Category Archives: Critiques

2022 IRELAND WRITER TOURS

April 5, 2022Critiques, Writing Conferences & Getawayspdpabst

Oh my gosh in chocolate heaven! There is an Ireland Writer Tours not just once this year but several times! How can someone choose which one to attend?

June 19-26, 2022

The instructors will be Editor-in-Chief of Wild Rose Press Rhonda Penders and social media and marketing expert Samantha Keating.

July 10-17, 2022

The instructors will be award-winning multi-published author & editor Heather Webb, and Eliza Knight, an award winning multi-published author and editor.

The tours are mini-writers’ conferences that help get your manuscript ready for publication. With dinner in a haunted castle and visits to a mysterious lake, ancient forest and a cave with eerie true stories, the tour is filled with enchantment and enough creepy to spark your writing juices. Combine this with professional critiques and editing advise and you’ve got one helluva trip! And don’t forget you can write this off at tax time since it’s a learning event.

Get your passports ready! And happy day writing.

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Carina Press (Harlequin) Pitch Event

July 10, 2021Critiques, Literary, Pitch Event#CarinaPitch, Authors, Carina Press, Diversity, editor, Editors, Feedback, Harlequin, Imprint, Inclusive, Manuscript, Opportunity, Publishing, Romance, Stories, Submissions, Submittable, Voices, Writers, Writespdpabst

Carina Press, an imprint of Harlequin, is hosting a Twitter pitch event on July 14, 2021 starting at 9am EST. They didn’t list an end time, so to be safe, I would post by end of their work day time 5pm EST. The press focuses on romances and the editors participating all have their own wish lists.

RULES TO PARTICIPATE

Use the hastag #carinapitch
Your manuscript must be romance. All subgenres of romance are accepted with the exception of inspirational.
Must be new and unpublished material.
Your project can be one that has previously been passed by Carina Press.
Pitch each manuscript no more than two times!
You can pitch more than one manuscript (again though, only two times for each one!)
Use a genre hastag (examples below)
Submit your manuscript to only one editor if multiple are interested (choose one)
Do NOT direct your tweet to a specific editor!

THINGS TO KNOW IF YOU GET A LIKE

#CarinaPitch is only accepting proposals, consisting of a query letter (including your twitter pitch), a synopsis (approximately 1600 words), and the first 7,500 words.
All authors who receive a request and submit by the deadline of August 11, 2021 will get personal feedback no later than September 15, 2021.
If you submit your requested material after the deadline, you will still be considered for publication, but will no longer receive personal feedback.
The requesting editor will contact you via DM with their private submission link. (Note: You may need to follow the editor for them to contact you.)

But what if you have already submitted your manuscript but no one has looked at it yet? You can still participate in the pitch contest. If you get a like then:

Update your submission via Submittable, using a note by the deadline.
In the note, include the twitter pitch, your twitter handle, and they name of the editor that requested the proposal.

PARTICIPATING EDITORS

Kerri Buckley @BuckleyKerri

Stephanie Doig @StephanieDoig

Ronan Sadler @ronanedits

Mackenzie Walton @MackenzieWalton

John Jacobson @DreamingReviews

Deb Nemeth @DebNemeth

Alissa Davis @AlissaDenay

Kate Marope @TheRibbonMarker

You can find the editors wishlists here, or sometimes on their twitter account.

GENRE HASHTAGS

#CR = Contemporary Romance

#DIS = Disability

#DV = Diversity

#ER = Erotic Romance

#F = Fantasy

#HR = Historical Romance

#IRMC = Interracial/Multicultural

#LGBTQ = Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer

#M = Mystery

#OWN = OwnVoices

#POC = People of Color

#PR = Paranormal Romance

#ROMCOM = Romantic Comedy

#RS = Romantic Suspense

#SF = SciFi

#TT = Time Travel

#UF = Urban Fantasy

As always, good luck!

P.D.Pabst

Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Pitch Wars Query and First Page Workshop

August 12, 2020Contests, Critiques, Literary, Webinar/WorkshopAdult, Author, สำคัญ, Critice, Criticiúil, Critico, Critigol, Deadline, Критических, Критични, Критичних, Entry, 重要, 關鍵., Feedback, First Page, Inspiration, Κρίσιμη, 중요, Kritické, Kritieke, Kritik, Kritikal, Kritikus, Kritinių, Kritis, Kritiska, Kritična, Krytyczne, Life, Manuscript, Mentor, Middle Grade, Mikilvægt, New Adult, Pitch Wars, Quan trọng, Query, Rafflecopter, Story, Submission, Taua, Winners, Writer, Young Adult, 关键, بحرانیpdpabst

Pitch Wars is offering a critique workshop for your query and first page. That’s right, both will get critiqued this year! They have mentors lined up, and ready to give you feedback. So, if you are entering Pitch Wars, or just need extra eyes on your material, you can enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win.

Available age categories are:

Middle Grade
Young Adult
New Adult
Adult

Deadline for entry is August 16, 2020 at 11:59pm EST. Winners will be announced on August 17, 2020 at 10am EST. As always, good luck!

P. D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Secret Agent Contest via Authoress

March 30, 2019Contests, Critiques, LiteraryAdventure, agent, Authoress, Authors, books, Contemporary, Critique, Feedback, Fiction, Guidelines, Historical, Jillian Boehme, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, Miss Snark's First Victim, Opportunity, Secret Agent Contest, Stories, Submissions, Suspense, Thriller, Women's, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

Authoress (aka Jillian Boehme) is hosting a round of Secret Agent on her popular Miss Snark’s First Victim site. If you’ve followed Authoress for several years, then you know that she unveiled herself because she finally got her first book deal! (And this was her one condition she had promised herself before unveiling her true identity.) And many of us are so excited for her because she has given back to the community for so-so-so long! (Thank you Jillian!)

Now, for a few basic details of the contest:

Submissions open between Noon to 6pm EDT, April 1st, 2019
This is a lottery. The BOT will draw 50 random names.
Only the First 250 words will be submitted.
Only completed and polished manuscripts may be entered.
Only ONE entry per person!

As always, there is no fee to enter the contest. This month’s contest will include the following genres only:

Middle Grade–especially adventure stories and historical fiction
YA contemporary romance
YA magical realism
Women’s Fiction
Thriller/Suspense
Literary Fiction
General Fiction

For complete guidelines and entry form, go here. As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Skylark Agency Competition 2018

December 20, 2018Contests, Critiques, LiteraryAmber Caraveo, Authors, Charlotte Eyre, Children, Children's Publishing, Competition, Creative, Deadline, Editorial Critique, Editors, Joanna Moult, Judging, Kirsty Stanfield, Lucy Pearce, Macmillan Children's Books, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, Nosy Crow, Prize, Skylark Literary, Stories, The Bookseller, UK, Writerspdpabst

Skylark-Logo-CMYK

Skylark Agency is hosting a middle grade competition to find original talent for children. They are wanting to find great stories for ages 8-12 from creative writers. They have leading experts from the UK children’s publishing industry as guest judges to help them pick a winner.

Kirsty Stansfield, Head of Fiction, Nosy Crow
Lucy Pearse, Senior Editor, Macmillan Children’s Books
Charlotte Eyre, Children’s Editor, The Bookseller

Along with these three professionals, Joanna and Amber of Skylark Literary will also help create the judging panel. The prize will be a one-to-one editorial critique of your finished manuscript by phone, or in person (locations allowing). Deadline to enter is December 24, 2018. So go here for contest information and the read the submission guidelines. As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

RevPit Critique Giveaways!

December 18, 2018Contests, Critiques, Literary#RevPit, Adult, Authors, Blog, December, Editors, Feedback, Fiction, Giveaway, Guidelines, Hashtag, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, Query, Rafflecopter, Synopsis, Twitter, Win, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

The RevPit editors are giving away critique packages through December 21, 2018! Check out the site each day for the package you want to submit to the Rafflecopter. Here are their sites guidelines:

When: 12/17/2018–12/21/2018 (Yes, it started already.)
Where: On Twitter, using the #RevPit hashtag, and on this blog post.
Who: The editors of #RevPit and you!
How: Check in each day on Twitter AND here on the blog post to enter to win the daily giveaways. Each day a new Rafflecopter link will go live, and you’ll only have 24 hours to enter!

Be sure to check out each editors likes for the raffle before signing up. And as always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

@WriteOnCon Campaign for 2019 Conference (Critiques, Agent Calls, Sensitivity Reads, Publishing Chats and more!)

November 3, 2018Critiques, Literary, Writing Conferences & Getaways2019, Affordable, Agent Calls, Agents, Art, Authors, Axie Oh, Beth Revis, Book ARC, Bradford Literary Agency, Campaign, Charlie Holmberg, Chats, Conference, Corvisiero Literary Agency, DeFiore and Company, Editors, Entry, Extended Admission, Feedback, Full Conference Admission, Full Manuscripts, General Admission, Home, Illustrators, Janklow & Nesbit Associates, Kidlit, Learn, Literary Agent, Liza Dawson Associates, Manuscripts, Marsal Lyon LIterary, Mingle, NYT Best Selling Authors, P.S. Literary, Partial Pages, Publishing, Publishing Industry, Query, Raffle, Readers, Red Sofa Literary, Registration, Sara Raasch, Sensitivity Reads, Teach, WriteOnCon, Writerspdpabst

WriteOnCon is an online conference for kidlit writers and illustrators to teach, learn, and mingle. You do not have to be published to attend, nor do you have to leave your house! And if you think I’ve been sitting on my laptop waiting for the campaign to start, YOU ARE RIGHT! The campaign often has very affordable critiques and I WANT IN!

During the campaign, writers can purchase critiques of their queries, partial pages, or full manuscripts from NYT Best Selling Authors, publishing editors, or literary agents. Authors can also opt to purchase a sensitivity read of their manuscript. Writers can even purchase calls from a couple of literary agents to discuss the publishing industry. Some of the participants of the crits or chats include:

Kaitlyn Johnson, literary agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency
Natalie Lakosi, literary at Bradford Literary Agency
Patricia Nelson, literary agent at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
Caitie Flum, literary agent at Liza Dawson Associates
Dawn Frederick, owner/literary agent at Red Sofa Literary
Sara Raasch, NYT best-selling author of the SNOW LIKE ASHES trilogy
Beth Revis, NYT best-selling author of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, A WORLD WITHOUT YOU, and STAR WARS REBEL RISING
Eric Smith, associate literary agent at PS Literary
Kira Watson, foreign rights coordinator at Janklow & Nesbit Associates
Ashley Collum, literary agent at Defiore and Company
Charlie Holmberg, Best-selling fantasy author of Paper Magician, and more.
Axie Oh, New Visions Award author for Rebel Seoul
And more!

All purchases appear to include conference registration and entry into a raffle to win a critique, book ARC, or a phone call from an agent! (There will be multiple winners.) And of course, you can purchase only the conference if not interested in any of the critiques. The prices are:

General Admission: $1
Full Conference Admission: $5
Extended Admission: $10
Time Traveler Admission $15

No, you’re not reading those numbers wrong! This will be the cheapest conference you will ever attend that will be packed with hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of information from the comforts of your home! What else could you ask for? For complete information of what the tiered admissions cover and to search through critiques you might want to purchase, go to the campaign page. The crowdfunding will end on December 6, 2018. so hurry if you want to purchase a critique. They’re going fast.

As for the conference, it’ll be February 8th – 10th, 2019. Mark your calendars and I hope to see you there, uh, virtually of course!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

YA Discovery Contest 2018

October 29, 2018Contests, Critiques, LiteraryAbram Books, agent, Annual, Authors, Bloomsbury, books, Canada, Candlewick, Competition, Editors, Entries, First 250, Grand Prize, JIMMY Patterson Books, Little Brown, No Pitch, novels, Opportunity, Penguin, Pitch, Publishers, Rand House, Regina Brooks, Scholastic, Serendipity Literary Agency, Simon and Schuster, Stories, Submissions, United States, Winners, Writers, Young Adult, Young Adult Discoverypdpabst

Serendipity Literary Agency is hosting their annual writer’s Young Adult Discovery Competition. If writers are having trouble pitching ideas, no worries with this contest because they won’t even need a query! Seriously, only the first 250 words will be needed to submit.

YA literary agent Regina Brooks and her team will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. (There will be great prizes for the top winners!) These submissions will then be read by editors from many of the major publishing houses. Past judges include editors from Scholastic, Random House/Penguin, Little Brown, Candlewick, Bloomsbury, Simon and Schuster, JIMMY Patterson Books, and Abram Books. Judges will whittle the top 20 down to five winners, including a Grand Prize Winner.

Submissions open on November 1, 2018 at 12:01am (ET) and close on November 30, 2018 at 12:59pm (ET). Only one entry per person with a $15 entry fee. The contest is open to U.S. and Canada residents only.

For complete guidelines and submission rules, or to watch for their upcoming post about prizes, go here. As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Skylark Literary Middle Grade Competition

October 4, 2018Contests, Critiques, LiteraryAgents, Author, books, Characters, Charlotte Eyre, Children's Stories, Competition, Deadline, editor, Editorial, Fiction, Guidelines, Improve, Kirsty Stansfield, Lucy Pearse, Macmillan Children's Books, Manuscript, Middle Grade, New Stories, Nosy Crow, Novel, One-to-One, Opportunity, Outstanding, Prize, Publishing, Readers, Representation, Skylark Literary, Stories, Strong, Terms and Conditions, The Bookseller, Unagented, Unpublished, Writer, Young Readerpdpabst

Skylark-Logo-CMYK

Great news! Skylark Literary Agency has put together a competition for fiction manuscripts geared toward young readers of ages 8-12. (Non-fiction is not accepted.) They are looking for outstanding new stories with strong characters. Submissions must be from unagented and unpublished writers.

The Guest Judges

Kirsty Stansfield, Head of Fiction, Nosy Crow

Lucy Pearse, Senior Editor, Macmillan Children’s Books

Charlotte Eyre, Children’s Editor, The Bookseller

The Prize

The prize will be a one-to-one editorial critique of your finished manuscript by phone, or in person (locations allowing), with Joanna and/or Amber. They will suggest ways in which you could polish and perfect your novel to improve its chances of representation and publication, and seek to answer any queries you may have about the children’s publishing industry in general.

The Deadline!

The deadline for competition entries is December 24, 2018. So CLICK HERE for how to enter together with the full terms and conditions.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction

Author Mentor Match #AMM Round 5

October 1, 2018Critiques, Literary, Mentor ProgramAlexa Donne, Author, Author Mentor Match, books, Email, Feedback, Fiction, Genres, Guidelines, Heather Kaczynski, Information, Manuscript, Mentors, Middle Grade, Opportunity, Publishing, Stories, Subgenres, Submissions, Writers, Writing, Young Adultpdpabst

Author Mentor Match was created by Heather Kaczynski and Alexa Donne. The object is to match new writers with authors further along in the publishing process and gain invaluable mentoring! That’s right, this is an opportunity to get your manuscript critiqued (for free) before submitting to agents!

Authors can select up to four mentors during the submission window between October 15, 2018 through October 21, 2018. Watch for the mentor BIOS to be posted to learn what age groups and genres they wish to see in their inbox!

Please note there is a two-step process for entering:

Fill out the submission form. (I believe the form will appear during the sub window period.)
Email the proper information to authormentormatch@gmail.com:

A query (pasted in the body of the email!)
The first 50 pages/3 chapters of your novel (whichever is longer & can be attached)
A synopsis

Be sure to include in the subject line the manuscripts Age Category +Genre + Title. (ie: YA Sci-Fi – Mars Plants are the Bomb) on the email submission. And check out the site in order to know how to select the mentors you wish to submit because it isn’t clear quite yet. (I’m guessing this might be part of the submission form.) As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

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The Guest Judges

The Prize

The Deadline!

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