Tag Archives: Manuscripts

Writers Fest & Conferences

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The Southern Kentucky Book Fest will be held April 23, 2016. Southern Kentucky Book Fest is one of the state’s largest literary events and is presented by Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Warren County Public Library, and WKU Libraries.

The Kentucky Writers Conference and Teen Writers Conference will occur on April 22, 2016. Information on registration and schedule of events will post sometime this month. Keep a watch for the important information as I’m sure they’ll fill up fast.

Have a great day writing.

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

Sun vs Snow Literary Agent Contest

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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

 

Curtis Brown and Conville & Walsh’s Literary Pitch Event

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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

 

PITCHSLAM Contest

Literary, , , , , , , , ,

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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

Pitch to Publication

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Whoa! Did I read that right? This appears to be the Holy Grail of writerly competitions hosted by Samantha Fountain! Okay-okay. So, this won’t provide youth or food in abundance, but it sure as heck is gonna make winners feel extremely happy as it might have the special power to see them get a publishing deal by the end of the year.

Much like Brenda Drake’s PitchWars, Pitch to Publication has mentors that will edit the entire manuscript of the winning entrants. They will go through everything with a fine-tooth comb to make the manuscripts shine before the agent round. However, these mentors are ALL freelance editors, where PW mentors are a mix of agented authors and editors (which is still awesome BTW).

But the difference doesn’t stop there. After the agent round, there will be a publishing house round. (I may have squealed after reading that. Go ahead, you can too.) So basically, if an agent decides to represent one of the entrants, s/he will have time to further edit before the publishing round, but the team can also decide to sit the pub round out. Why on earth would they do that? Perhaps they’ll want longer to work the MS, or any other varied reason.

Here are some important dates:

June 29-July 3: Submissions window for entrants. You can choose up to FIVE mentors. Window closes at midnight on July third.

July 6-16: Editors will make requests for first 50 pages. If a mentor requests pages, they’ll want to see them within 24 hours.

July 17: Noon CST, editors must have sent in their 1st, 2nd, 3rd choices to Samantha Fountain.

July 20: Editor/Author teams will be announced.

July 27- August 28: This will be the time chosen writers will work on their manuscripts with the editors.

August 31- September 1: The agent round.

September 21: The agent needs to have replied to the writer/writers with a rejection or offer of representation. If offer, they’ll have a few more weeks to tweak things.

October 12-13: The Publishing house round.

Unfortunately, if Samantha has listed the agents and publishing houses that are participating, I couldn’t find the links. But, Samantha is responsible for Agent Match, which had agents from Writers House, The Bent Agency, Corvisiero Literary Agency, McIntosh and Otis, TriadaUS Literary Agency, and more! So as you see, she has fabulous connections! I expect she will have many great agents and publishers for this contest too.

Be sure to check out Samantha’s blog for links to the mentors. After reading what they’re looking for, select only five to submit to. There is also more information to know regarding the dates she’s listed. READ THIS SECTION on her blog!  If writers scroll further down the page, they’ll see complete instructions on how to format entries. Read the instructions carefully so your entry doesn’t get deleted. Now, go get those subs ready!

As always, good luck!

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