Tag Archives: Fiction

ON THE BLOCK CONTEST

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Authoress

Oh I just love literary contests that help writers sign with agents. Don’t you? Here is another great one hosted by Authoress on her blog Miss Snark’s First Victim. The contest is called ON THE BLOCK and submissions open September 8, 2016 from 8am-10pm (EDT). That’s next week peeps!

This is for polished and completed manuscripts only. Please know there is an entry fee of $21 (US) payable via Paypal. (A lot of work goes into these contests!) The contest will cap at 250 submissions, so don’t delay when the window opens. Out of those subs, only 20 entries will be chosen for the agent round. Authoress is accepting middle grade, young adult, new adult and adult fiction manuscripts only. (Sorry, no picture books, poetry, and narrative non-fiction.) Be sure to go to Miss Snark’s First Victim to find the participating agents and submission guidelines.

As always, good luck!

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

Sourcebooks: Romance Submissions

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Sourcebooks

While Sourcebooks only accepts virtually all agented submissions, they’re doors are wide open for romance fiction subs—even from unagented writers! They are acquiring single-title romance fiction for their Casablanca imprint. Some of the subgenres they’ll accept are:

  • paranormal romance
  • romantic suspense
  • contemporary romance
  • erotic romance
  • historical romance (prior to 1900 only)

Please note, this is not an exclusive list as they state they’ll consider all subgenres. The manuscripts they’re looking for should be between 85,000-100,000 words. For complete criteria and to learn how to submit, go here.

As always, good luck!

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

Pitch Wars Submissions are Open

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PitchWars-Logo

This is a quick reminder that Brenda Drake’s Pitch Wars submissions opened yesterday and will close August 6 at 10pm EDT (New York time). Go here for the guidelines and here  to submit. There are two extras this year also, a scavenger hunt  (scroll to find the info) to get a free pass into Pitch Wars and if you donate at least $20 you can pick two extra mentors. Woot! Lastly, be sure and stop by twitter to watch the #PitchWars feed because they are giving extra mentor prizes away.

As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst

LOUISE MERIWETHER FIRST BOOK PRIZE

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Feminist Press

The Feminist Press has partnered with TAYO Literary Magazine to launch a contest seeking the best debut books by women and nonbinary writers of color to celebrate author Louis Meriwether’s achievements. This contest is for first time authors. Submit your complete manuscript of fiction (including novels and short story collections) or narrative memoir between 50,000 and 80,000 words. Capture their attention with your words and could receive $5,000 and a publishing contract from the Feminist Press!

To learn how to enter and complete guidelines, go here. As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst

Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Manuscript Wish List

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MSWL Logo

Today I learned someone didn’t know Manuscript Wish List existed. I’ve blogged about it before but decided to readdress since agents updated their requests June 30th, as well as tweeting their wants on the twitter hashtag #MSWL. For those who don’t already know, Manuscript Wish List was created by agent Jessica Sinsheimer for agents (and some editors) to let writer’s know what they’d like to see in their inbox. Yes, it’s that simple! So, before you decide to query that shiny new manuscript, check out the website to see if any agents would be a perfect fit. Even more exciting, they’ve created a sign-up for upcoming newsletters!

We all should thank Jessica promptly! Just sayin’.

As always, good luck!

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

PitMad Is Approaching

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This is a reminder to polish your pitches for Brenda Drake’s #PitMad coming on June 9, 2016 form 8am-8pm (EDT). This is a twitter pitch contest requiring 140 characters (which includes your genre and age category). Only submit polished, finished, and unpublished manuscripts! Rules state to only pitch three times per manuscript for the entire day.  Please don’t break these rules so it will remain easier for agents/editors to surf the feed for favorites. If they see a bunch of repeats, they’ll be more likely to stop looking!

Remember to NOT favorite (heart) a pitch you like unless you are an agent or an editor. While authors are flattered to know you love their pitch (because it’s freaking hard to put a synopsis in 140 characters), they wind up shedding a tear when they realize it wasn’t an agent/editor. Okay, maybe not literally, but they do have a mini-heart attack. (Seriously!)

Although there will be many legitimate professionals searching #PitMad for an awesome story to snag, be aware anyone can trawl the feed. If you get favorited, be sure to check out credentials before submitting.

And finally, not going to be home during the contest? Use TweetDeck to schedule your tweety pitches! As always, good luck!

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

Scrivener for Writers

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For years I’ve heard writers say they use Scrivener to help them write their manuscripts and I’ve recently decided to give it a whirl with my new manuscript. The software features a corkboard to organize, which even helps with writing a synopsis and moving index cards around. Other features include the Outliner, Scrivenings, Text Editing, Scriptwriting, and more. For a full description of all the features go here. And the best part about this software helping writers with their manuscript is it only costs $40 USD (available for windows and mac).

If you also use Scrivener, let others know in the comments how you feel about the software. Have a great day and happy writing.

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

HarperLegend Submissions

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HarperLegend

You know I can’t resist informing readers about opportunities for open submissions to publishers, especially when one of the pubs is a big house. HarperCollins has an imprint called HarperLegend that allows authors to submit manuscripts, even if they don’t have an agent. According to the webpage, they want novels that communicate wisdom, insight, transformation and/or personal growth. These novels may have many different stripes and flavors including Christian, Eastern, or general spirituality, personal growth, wisdom literature, fables, historical fiction, fantasy fiction, even paranormal as long as it’s transformational. Some examples of books they give that’ll fit their taste are:

If you’ve got something along these lines, go here to submit.

As always, good luck.

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

Witness Impulse Open Submissions

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How exciting is it to know that one of the big five publishers has imprints that allow authors to submit without having an agent? Of course, I feel the need to stress that I’m a firm believer in agents first, but sometimes there is a need to do submissions in reverse. So who am I to judge!

This digital imprint from HarperCollins called Witness Impulse is for mystery, suspense, and thriller lines. The imprint launched in 2013 and is already the publisher of bestselling authors like Agatha Christie, Stephen Booth, Susan McBride, and more. Go here to learn more and to submit your completed and polished manuscript.

As always, good luck.

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

An Agent’s Inbox with @NaughtyBrent

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Krista Van Dolzer is hosting An Agent’s Inbox with Brent Taylor of TriadaUS Literary Agency. Submissions for this contest will open on Monday, March 14, 2016 at 1pm (EDT). Krista will only take the first 25 entries, so have everything ready to submit. To enter you’ll need to submit the first 250 words of your manuscript and your query letter. Please do not enter if your manuscript is not complete and polished! Be sure and check Krista’s website for all the rules and how to submit.

Oh, and Mr. Taylor was my editor before he became an agent. He’s totally awesome peeps! As always, good luck!

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