Tag Archives: contest

Skylark Literary Agency: The Tales For Teens Competition

Skylark-Logo-CMYK

Great news! Skylark Literary Agency has put together a competition for fiction manuscripts geared toward young readers of ages 13-15. (Non-fiction is not accepted.) They are looking for uplifting stories with a compelling story and strong characters. They are asking that there be no sex in your completed manuscript.

The Guest Judges

Lauren Fortune, Senior Commissioning Editor, Fiction, Scholastic Children’s Books

Ellen Holgate, Editorial Director, Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Florentyna Martin, Children’s New Titles Buyer, Waterstones

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. We 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 March 27, 2016. 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

No #Adpit Today!

Twitter Logo

Just a quick note to writers who might’ve thought #Adpit would be today, the date got moved by the host to April 1, 2016. I’ll blog later and remind everyone. But on the bright side, you’ve longer to hone your pitches!

Have a great writing day!

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

Pitch Madness – Mario Kart Edition

Pitch Madness-Mario Kart Edition

It’s time for another Pitch Madness event brought to you by author Brenda Drake. The contest is for completed manuscripts only, so please don’t submit your current WIP. Since this is a blog contest, here is how it works. You’ll submit a 35 word pitch and the first 250 words of you manuscript via email. Hosts and co-hosts will select the 60 finalists to move into the agent round. They’ll accept MG, YA, NA, and adult fiction. (Sorry, no non-fiction allowed.)

The submission window will open at 12:01 AM EST on February 26, 2016 and close at 11:59 PM EST. Participating agents will be announced on Brenda’s blog on February 17th, so watch her site for updates and submission guidelines.

Twitter Pitch Contest for Picture Books

#PBPitch

Hurray, a twitter pitch contest for picture books only! You read that correctly, PICTURE BOOKS ONLY. Use the twitter hashtag #PBPitch on February 11, 2016. If you are an illustrator, you can attach an image to the pitch. And please note you can only pitch twice: once before 2pm and once after. (I’m sorry but the host hasn’t specified if this is EST, or another.) For complete guidelines, check out the PBPitch blog.

Check out the agents and editors that will be participating!

As always, good luck!

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

 

Dear Lucky Agent Contest: Women’s Fiction

DearLuckyAgent24

Chuck Sambuchino of Writer’s Digest is hosting another Dear Lucky Agent Contest on February 9, 2016. This 21st edition is with Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein of McIntosh & Otis. To submit, send the first 150-250 words (i.e., your first double-spaced page) of your unpublished, completed book-length work of women’s fiction (no erotica or category romance). You must include a contact e-mail address with your entry and use your real name. Also, submit the title of the work and a logline (one-sentence description of the work) with each entry.

For complete details, go here. As always, good luck!

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

Bookfish Books Crit & Pub Opportunity

Bookfish Books Logo

Bookfish Books is hosting a twitter pitch party for an opportunity to be published through the company on January 13th, 2016. What’s even greater is that all favorited pitches will get personal feedback! This is golden in the writing industry. The editors also promise to give a few individuals critiques on their manuscripts first three chapters.

ShamWow guy

But wait, that’s not all!

One lucky writer will win a critique of his/her full manuscript. Whoa! Now that’s a golden ticket filled with scrumptious chocolate. And to top things off with ooze worthy icing, writer’s have an opportunity to be published if an editor loves their manuscript. (Obviously, I’ve an obsession with sweets today.)

Be sure and visit Bookfish Books to learn the rules and follow on twitter at #pitchBFB.

As always, goodluck.

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

#PitMad Is Tomorrow!

images (1)

Just a quick post from my mobile (so excuse any typos or wonky layouts). I want to make sure all my readers know Brenda Drake’s #PitMad is tomorrow! So get your 140 character pitch ready. If you won’t be home, you can always use TweetDeck to schedule your tweets.

And most importantly, be aware of the new rules! You are only allowed THREE pitches per manuscript. This is because #PitMad has become so popular that agents are having issues keeping up with the feed and many pitches are getting lost in the flow of abundance.

Also make a note NOT to RT to show support for a friend. (Tag them without RT to let them know.) And always-always remember to NOT favorite another pitch you like. This is for agents and publishers to request material.

For complete rules, go to the #PitMad page on Brenda’s site.

 

PITCHSLAM Contest

owl-mail2

Oh my goodness, a contest for writers to find a literary agent with a Hogwarts theme! This is pure heaven for all the Harry Potter fans. On October 21st, writers will submit a 35 word pitch and first 250 words from their completed and polished manuscripts. What’s that? Your pitch and 250 words need another looksy? Have no fear, there are critique rounds before the final submission dates. On October 17th, 150 pitches will be selected for critique. Then on October 19th, 150 entrants of the first 250 words will be selected for feedback. But don’t worry, on the 21st of October, there will be no limit for submissions into the actual contest.

For all important dates you can go here or here. And be sure to watch the host’s blogs/websites (L.L. McKinney & Kimberly Vanderhorst) for contest rules, judge information, and participating agents.

As always, good luck and happy writing!

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

#PITMAD, hosted by @BrendaDrake is TOMORROW 9/10/15

Don’t forget the quarterly pitch event with Brenda Drake is tomorrow Thursday, September 10, 2015 on twitter under the hashtag #PitMad. If you are new to the game of writing, this is where you create a 140 character pitch for your FINISHED manuscript and tweet for agents to read. Things to remember:

  • Pitch submission time is 8am-8pm EDT (New York time)
  • You must fit the hashtag of #Pitmad within the 140 characters.
  • Include the category hashtag (#YA, #MG, #A, #NA, #PB, and #NF)
  • Include the genre hashtag (Ex: #PR for paranormal romance or #M for mystery)
  • Change tweets up. (Twitter will remove identical ones thinking they are spam.)
  • DON’T FAVORITE TWEETS! This is for agents or editors only. (If you want to support a friend, do it by retweeting.)
  • If you won’t be available this day, schedule tweets using Tweetdeck.
  • Only tweet once per thirty minutes so you don’t congest the feed.
  • Don’t tweet agents and editors directly unless they tweet you first, or openly state it’s okay to tweet them direct.
  • Scammers can’t be controlled on an open pitch party. DO YOUR HOMEWORK before you submit from a favorite. You can check against Preditors & Editors, Publishers Marketplace, or Absolute Write Forums.

For additional tips, go to Brenda’s Drakes Pitmad page. As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Writer and blogger of MG/YA fiction

IT HAS BEGUN: Pitch Wars Mentor Blog Hop

Woo-hoo! It’s that time of year again when mentors select a mentee to help them rework their entire manuscript for the agent round. This year Pitch Wars (hosted by the fabulous Brenda Drake) has 108 mentors to choose from to help make a writer’s story shine! But unlike past years, writers get to choose five mentors to submit instead of four. This is awesome!

Pitch Wars 2015

From today until submissions day (August 17), writers can peruse blogs of the participating mentors to see their wish list for entries and make sure they’d be a good match. Most of the mentors supply links to their twitter accounts too, where they can be stalked observed for social meshing. Also, a few beloved mentors said they don’t mind some questions via twitter or their blog, but be careful as to not be pitching to them. There are some other important dates when questions can be asked, such as #AskMentor on twitter (August 10), so be sure to check out Brenda’s blog. She has important dates and submission guidelines!

And here are your mentors…

1. Kes Trester (co- mentoring with Jennifer Hawkins) YA 37. Emmie Mears Adult 73. Katie Bucklein YA & NA
2. Mindy McGinnis (co- mentoring with Kate Karyus Quinn) YA 38. Lori Goldstein (co- mentoring with Chelsea Bobulski) YA 74. Kevin A Springer MG
3. N.K. Traver YA 39. Jennifer Hawkins (co- mentoring with Kes Trester) YA 75. Brianna Shrum YA
4. Kristin B. Wright Adult 40. Elizabeth Briggs YA & NA 76. Kate Karyus Quinn (co- mentoring with Mindy McGinnis) YA
5. Laura Heffernan Adult 41. Ron Walters (co- mentoring with Meredith McCardle) YA 77. Kim Graff YA
6. Mary Ann Marlowe Adult 42. Fiona McLaren (co- mentoring with Dionne McCulloch) MG 78. Emily Martin YA
7. Joy McCullough- Carranza MG 43. S.M. Johnston (co- mentoring with Stacey Nash) YA & NA 79. Trisha Leaver (co- mentoring with Jenni Walsh) YA
8. Lisa Lewis- Tyre MG 44. Max Wirestone Adult 80. Kim Long MG
9. Jenni L. Walsh (co- mentoring with Trisha Leaver) YA 45. Jaye Robin Brown YA 81. Catherine Scully MG
10. Sarah Glenn Marsh YA 46. Molly Lee YA 82. Stacey Trombley YA
11. Julie C. Dao MG 47. Rachel Lynn Solomon YA 83. Stephanie Scott (co- mentoring with Valerie Cole) YA
12. Kellye Garrett Adult 48. J.C. Nelson NA & Adult 84. Valerie Cole (co- mentoring with Stephanie Scott) YA
13. K.T. Hanna Adult 49. Holly Faur Adult 85. Lizzy Charles YA
14. Jessie Devine YA 50. Sonia Hartl Adult 86. Dannie Morin (co- mentoring with Alexandra Alessandri) YA
15. Rosalyn Eves YA 51. Natasha Raulerson Adult 87. Kate Foster MG
16. Jami Nord Adult 52. Marty Mayberry YA 88. Elly Blake MG
17. Samantha Joyce YA & NA 53. J.C. Davis MG 89. Julie Sondra Decker YA & NA
18. Helene Dunbar YA 54. Rebecca Wells MG 90. Lady Lioness NA & Adult
19. Jenna Lehne MG 55. Michelle Hauck Adult 91. Susan Gray Foster (co- mentoring with Monica Bustamante Wagner_ YA & NA
20. Linsey Miller YA 56. Tabitha Martin YA 92. Kelly Calabrese YA
21. Jessica Vitalis MG 57. Rebecca Petruck MG 93. Sarah Nicolas YA
22. Stacey Graham MG 58. Sarah Henning Adult 94. Kelly Siskind NA & Adult
23. Dan Koboldt Adult 59. Alex White Adult 95. Roselle Kaes Adult
24. Brighton Walsh NA & Adult 60. Jeanmarie Anaya YA 96. Monica Bustamante Wagner (co- mentoring with Susan Gray Foster) YA
25. Kate Brauning YA & NA 61. Laura Salters YA 97. Renee Ahdieh (co- mentoring with Traci Chee) YA
26. Lisa Maxwell YA 62. Wade Albert White MG 98. Traci Chee (co- mentoring with Renee Ahdieh) YA
27. Wendy Spinale YA 63. Brooks Benjamin MG 99. Janet B. Taylor (co- mentoring with Kathryn Purdie & Shannon Parker YA
28. Sarah Cannon MG 64. Margarita Montimore Adult 100. Jessie Humphries (co- mentoring with Mara Rae) YA
29. L.L. McKinney YA 65. Megan Grimit YA 101. Lynnette Labelle Adult
30. Juliana Brandt MG 66. Charlie Holmberg NA & Adult 102. Erica M. Chapman YA
31. Scarlett Cole Adult 67. Diana Gallager YA & NA 103. Summer Spence YA
32. Hayley Stone Adult 68. Stefanie Wass MG 104. Marieke Nijkamp YA
33. Jennifer Blackwood YA & NA 69. Tamara Mataya Adult 105. Meredith McCardle (co- mentoring with Ron Walters) YA
34. Kendra Young MG 70. Rebecca Sky YA & NA 106. Thomas Torre MG
35. S.P. McConnell NA & Adult 71. Kara Seal MG 107. Phil Stamper YA
36. Nikki Roberti YA 72. Lee Gjertsen Malone MG 108. J.A. Souders YA

While I helped by stating the age category each mentor is requesting, READ THEIR BIO’s to make sure they rep your genre! And before I let you go, here is a peak of some of the participating agents this year! (And Brenda has said more will be coming!)

  • Louise Fury – The Bent Agency
  • Melissa Edwards – Aaron Priest Agency
  • Alexandra Machinist – ICM Partners
  • Saba Sulaiman – Talcott Notch
  • Laura Biagi – Jean V. Naggar
  • Claire Anderson Wheeler – Regal Literary
  • Stefanie Lieberman – Janklow & Nesbit Associates
  • Carrie Prestritto – Prospect Agency
  • Melissa Nasson – Ruben Pfeffer Content
  • Uwe Stender/ Brent Taylor – TriadaUS
  • The New Leaf Literary Agents – Suzie Townsend, Pete Knapp
  • Molly Glick – Foundry Literary
  • Kitty Walker – Eve White Literary Group
  • Moe Ferrera – Booksends
  • Margaret Bail – Inklings Literary Agency
  • Julia Weber – J.A. Weber Literaturagentur GmbH
  • Rachel Brooks – L. Perkins Agency
  • Leon Husock – L. Perkins Agency
  • Christa Heschke – McIntosh & Otis
  • Stacey Donaghy – Donaghy Literary Group
  • Taylor Haggerty – Waxman Leavell Literary Agency
  • Emmanuelle Morgen – Stonesong
  • Amy Cloughley – Kimberley Cameron & Association
  • Brianne Johnson – Writers House
  • And more to come!

As always, good luck!

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