Tag Archives: Manuscripts

San Francisco Writers Conference

December 24, 2016Literary, Writing Conferences & GetawaysAevitas Creative Management, Agents, Authors, books, California, Chronicle Books, Consultation, Dana Newman Literary, Editors, Fairbank Literary Representattion, Feedback, Fuse Literary, Harlequin/HarperCollins, Heather Graham, Irene Goodman Literary Agency, Jim Azevedo, John Perkins, Kimberley Cameron Literary, Literary Agents, Manuscripts, Mark Hopkins Hotel, Marketing, New York TImes Best Sellers, Peter Beren Literary Agency, Pitch Event, San Francisco, San Francisco Writers Conference, St. Martin's Press, Touchstone S&S, Trident Media Group, Viking Children's Books, William Bernahrdt, Writers, Writing, Writing Advicepdpabst

Image result for san francisco writers conference

The 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference will be held on February 16-19 at the historical Mark Hopkins Hotel. Meet keynoters:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham
Author/Red Sneaker Writers founder William Bernhardt
New York Times bestselling author/Activist John Perkins

But the SFWC presenters list also includes many more bestselling authors, literary agents, editors, and publishers from major publishing houses. There are experts on self-publishing, book promotion, platform building, social media, and author websites.

PRESENTERS:
Jon Agee, children’s book author/illustrator
Nina Amir, author, speaker, journalist, nonfiction editor/coach/consultant
Kathleen Antrim, author, Co-President, of International Thriller Writers
Jim Azevedo, Smashwords Marketing Director
Aya de Leon, author and poet
Frances Caballo, SFWC social media director
Zoe FitzGerald Carter, author of Imperfect Endings: A Daughter’s Story of Love, Loss, and Letting Go
Stephanie Chandler, author, speaker and CEO
Mark Coker, Smashwords Founder
Rana DiOrio, Chief Executive Officer of Little Pickle Press
Julia Drake, co-founder of Wildbound PR
Selden Edwards, author of The Lost Prince
Kate Farrell, author, librarian, storyteller
Steaphen Fick, founder of the Davenriche Martial Artes School
Elizabeth Fishel, author of Getting To 30: A Parent’s Guide to the 20-Something Years (coauthored with Jeffrey Arnett)
Diane Frank, poet and author of six books of poems
Joel Friedlander, award-winning book designer and blogger
Tanya Egan Gibson, author, freelance editor and consultant
Cali Gilbert, author
Jewelle Gomez, author, poet, critic and playwright
Constance Hale, journalist and author
Melissa Hart, author and contributing editor at The Writer Magazine
K.J. Howe, author and Executive Director of ThrillerFest
Stuart Horwitz, founder and principal of Book Architecture
Carla King, adventure travel author, Founder of Self-Pub Boot Camp and Author Friendly
Michael Larsen, author, co-founder/co-director of the SFWC
Linda Lee, web site designer and WordPress expert
Donna Levin, author/writing teacher
Richard Loranger, writer, performer, visual artist
Mary Mackey, novelist, poet, screenwriter
Susie Meserve, memoirist, essayist, and poet
Tim McCanna, author of Bitty Bot and Watersong
Jennie Nash, author, teacher and CCO of AuthorAccelerator
Louise Nayer, co-authored How To Bury A Goldfish: 113 Rituals for Everyday Life.
Kathryn Otoshi, children’s book author
Douglas Rees, children’s book author and librarian
Olivia Rivers, children’s book author
Jordan E. Rosenfeld, author, editor and writing coach
Orna Ross, Irish indie author. She writes and publishes novels, poetry and the Go Creative!
Naheed Senzai, children’s book author
Lida Sideris, author of Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters
Justin Sloan, video game writer, novelist and screenwriter
Steven Spatz, writer,marketer and President of BookBaby
Elizabeth Stark, author,mentor and podcaster
Penny Warner, author and Agatha Award winner
Dylan Yates, author, writer and vocal coach

The lists for attending agents and editors looks topnotch! Some of the agents will even be accepting pitches during the Speed Dating For Agents. You can see a list of those participating here. Their are also editors doing eight minute consultations. More information on the consults is here. But for an idea of the many agents and editors that will be in attendance, here is a list:

AGENTS:
Lisa Abellera, Kimberley Cameron and Associates (CA)
Peter Beren, Peter Beren Literary Agency (CA)
Jennifer Chen Tran, Fuse Literary (CA)
Amy Cloughley, Kimberley Cameron & Assoc. (CA)
Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank, Fairbank Literary Representation (NY)
Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group, LLC (NYC)
Sarah Levitt, Aevitas Creative Management (NY)
Laurie McLean, Fuse Literary (CA)
Mary C. Moore, Kimberley Cameron & Associates (CA)
Dana Newman, Dana Newman Literary (CA)
Kim Perel, Irene Goodman Literary Agency (NY)
Jody Rein, Jody Rein Books (CO)
Andy Ross, Andy Ross Agency (CA)
Rayhané Sanders, Lippincott Massie McQuilkin (NY)
Ken Sherman, Ken Sherman & Associates (CA)
Jennifer March Soloway, Associate Agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (CA)
Gordon Warnock, Fuse Literary (CA)
Carlie Webber, CK Webber Associates (CA)
Ted Weinstein, Ted Weinstein Literary (CA)
Anna Worrall, The Gernert Company (NY)
Adriann Ranta Zurhellen, Foundry Literary + Media (NY)

EDITORS:
Chuck Adams, Executive editor at Algonquin Books
Brenda Copeland, St. Martins Press
Jason Gardner, New World Library
Mary Knippel, Independent Editor
Heather Lazare, Editor & Publishing Consultant
Tyler Moss, Managing Editor at Writers Digest
Taylor Norman, Chronicle Books
Jane Ormerod, Founding editor at great weather for MEDIA
Mary Rakow, Independent Editor
Leila Sales, author and Associate Publishing Manager at Viking Children’s Books
Lauren Spiegel, Senior Editor at Touchstone (S&S)
Liz Stein, Editor at Park Row Books, a division of Harlequin/HarperCollins
Annie Tucker, independent writing coach, developmental editor, and copy editor
Monica Wesolowska, Editor and teacher of fiction and creative non-fiction
Lisa Westmoreland, Executive Editor at 10 Speed Press

For those attending, this sounds like a great four days of learning and marketing yourself!

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

2017 Minnesota Writing Workshop

December 18, 2016Literary, Writing Conferences & GetawaysAdult Books, Betsy Amster Literary, Childrens Books, Conference, Corvisiero Literary Agency, Dee Mura Literary, Editing, Editors, February, Fiction, Getting Published, Graywolf Press, How To Get Published, Jennifer De Chiara Literary, Kensington Publishing, Literary Agents, Manuscripts, Middle Grade Books, Mighty Media Press Children's Books, Minnesota, Minnesota Writing Workshop, Non-Fiction, Pitch Event, Red Sofa Literary, St. Paul, Stories, The Bent Agency, The Lark Group, Writers, Writing, Young Adult Bookspdpabst

The 2017 Minnesota Writing Workshop 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. Note that there are limited seats at the event (150 total). This workshop is a full-day “How to Get Published” writing event in St. Paul, MN on February 11, 2017.

Agents and editors confirmed to be in attendance and/or available to pitch are:

literary agent Laura Zats (Red Sofa Literary)
literary agent Gemma Cooper (The Bent Agency)
editor Yana Makuwa (Graywolf Press)
literary agent Mary Cummings (Betsy Amster Literary)
literary agent Kimiko Nakamura (Dee Mura Literary)
literary agent Vicki Selvaggio (Jennifer De Chiara Literary)
literary agent Jennie Goloboy (Red Sofa Literary)
editor Elizabeth May (Kensington Publishing)
literary agent Abby Saul (The Lark Group)
literary agent Samantha Fountain (Corvisiero Literary)
literary agent Dawn Frederick (Red Sofa Literary)
editor Lauren Kukla (Mighty Media Press Children’s Books)
literary agent Kaylee Davis (Dee Mura Literary)
literary agent Erik Hane (Red Sofa Literary)
and possibly more to be announced.

For information on how to enroll and where to stay, go here. As always, good luck!

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

#PitchMAS Twitter Party Tomorrow!

December 15, 2016Contests, LiteraryAgents, Authors, December, Editors, Guideliens, Jess Russo, Literary contest, Manuscripts, Pitch Contest, Pitch Party, PitchMAS, Tamara Mataya, Twitter, Unagented, Unpublished, Writers, Writingpdpabst

Jessa Russo and Tamara Mataya are celebrating the success of their blog contest with a #PitchMAS twitter party December 16, 2016 from 6am-6pm PST. This is for completed and polished unpublished manuscripts! You will need to create a 140 character pitch for twitter and use the age category and genre (if possible). Participating agents and editors will fave pitches that interested them. Check their twitter feed and/or agency website for guidelines on how to submit.

As for the twitter party guidelines, go here. As always, good luck!

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

The Bent Agency Internship Opportunity

December 14, 2016Internship, LiteraryAdult Fiction, Book Lovers, English Majors, Internship, Literary Agent, Manuscripts, Middle Grade Fiction, New York TImes Bestseller List, Non-English Majors, Readers, Remote, Slush Pile, The Bent Agency, Unpaid, Writers, Young-adult fictionpdpabst

The Bent Agency

The Bent Agency has intern positions open for an adult fiction reader and for a young adult/middle grade reader. To become an intern reader for the Bent Agency, you do not need to have any kind of publishing experience, but you should love to read and be familiar with all sorts of fiction in these categories. In particular, it’s helpful to be familiar with the books on the New York Times bestseller list.

You do not need to live in New York since this is a remote internship. They do ask for a ten-hours-a-week commitment. Please note that it is unpaid. For details on qualifications and how to submit, go here.

As always, good luck!

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

The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition

December 11, 2016Contests, Literaryagent, Chicken House, Childrens Books, Competition, December, Editing, Fiction, Guidelines, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, Monetary Prize, publisher, Publishing, Representation, Royalty Advance, Stories, Times, Unagented, Writers, Writing, Young Adultpdpabst

While they no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts, they do offer unpublished and unagented writers of children’s fiction the chance to submit their work to the annual Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition. They’re looking for original ideas, a fresh voice and a story that children will love!

First prize is a worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House with a royalty advance of £10,000 (approximately $12,500 US), plus representation from a top children’s literary agent.

To enter, you must have written a completed full-length novel suitable for children/young adults aged somewhere between 7 and 18 years. The full-length , manuscript should be minimum of 30,000 words and do not exceed 80,000 words in length.

The deadline to enter is December 18, 2018. Also, there is an entry fee of £15 (approximately $18.76 US). For complete guidelines and entry form, go here.

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

#PitchMAS Blog Contest

December 9, 2016Contests, Literary35 Words, Agents, Blog Contest, contest, December, Editors, Jessa Russo, Literary Cheer, Manuscripts, Pitch, PitchMAS, Publishers, Stories, Submissions, Tamara Mataya, Winners, Writerspdpabst

PitchmasLogo

Oh yes, it’s that holly-jolly Pitchmas time! You know? The best time of the year! Where agents and editors stalk the feed to give you literary cheer!

Jessa Russo and Tamara Mataya are at it again! To submit, you’ll need a 35 word pitch for your finished, polished and unpublished manuscript! They will take submissions by email only, starting Sunday 12/11/16 at 9am PST and ending Monday 12/12/16 at 6pm PST. The winners will go live on the blog December 15, 2016.

You can find this years participating agents and editors here. And don’t worry if you don’t make the contest. There will be a twitter pitch party for everyone on December 16, 2016. Be sure and use the twitter hashtag #Pitchmas (I’ll post a reminder). As always, good luck!

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

Dan Kobolt’s #SFFpit is Tomorrow!

December 6, 2016Contests, Literary#SFFpit, Age Category, Agents, Authors, Dan Koboldt, December, Editors, Fantasy, Genres, Hashtags, Manuscripts, Pitch Party, Publishers, Research Requests, Science Fiction, Stories, Subgenre, Twitter, Unagented, Unpublished, Writerspdpabst

It’s that time of year again for science fiction and fantasy writers to polish their pitches for Dan Koboldt’s #SFFpit writing contest on twitter! It starts tomorrow December 8, 2016 between 8am-6pm EST. This contest allows 10 pitches total and Dan asks that you use them wisely! As usual, it needs to be a 140 character pitch for twitter and includes the hashtag #SFFpit. For all the rules, including how to properly insert the age group and category, go here. And remember to research any agents or editors that favorite your tweet because ANY ONE can trawl the feed!

As always, good luck!

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

Queries That Worked

December 4, 2016LiteraryAgents, Angst, books, Charlotte Dillon, Chuck Sambucnino, Contract, Dream, editor, Hopeful, Inquiry, Letter, Manuscripts, Paragraphs, publisher, Query, Query Sample, rejections, Snubby, Stories, Successful, Successful Queries, Summorizing, Words, Writer's Digest, Writers, Writingpdpabst

Every writer knows the angst of summing their fantastical manuscript into a couple brief paragraphs. This grueling step is necessary to write an intriguing query letter. (For non-writers, this letter is the introduction to a manuscript to swoon a literary agent and/or publisher into reading a writer’s story with hopes of being signed.) Writerly folks can spend hours, days, weeks, and months forming words together, rearranging, and deleting until the paragraphs are just right. And honestly, some writers struggle knowing when the query is the absolute best for sending out into the world.

And sometimes, the problem isn’t always summing up the story. With nearly 130 million books published in the world, it’s likely someone already wrote something similar. So a writer needs to know what makes their story different and highlight that in their query letter. And trust me, this isn’t necessarily as easy as it sounds.

Knowing the struggles of query letters, I decided to inform my readers of a couple places to view query letters that have worked in hopes it’ll help a few writers.

Successful Queries via Chuck Sambuchino at Writer’s Digest. The reason I love this sight is because he also lists commentary from the agent that signed the author and why it worked for them.
Query Samples via Charlotte Dillon.

And for authors receiving rejections, here are a few best sellers that got snubby rejections but went on to sell millions of copies! Don’t let go of your dream!

P.D. Pabst

Blogger and writer of MG/YA Fiction.

Tomorrow is #Pitmad on Twitter

November 30, 2016Literary#Pitmad, Adult, Age Category, Agents, Brenda Drake, Chapter Book, Children's, Editors, Fiction, Genre, Hashtags, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, New Adult, Nonfiction, Picture Book, Pitches, Rules, Stories, Subgenre, Three Pitches, Twitter, Unagented, Unpublished, Writers, Writing, Young Adulutpdpabst

Nothing soothes the writerly soul than a good twitter pitch party! Tomorrow is Brenda Drake‘s infamous #PitMad between the hours of 8am-pm (EDT). Common age category and genre hashtags are below.

Age Categories:

#PB = Picture Book
#C = Children’s
#CB = Chapter Book
#CL = Children’s Lit
#MG = Middle Grade
#YA = Young Adult
#NA = New Adult
#A = Adult

Genres/Sub-genres:

#AA = African American
#AD = Adventure
#CF = Christian Fiction
#CON = Contemporary
#CR = Contemporary Romance
#DIS = Disabilities
#DV = Diversity
#E = Erotica
#ER = Erotic Romance
#ES = Erotica Suspense
#F = Fantasy
#H = Horror
#HA = Humor
#HF = Historical Fiction
#HR = Historical Romance
#INSP = Inspirational
#IRMC = Interracial/Multicultural
#MR = Magical Realism
#M = Mystery
#Mem = Memoir
#LGBT
#LF = Literary Fiction
#NF = Non-fiction
#R = Romance
#P = Paranormal
#PR = Paranormal Romance
#RS = Romantic Suspense
#S = Suspense
#SF = SciFi
#SPF = Speculative Fiction
#T = Thriller
#UF = Urban Fantasy
#W = Westerns
#WF = Woman’s Fiction

The rules clearly state to only pitch THREE times per manuscript during the contest. Don’t break the rules and clog the feed! Also, please remember anyone can stalk the feed. So, do your research before submitting your manuscript!

As always, good luck!

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

Bath Children’s Novel Award

November 19, 2016Awards, Contests, Critiques, LiteraryAM Heath, Authors, Bath Children's Novel Award, Book Deal, books, Conerstones Literary Consultancy, Critique, Feedback, Independent Published, International, Julia Churchill, Literary Agent, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, Monetary Prize, Novelists, Prizes, United Kingdom, Unpublished, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

bath-childrens-novel-award

The Bath Children’s Novel Award is an international writing competition for unpublished and independently published novelists. This years judge is literary agent Julia Churchill of AM Heath. And the sponsor is Cornerstones Literary Consultancy. The winner will receive £2,000 (approximately $2467 US) and a shortlist prize of £500 (approximately $616 US)Cornerstones Literary Consultancy vouchers.

This is The Bath Children’s Novel Award’s second year. Inaugural winner Lucy Van Smit was swiftly signed by literary agent Sallyanne Sweeney, Jane Brittan attracted a Carnegie Medal nomination for her indie-published debut and shortlistee Sophie Cameron signed a book deal with Macmillan Children’s after accepting representation with literary agent Hellie Ogden for her YA novel Out of the Blue.

Entry for the award ends November 20th, 2016 (and remember, this is UK time zone)! For complete guidelines and entry fee information, go here. As always, good luck!

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

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