There is a fantastic interview with Caitlen Rubino-Bradway of LKG Agency on Brenda Drake‘s blog. I decided I should share it for those who might have missed it because Caitlen shares what she is looking for in an author, which I think can be universal for agents. So please, read and share this for all your writing pals. It’s simply good advise.
Have a great day writing!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.
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.
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 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 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
If you have a completed manuscript, there is a new contest for you! Author Brenda Drake has teamed up with the creator of Manuscript Wishlist and literary agent Jessica Sinsheimer from Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency. This is another twitter event, so you need to have your 140 character pitch ready, including the #PitMatch hashtag. The event is only three hours on February 11, 2016 EST, between 1pm-4pm. The goal is for Brenda and Jessica to match up pitches with the right agent.
The good news is everyone could be a possible winner with a good match! For complete details on how it’s going to work, go here.
As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction
It’s that time of year again when Amy Trueblood and Michelle Hauck host Sun vs Snow! This is not a twitter contest, but a blog contest. Make sure you get your submission ready via email and submit when the window opens on February 1, 2016 at 4pm EST. They only take the first 200 entries, so don’t wait to long. Get your query and first 250 words polished now!
This is only for completed manuscripts, so please don’t send WIPs. Go here for complete guidelines.
As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer MG/YA fiction
This Friday (January 29th) will be the first pitch event of 2016 for Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency and Conville & Walsh. These events are held on the fourth Friday of every month, so you can catch the next event if you miss this one.
In order to submit, prepare a 140 character pitch including #pitchCB hashtag for your completed manuscript. The window will be open for 24 hours and remember to only pitch once! If your pitch is “liked”, submit directly to that agent following that agencies’ submission guidelines.
As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction
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.
Oh yes, another wonderful contest to connect writers with literary agents! SUH-WEET! Please get familiar with these important dates:
Submission Window Opens: October 15th 4:00 pm EST
Final Picks are Announced: October 20th undecided time
Mentors Go to Work: October 21th – 26th
Revised Entries Due Back: October 26th at 8 pm
Agent round: October 29th – 30th
The contest is hosted by Michelle Hauck and Michael Anthony. So far there are twenty agents signed up, but Michelle hasn’t posted them yet. However, she has revealed the mentors that will help winners perfect their query and first 250 words. They are:
To learn brief bios on all the mentors you can visit half of them on Michelle’s site and the other half on Mike’s site. There is also a FREE PASS contest on Michelle’s site to go straight to the agent round! And don’t forget to watch for the list of participating agents, as well as pay attention to rules and formatting.
As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction
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:
For additional tips, go to Brenda’s Drakes Pitmad page. As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Writer and blogger of MG/YA fiction
Hello wonderful mentors of Pitch Wars and thank you for stalking visiting me!
I hope this means you like my first pages and want to know more about me. I write both young adult and middle grade, generally with a creepy vibe. So far, I’ve 68 (and climbing) ideas for stories and struggle to choose the next one to start. THIS SCARY MANOR BLOWS is my third completed manuscript, so as you can see, I’ve many more to go!
But don’t let this spine-chilling tale-telling girl fool you. I must admit a few ideas in my notebook aren’t always eerie—such as my underwater, alien-ish world adventure or the car that time travels with fun loving brothers. Sometimes, I just like a good laugh around my weirdness.
Some of my favorite pastimes involve anything in an ocean: swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving (I once swam over a Manta ray), cave exploring, hiking (especially in the mountains), whitewater rafting, repelling, jet skiing, painting, cooking, movies, hanging with the family, and writing (of course). When I write, I can be found sipping tea—okay, a LOT of tea—and eating cheese. I also shove chocolate down my throat when I’m waiting for contest results and stalking hashtags. Eating jalapenos with most meals is a craving, not an obsession—I swear! And lobster (or any seafood) is my absolute favorite meal. But I love all ethnic foods; my tongue has no limit for the goodies!
But, sometimes goodies have a limit. Like, who’s eating whom here?
Okay, enough about scrumptious stuff or I’m gonna have to take a break to feed my face (yes, I really didn’t say mouth or stomach. I hear you mentor). You might be wondering what I like to read. Dude, I’m all over the place. But here are a few books I’ve enjoyed:
• The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (but anything by Neil really!)
• Doll Bones, Holly Black
• Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rolling
• The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
• The Luck Uglies, Paul Durham
• Ink and Bone, Rachel Caine
• We All Looked Up, Tommy Wallach
• Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
• Watchers, Dean Koontz
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
What am I going to buy at Barnes & Noble later today? Not what you might think, a young adult book. Hey, don’t snarl at all that’s not middle grade, yo. The cover grabbed my attention on Holly’s site!
And of course, I must mention some of my favorite movies. In no particular order:
• Hocus Pocus
• The Goonies
• Harry Potter
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Twilight
• The Notebook
• Frozen (Okay, so it’s an animation. Watcha gonna do about it?)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992 directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
• The Mummy (1999 with Brendan Fraser—and OMGosh people, a reboot is coming in 2017!)
• 2012
• The Hunger Games
• Phantom of the Opera (1925 with Lon Chaney. Yes, I watched many old—old movies with my momma; basically she’d turn on anything with Lon, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and pirate movies with Errol Flynn. And no, I’m not an old hag peeps, I’m only 46.)
Of course, I also like Pride & Prejudice but hey, I threw the Notebook in the list and didn’t want you to think I was all about the mooshy-mooshy. (But, I might be, especially with a good mysterious creature or ghost!) Oh, that makes me think of Ghost with Patrick Swayze (sad moment). Dang, that was a good movie!
In my non-writing life, I’m a retail manager. So, I’m accustomed to setting goals with deadlines, and creating a marketing plan to promote product. I’m also a good listener to customer needs to turn the knowledge into a sale. These skills are handy to have as a writer. And lastly, I’m a quick learner and pretty easy going. So, even though I’m a panster, I’m trying my hand at outlining on my next novel (cuz I’m not scared). And if you’re blunt with critiques, I swoon at the words.
So there you have a brief summary of who I am. Good luck with finding an awesome mentee, but…PICK ME!
(BTW, this picture is super cool and creepy with the ice hands, but I have to clarify—I hate Pepsi! I’m a Dr. Pepper kind of girl.)
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction
With folks wanting to hone their pitches, queries, and first chapters before PitchWars submission, I thought I’d help everyone searching for a critique partner. Contests such of these are great for finding people who write in the same category and genre as you. Here are some places and things to do:
If you’re a member of a writers guild, you can usually find a place to get feedback on those sites too. I’m sure there are many more places to find help honing your craft, but these are a few places to get you started.
As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction
pdpabst 