first.

QueryTo authors can choose to make pitches discoverable to participating literary agents while continuing to manage their traditional querying process in the same place.

Build your query list, track submissions, research agents, and (if you want to) give agents another way to find your work.

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