Sparkhouse Family Children’s Picture Book Contest

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , ,

spark-house-family

Sparkhouse Family is a faith based publisher. They aim to publish creative, winsome, charming stories that help parents instill an open-hearted, transformational, life-long Christian faith in children ages 0-12.

The Sparkhouse Family Children’s Picture Book Contest is an open call for picture books that support this mission. They’ll choose one manuscript to develop into a picture book. The winning author will get a prize of $5,000 and a chance to have their book published by Sparkhouse Family.

To enter, submit a brief synopsis of your book, your author bio, your contact information, and complete manuscript. All submitted works must be finished, previously unpublished manuscripts of 1,000 words or less. The contest is open to new, upcoming, and established writers alike, but only unagented submissions are eligible.

They’ll accept submissions through November 15, 2016. The winner will be notified on December 15, 2016. As always, good luck!

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

WRITING IN THE MARGINS MENTOR PROGRAM

Fellowship, Literary, Mentor Program, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

book-spines

The Writing in the Margins is a website dedicated to helping underrepresented storied find their place. They have a Mentor Program which pairs an emerging author from a marginalized social group with an experienced editor or traditionally published author in order to work closely on preparing an unpublished manuscript to submit for publication.  All authors and editors work on a completely volunteer basis, and there is no charge to the emerging author.  Applications are open twice a year, and necessary applicant qualifications are highlighted prior to the submission period.

Applications are currently open!  Please apply by NOVEMBER 30.  The mentoring period will be in 2017 from February through April.  This time they are accepting applications from the following groups:

  • Authors of color
  • Disabled authors

To submit your entry, go here. As always, good luck!

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

ICONIC HOLIDAY HEN CONTEST 2016

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , ,

hen-ink

The Iconic Holiday Hen is a contest for illustrators, which is so rare! If you are an illustrator and would like to submit your Iconic Holiday Hen illustration to be used as the Hen & ink Holiday Mascot, please send submissions between November 12th and November 15th, 2016. (Go to their website for instructions.)

Per the website, the chosen Hen will spread holiday cheer throughout the publishing world (with the artist’s name intact!) and its creator will be invited to her/his very own Open Coop Iconic Hen Day (i.e., he/she will be invited to present a portfolio or a project for our consideration). What an amazing opportunity for illustrators!

As always, good luck!

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

Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

wd-short-story-competition

Writer’s Digest is hosting a writing competition for short stories (1,500 words or less) with a grand prize worth $3,000, a feature in Writer’s Digest magazine and more.

Make it bold. Make it brilliant. Most importantly, make it brief.

One First Place Winner will receive:

  • $3,000 in cash
  • Their short story title published in Writer’s Digest magazine’s July/August 2017 issue
  • A paid trip to the ever-popular Writer’s Digest Conference!
  • A copy of the 17th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition Collection
  • A copy of the 2017 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market
  • A copy of the 2017 Guide to Literary Agents

There will also be monetary prizes, books and/or certificates given to 2nd-25th place winners! (There is a fee for entering.) If your interested in submitting, go here by the Early-Bird Deadline of November 15!

As always, good luck!

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

Heidi Norrod’s #KidPit on Twitter

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Heidi Norrod is hosting another fabulous twitter pitch event for writers called KidPit. In order to participate, authors need to have a finished manuscript and tweet their 140 character pitch using the hashtag #KidPit on November 9. 2016. The contest will be between 9am-3pm CST (Chicago time). You will allowed to pitch six times over the course of the event. I’d suggest once every hour, as the event is six hours long.

This event is open to BOARD BOOKS, PICTURE BOOKS, EASY READER/CHAPTER BOOKS, MIDDLE GRADE, and/or YOUNG ADULT COMPLETED novel, fiction and non-fiction books. When typing your pitch, be sure to include either #BB (Board Book), #PB (Picture Books), #CB (Chapter Books and Early Readers), #MG (Middle Grade), or #YA (Young Adult) and tag with the genre. And don’t forget to add the hashtag #KidPit so it will show up in the feed.

Also, I’d like to remind everyone that twitter pitch parties are open to everyone, meaning anyone can trawl the feed! Be sure to research before you send any submissions from a favored pitch. As always, good luck!

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

HELP RAISE FUNDS FOR #EDITING

Contests, Critiques, Literary, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

manuscript

Okay, I’ve thought about this for a long time and it wasn’t an easy decision to make. No one likes airing their troubles. NO ONE! So, without whining about my various trips to the hospital over the past few years, my car breaking down, my daughters car breaking down, I’ll move right along to my purpose.

I received revise and submits from two different agents a while back and have been sitting on top of them because I don’t have the funds to pay a professional editor. (And this could be golden, but I need to edit before they forget about me.) Then, I thought about my other writerly friends who have had troubles with tumors, lupus, chronic depression (yes, this IS a disease folks), houses burning down, and the list goes on-and-on-and-on of things that can strap any of us financially. So, my thoughts were wouldn’t it be great to not only pay for my edits but have some giveaways for other writers to pay for THEIR edits too? (Oh, you know it would be!)

While beta readers and critique partners are great, they aren’t always available or they just don’t mesh with your style. There are various reasons this doesn’t always work out. So, I created a GoFundMe account to help raise money for my manuscript THIS SCARY MANOR BLOWS (and my other two manuscripts), as well to have giveaways for other writers. So, if you’re feeling generous, please donate to the GoFundMe account. Even the tiniest of donations can help myself and other writers.

And when you read the story on GoFundMe, you’ll notice that if I don’t get signed with the agents that requested the R&R’s, I’m going to spend some of the money on cover art and marketing to self publish. Which can always be an alternative route for those that will win the editing giveaways when I have them. After all, even literary agents recommend being hybrid authors. (For non-writer’s, this means to traditional publish and self publish.)

And lastly, for anyone wanting to know my writing style and if donating is worth it, I’ve decided to post my first chapter to THIS SCARY MANOR BLOWS. Go here to view it.

Please share this on twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, WordPress, and any other social media you may be on! Remember, this isn’t just for myself, I hope to pay this forward to other writers. It might just be YOU!

Thank you for reading and any donations that you contribute! And if you can’t contribute, then please-please, share on your social media accounts. Again, thank you!

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

Publishing 101 by Jane Friedman #Giveaway

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

jane-friedman

For over 20 years, Jane Friedman has been in the book and magazine publishing industry, with expertise in digital media and the future of authorship. She speaks around the world at events such as BookExpo America, Frankfurt Book Fair, and Digital Book World, and has keynoted writing conferences such as The Muse & The Marketplace.You can read her entire BIO/Resume here.

publishing-101

Back in 2014, Jane published a book offering insights into the industry called Publishing 101. This is a great book for first time authors trying to gain some knowledge on the publishing world. Which, is why I’ve decided to giveaway two free copies (your choice Kindle or paperback). The table of contents reads:

Introduction: The Dirty Secret About Writing Advice
Chapter 1: The Psychological Battle
Chapter 2: Are You Ready to Face the Business of Publishing?
Chapter 3: A Few Words on Craft
Chapter 4: How to Get Traditionally Published
Chapter 5: Understanding the Self-Publishing Path
Chapter 6: The Basics of Author Platform
Chapter 7: Marketing and Promotion for New Authors
Chapter 8: Author Websites and Blogs
Chapter 9: The Key Principles of Online Marketing and Social Media
Chapter 10: Rights and Legal Issues
Chapter 11: Advice on the Writing Life
Chapter 12: The Future of Publishing

The giveaway will run from November 5th, 2016 (12am CST) to November 11, 2016 (12am CST). To enter the giveaway via Rafflecopter, go here. And as always, good luck!

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

PASS OR PAGES CONTEST

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PASSORPAGES

Operation Awesome is hosting one more Pass Or Pages contest before the holiday season. For this round, the category is for middle grade contemporary. Submissions will be open between November 7-9, 2016. This is an opportunity to get feedback from an agent on your query and first 250 words of you manuscript. Peeps, this is priceless! And as a possible bonus, the agent reserves the right to request your FULL.

There will be a form for submissions on Operation Awesome when the entry window opens. For complete rules and previous feedback reveals, go here. As always, good luck!

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

SavvyAuthors Pitch Event To Entangled Publishers

Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

savvyauthors-logo

Sorry to say this one slipped by me! SavvyAuthors is hosting a Pitchtacular pitch event to Entangled Publishers. This includes Entangled Brazen, Bliss, Love Struck, Scandalous, Entangled Teen, Crave, Crush, Embrace, Entangled Select, and Entangled Scorched imprints. But this is a one day only event TODAY so you must hurry! The editors will announce their picks by November 6, 2016.

For complete details on how to pitch on the SavvyAuthors blog, go here. And for complete rules (which you should always read before pitching), go here.

As always, good luck!

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

Dear Lucky Agent Contest

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

DearLuckyAgent24

Chuck Sambuchino announced Writer’s Digest is hosting the 26th “Dear Lucky Agent Contest”. The agent judge is Mike Hoogland from Dystel & Goderich.

mike-hoogland

Mike Hoogland (scroll down to find him) joined Dystel & Goderich after completing a foreign rights internship at Sterling Lord Literistic. Before pursuing a career in publishing, Mike studied at Colgate University and graduated with a degree in political science and the intention to work in government. He interned with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but soon realized his interests and passions were better suited to a career in the publishing industry. After Colgate, Mike went on to gain a valuable education at the Columbia Publishing Course and discovered his passion for the agenting side of the business. He is seeking: sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, upmarket women’s fiction, and some children’s books (picture books, MG, and YA), as well as a wide variety of narrative nonfiction, including science, history, and politics. He is particularly interested in seeing thought-provoking, realistic speculative fiction.

The contest is now live and runs through the end of November 10, 2016 (PST). There will be three winners! First place wins a critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work by your agent judge (and he reserves the right to request the full manuscript). Second place gets a free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)! And third place gets their choice of any of Chuck’s two new books coming out in September 2017 (the Guide to Literary Agents 2017 or the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market 2017).

Be sure to check out the submission guidelines and pay close attention to a few things you need to do in order to be eligible. And as always, good luck!

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