Tag Archives: Mentors

FicFest Writing Contest

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FicFest

Today the guidelines and theme should be revealed for the FicFest contest on Tiffany Hoffman’s blog. This is another contest where the winners will get help revising their manuscripts for 8 weeks before the agent round.

Update: Go here for guidelines and theme!

Here is a schedule for the event:

March 27, 2016 @ 7:00 PM EST
Meet the Team Leads & Their Members!

April 3, 2016 @ 6:00 PM EST
Agent List Announced

April 17, 2016 @ 7:00 PM EST – 10:00 PM EST
Q & A with Team Leads & Host
(Twitter – Using #FicFest)

April 24, 2016 @ 12:00 AM EST – April 25, 2016 @ 11:59 PM EST
SUBMISSION

April 26, 2016 – May 3, 2016
Teams will chose their finalists/alternate

May 4, 2016 @ 10:00 AM EST
Finalists/Alternate Reveal

May 5, 2016 – June 30, 2016
Revisions

July 8, 2016 @ 12:00 AM EST – July 14, 2014 @ 11:59 PM EST
Agent Round

As always, good luck!

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

WRITING IN THE MARGINS: QUERY CONTEST

Contests, , , , , ,

Book Spines

Here is a contest to start the new year off with a chance to get a literary agent, hosted by Writing in the Margins. This is for unpublished and unagented works featuring a person from an underrepresented group. This person needs to be in the starring role and not the BFF of the main character. They are looking for diversity!

The way it works: Entrants post their query and first chapter to a message board where moderators help whip them into shape. The entrants can post from January 1st, 2016 to January 15th,2016. The moderators will pick the best ten to move forward to the agent round. (Go here to register.) Be sure to follow their blog for important information and dates.

Take a look at the participating agents!

Samantha Brody *

Linda Camacho

Kirsten Carleton

Emily Keyes

Sarah La Polla

Tricia Lawrence

Patricia Nelson

Danielle Smith

Eric Smith

Amy Stern

Michelle Witte

* Samantha Brody is a literary assistant scouting for other agents.

As always, good luck!

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

Nightmare On Query Street is Coming! #NoQS

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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

NoQS2015

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:

  1. Colleen McCoy
  2. Kathleen Allen
  3. Jamie Zakian
  4. Rena Olsen
  5. Amy Trueblood
  6. Tracy Townsend
  7. Wade Albert White
  8. Ashley Hearn
  9. Jessica Kapp
  10. Melissa Caruso
  11. Judi Lauren
  12. Amanda Heger
  13.  Marty Mayberry
  14. Michelle Hazen
  15. Christina Dalcher
  16. Heather Van Fleet
  17. Richard Pearson
  18. Kim Long
  19. Judy Clemens
  20. Betsy Aldredge
  21. LS Hawker
  22. Wendy Nikel
  23. Erika David
  24. Nicole Tone

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

WHISKEY, WINE, & WRITING: Tonight YA PitchWars Mentors

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Another post to remind everyone that Whiskey, Wine, & Writing will have a few YA PitchWars Mentors as guests tonight starting at 8pm EST. Be sure to use the twitter hashtags #PitchWars or #WWWriting to ask questions during the live stream!
pitchwarswwwad

And so I don’t pester you every evening the events occur, here is a listing of the remaining scheduled dates and the age groups for the mentors. Each evening the links of these dates will change on the Whisky, Wine, & Writing site to showcase the participating mentors.

•Thursday 8/6 – YA/NA & NA/A Mentors
•Friday 8/7 – Adult Mentors
•Tuesday 8/11 – Middle Grade Mentors
•Wednesday 8/12 – YA Mentors
•Thursday 8/13 – YA/NA & NA/A Mentors
•Friday 8/14 – A mix of mentors who couldn’t make previous shows.

IT HAS BEGUN: Pitch Wars Mentor Blog Hop

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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

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

PITCH WARS CONTEST IS APPROACHING

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This is not an event where writers sit around a table spitting saliva all over each other fighting for a chance to get the attention of the agent they strapped to the center, all while spewing their loglines. Oh no, this is much safer…and dryer. I promise.

Girls wanna have fun

(Photo used with permission.)

 

This is a wonderful contest hosted by the contest queen herself, Brenda Drake. What’s great about this particular contest is the winning entrants get mentored by either an agented (and published) author or a professional editor. These are people who’ve been in the trenches and/or worked in the writing industry long enough to offer priceless feedback. And further, they will critique the winner’s entire manuscript. That’s right…THE WHOLE ENCHILADA.

And after months of the winners pulling their hair out making all requested edits, they will be rewarded with an agent round. It begins November 4, 2014. What does that mean? The participating agents will begin requesting their favorite entries to read from pitches posted to the blog. This years agents haven’t been revealed yet, but you can go here to see the agents from the previous Pitch Wars.

You must have a polished manuscript to enter the contest, but no worries because submissions start August 18, 2014. But know, this date will fall upon you before you realize. So, get to crackin’, er tappin’!

And don’t forget, check out the mentors for this year here and be sure to follow Brenda’s blog for updates on the contest.

As always, good luck and happy writing.

 

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