Tag Archives: Authors

Publishing 101 by Jane Friedman #Giveaway

November 5, 2016Contests, LiteraryAuthor Blogs, Author Websites, Authors, Future of Publishing, Giveaway, Jane Friedman, Manuscripts, Marketing, Promote Your Book, Publishing 101, Rafflecopter, self publish, Social media, Writing Advicepdpabst

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.

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

November 4, 2016Contests, LiteraryAgents, Authors, Contemporary, contest, Feedback, First 250 Words, Manuscripts, Middle Grade Fiction, November, Operation Awesome, Pass or Pages, Query, Requests, Writerspdpabst

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.

The 2016 Las Vegas Writing Workshop

October 30, 2016Literary, Writing Conferences & GetawaysAgents, Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Annie Bomke Literary, Authors, Chuck Sambuchino, CK Webber Associates, Editors, Embassy Suties by Hilton, Inklings Literary, Las Vegas, Manuscripts, Marsal Lyon LIterary, November, Paul S. Levine Literary, Pitch, Sandra Dijkstra & Associates, Writing Workshoppdpabst

las-vegas

The one day Las Vegas Writing Workshop is held on November 19, 2016 at the Embassy Suites. This writing event is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of one day, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more. This year’s faculty so far includes:

literary agent Jennifer March Soloway (Andrea Brown Literary Agency)
literary agent Carlie Webber (CK Webber Associates Literary)
literary agent Thao Le (Sandra Dijkstra Literary)
literary agent Patricia Nelson (Marsal Lyon Literary Agency)
literary agent Paul S. Levine (Paul S. Levine Literary)
literary agent Jill Marr (Sandra Dijkstra Literary)
literary agent Jamie Bodnar Drowley (Inklings Literary)
literary agent Annie Bomke (Annie Bomke Literary)

workshop-las-vegas

There are limited seats, so you need to hurry if you want to attend. For registration or info on how to pitch one of the agents, go here. Of course, you might want to stay an extra day or two because it’s Las Vegas Baby! For those attending, have fun!

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

#PitchCB In October

October 27, 2016Contests, Literary#PitchCB, Authors, contest, Conville & Walsh, Curtis Brown Literary Literary and Talent Agency, Historical Fiction, Manuscripts, Rachard Pike, Rebecca Ritchie, Twitterpdpabst

#PitchCB is Curtis Brown and Conville & Walsh’s own monthly Twitter novel pitching party, hosted by Rebecca Ritchie and Richard Pike of Curtis Brown. And it’s tomorrow!

On each #PitchCB day, writers searching for an agent can tweet a one-line pitch for their work. The pitch must be 140 characters or less, using the hashtag #PitchCB. Their book agents will be online for each event to read each pitch and will be inviting successful authors to submit directly to them.

This months interest is historical fiction on October 28, 2016. The window will be open for 24 hours, but only pitch once during that time! For complete rules, go here.

As always, good luck!

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

#PBPitch Will Be Soon!

October 24, 2016Contests, LiteraryAgents, Authors, BookEnds Literary, Booker Albert Literary Agency, contest, Corvisiero Literary Agency, Editors, Fiction, Illustrators, Jean V. Nagger Literary, Jennifer De Chiara Literary, Liza Royce Agency, Nonfiction, PBPitch, Red Fox Literary, Stimola Literary, Subgenre, The Thompson Agency, Transatlantic Agency, Twitter, Zachary Shuster Harmsworthpdpabst

In just a few days, #PBPitch will begin for picture book authors and illustrators. The event will be Thursday, October 27th, 2016 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. For those wanting to participate, here are the rules:

*Pitch your PBs on twitter using #PBPitch.
*Pitch manuscripts only ONCE in the morning and ONCE in the Evening. (Once before 2pm and once after.)
*If you are an author/illustrator, you can attach an image to your PB manuscript pitch.
*Include Subgenre # if it applies.
#F=Funny
#CD = Character Driven
#NF = Nonfiction
#C= Concept
#L= Lyrical
#I= Interactive
#FT=Fairy Tale/Folk Tale

Only agents and editors should favorite a pitch. If they do, be sure to do your research before submitting (as anyone can trawl the feed). But here are a few legitimate agents that have said they’ll be stopping by:

For complete details, go here. And as always, good luck!

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

YA Discovery Contest

October 21, 2016Contests, LiteraryAbrams Books, Agents, Authors, Bloomsbury, Brown, Candlewick, Little, Manuscripts, No Pitch, No Query, Penguin, Prizes, Publishers, Random House, Regina Brooks, Scholastic, Serendipity Literary Agency, Simon and Schuster, Sourcebooks, YA Discovery Contest, Young Adult Novel Discovery Competitionpdpabst

Serendipity Literary Agency in conjunction with Sourcebooks Inc. is hosting their seventh annual Young Adult Novel Discovery Competition. If you’ve had trouble pitching your ideas in the past, no worries with this contest. You won’t even need a query!

YA literary agent Regina Brooks and her team will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. (There are supposed to 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, and Abram Books. Judges will whittle the top 20 down to five winners, including a Grand Prize Winner.

Submissions open on November 1, 2016 at 12:01am (ET) and close on November 30, 2016 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!

Pitch To Publication Is Coming

October 17, 2016Contests, Literary#P2P16, Agents, Authors, contest, Editors, Free Editing, Manuscripts, Pitch to Publication, Samantha Fountain, Submissions, Twitter, Writingpdpabst

Hard to believe it’s almost time for another Pitch To Publication, aka #P2P16, created by agency intern Samantha Fountain. Writers can follow along on twitter for announcements at the above hashtag (or Samantha’s account), but submissions for the contest will be on the P2P website via a form on October 22, 2016.

This contest is for finished and polished manuscripts only. Writers need to submit a query letter and five pages of their manuscript. The submission window will open at noon EST and last for 24 hours. Authors should peruse the participating freelance editors to know which one to submit their story to because only 3 can be chosen (plus a 4th as backup incase their selections “cap out”). Editors can only receive 100 queries. So authors, do the research necessary to prevent getting deleted because an editor isn’t interested in the genre or age category you submitted.

If chosen, the editor will work with the author for five weeks to hone the story before the agent round begins on December 5, 2016. Requests for fulls will be announced on twitter on December 9, 2016.

As always, good luck!

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

The Manuscript Academy Scholarship Giveaway

October 15, 2016Contests, Literary, Writing Conferences & Getaways#PitchWars Community, Adult Ficiton, Authors, Brenda Drake, Conference, Memoir, Middle Grade, Picture Books, Pitch Wars, Published, Scholarship, The Manuscript Academy, Writing, Young Adultpdpabst

how-to-throw-a-2

The Pitch Wars community, founded by Brenda Drake, has joined forces with The Manuscript Academy to give away scholarships for upcoming conferences:

Writing Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult, begins November 5, 2016

How to Get Your Adult Fiction (or Memoir) Published, begins November 26, 2016

THREE writers will be selected based on a brief description of why they want/need this opportunity. Authors should check out The Manuscript Academy and then fill out the form on Brenda’s blog to let the community know why they would like to win. The scholarship giveaway will be open until October 18th!

As always, good luck!

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

Nightmare On Query Street 2016

October 5, 2016Contests, LiteraryAgents, Authors, Fiction, Laura Hefferman, Manuscripts, Mentors, Michael Anthony, Michelle Hauck, Nightmare On Query Street, Nonfiction, Query, Writingpdpabst

noqs-2016

It’s getting close to Halloween, which means Nightmare On Query Street is soon! But don’t let the title fool you into thinking you’re manuscript won’t qualify. The title is more about when the contest takes place. You can enter any age category or genre, excluding picture books and erotica.

The submission window opens at 4:00 pm (EST) on October 14th. All entries sent before this time will be deleted. For this years contest, there are 25 agents lined up! TWENTY FIVE! How awesome is that? But you’d better be on your toes if you want to submit. They will close submissions when they reach 250 entries or in two hours, whichever is first.

Michelle, Mike, and Laura will make 13 picks each. Then a few mentors they’ve selected will help the authors hone their entries before the agent round. On October 29 through October 30, the entries will go live for the agents to select.

Some rules to take note of:

You are not eligible if you’ve been in an agent round in the last six months. (This does not include open twitter pitches.)
You can enter if you have a different manuscript to enter than previous agent round you were in.
Only ONE entry per person. (No using multiple emails or pen names!)

You’ll need to send you query and first 250 words, along with a short paragraph (no more than 100 words) answering this question: What is your main character’s most stressful relationship? Who really makes them sweat?

For complete details and submission formatting, go here. Also, be on the look out on each of their blogs for FREE PASSES!

As always, good luck!

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

The Sunday Times Short Story Award

September 19, 2016Contests, LiteraryAuthors, contest, english, Ireland, Manuscript, Monetary Prize, Publication, Short Story Award, Society of Authors, The Sunday Times, United Kingdom, Writingpdpabst

The Sunday Times is sponsoring an international award worth £30,000 to the winner. It’s open to any story of up to 6,000 words written in English. Stories need to have been either previously unpublished or only published after December 31, 2015. Five authors shortlisted for the award will each receive £1,000. The prize is administered by the Society of Authors.

To be eligible, the author must simply have a record of prior publication in creative writing in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

The deadline for entries is 6pm (GMT) on Thursday, 29 September 2016.

Make sure you read the entire instructions and terms and conditions (available as a download) before you submit your entry form! Go here for all the details.

As always, good luck!

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

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