Tag Archives: Middle Grade

LatinxPitch for Kidlit Event

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LatinxPitch is a kidlit pitching event for creators of children’s literature who belong to the Latinx community. The event was created to raise up Latinx voices and increase a diverse representation in children’s literature. All kidlit Latinx unagented and agented authors and/or illustrators are permitted to participate. Kidlit includes board books, picture books, chapter books, middle grade, graphic novels and young adult.

The event will take place on Twitter September 15, 2020 from 8am to 8pm EST. Be sure to use the hashtag #LatinxPitch. Agented authors and illustrators should check with their agents before participating and must include the hashtag #Editor to indicate they are looking for an editor and not an agent. For complete guidelines, go here. Also, don’t forget to check out the team that organized the event and follow them on twitter or their blogs! As always, good luck!

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

Secret Agent Contest

Authoress (aka Jillian Boehme) is hosting a round of Secret Agent on her popular Miss Snark’s First Victim site. If you’ve followed Authoress for several years, then you know that she unveiled herself because she got her first book deal, which is out in the world to read now! (And this was her one condition she had promised herself before unveiling her true identity.) And many of us are so excited for her because she has given back to the community for so-so-so long! (Thank you Jillian!)

Now, for a few basic details of the contest:

  • Submissions open between Noon to 6pm EDT, August 24, 2020
  • This is a lottery. The BOT will draw 50 random names.
  • Only the First 250 words will be submitted.
  • Only completed and polished manuscripts may be entered.
  • Only ONE entry per person!

As always, there is no fee to enter the contest. This month’s contest will include the following genres only:

ADULT

  • High-concept women’s fiction (NO genre fiction-high fantasy, romance, etc.)
YA
  • Fantasy
  • Narrative Nonfiction
  • Historical Fiction
  • Epistolary
MG
  • Fantasy
  • Narative Nonfiction
  • Historical Fiction
  • Epistolary

For complete guidelines and entry form, go here. Also, keep an eye on her blog because she’ll post more details a week before submissions, especially the brief time the window for entries will be open. As always, good luck!

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

Pitch Wars Query and First Page Workshop

PitchWars Logo

Pitch Wars is offering a critique workshop for your query and first page. That’s right, both will get critiqued this year! They have mentors lined up, and ready to give you feedback. So, if you are entering Pitch Wars, or just need extra eyes on your material, you can enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win.

Available age categories are:

  • Middle Grade
  • Young Adult
  • New Adult
  • Adult

Deadline for entry is August 16, 2020 at 11:59pm EST. Winners will be announced on August 17, 2020 at 10am EST. As always, good luck!

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

San Francisco Writing Workshop

Per the website, the San Francisco Writing Workshop is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of one day, pitch a literary agent (optional), get your questions answered, and more. Note that there are limited seats at the event (200 total). This workshop is a full-day “How to Get Published” writing event in San Francisco, CA on October 3, 2020.

For those attending, this sounds like a great day of learning and marketing yourself. (Of course, if the pandemic worsens, they may go online like some of the past workshops. Keep an eye on their website,) Good luck!

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

Bookends Literary Is Hiring

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Jessica Faust of Bookends Literary has vowed to make help make the publishing industry more inclusive. She states that she is starting with her own house! What she is offering will be a commission based full time agent position for a professional of color. Someone with publishing experience as an assistant, intern or associate agent or editor should apply. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, go here for details on how to apply.

As always, good luck!

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

Philadelphia Writing Workshop

Philadephia Writing Workshop

Writing workshops are great to get professional advise on writing, marketing, and how to land an agent. The Philadelphia Writing Workshop will be held on November 14, 2020 and is now ONLINE.  This year’s faculty so far includes:

As always, book your virtual seat right away because seats they are limited.

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

Books by #BlackAuthors #BLM

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I have been quiet for several weeks because I have felt overwhelmed between my uncle dying, Coronavirus, worrying about my job, and distressed about police brutality. But honestly, I think my  brain started shutting down when the Pandemic struck. Then, as things progressed with continued bad news, I became numb. But it’s time to officially announce my stance. I support the Black Lives Matter movement. I might lose some followers, but I won’t need to mingle with those racist piece of poops anyway. Hopefully, I will gain new followers with amazingly diverse backgrounds!

Since I am a writer, I thought one of the ways I could show support is by posting some books by black authors. And since my taste revolves around the strange, most (not all) of these stories have strange creatures, ghosts, zombies, witches, mermaids, dragons, aliens, cursed people, super heroes, or people full of magical skills! If you know more, please feel free to mention them in the comments below.

As for the ones I’m posting, I have pasted a copy of the beautiful covers and embedded a link. If you click an the image, you will be directed to a purchase site where you can read the blurb to see if you want to buy the book. Okay, so here we go:

The Forgotten Girl

A Blade So Black (The Nightmare-Verse Book 1) by [L.L. McKinney] Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha) by [Tomi Adeyemi] The Jumbies by [Tracey Baptiste]

A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope by [Patrice Caldwell] The Good Luck Girls by [Charlotte Nicole Davis] A Song Below Water: A Novel by [Bethany C. Morrow]

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by [Roseanne A. Brown] The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth Book 1) by [N. K. Jemisin] Dread Nation by [Justina Ireland]

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (Tristan Strong Novel, A Book 1) by [Kwame Mbalia] Akata Witch by [Nnedi Okorafor] The Rage of Dragons (The Burning Book 1) by [Evan Winter]

You Should See Me in a Crown by [Leah Johnson] Kingdom of Souls by [Rena Barron]

Lagoon by [Nnedi Okorafor] The Sound of Stars by [Alechia Dow] Fate of Flames (The Effigies Book 1) by [Sarah Raughley]

Feyi Fay and the Case of the Mysterious Madam Koi Koi by [Simisayo Brownstone] The Girl Who Looked Beyond The Stars (Sheena Meyer Book 1) by [L. B. Anne] Ghost Boys by [Jewell Parker Rhodes]

Hurricane Child by [Kacen Callender] American Spy: A Novel by [Lauren Wilkinson] The Deep by [Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes]

Some of these authors have more than one book out, so if you don’t like the one I’ve posted, check out their other stories. Or, you can buy them all. Happy Reading!

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

#PitMad Is Almost Here!

Pitmad

Nothing soothes the writerly soul than a good twitter pitch party! This Thursday on June 4, 2020 is the infamous #PitMad founded by Brenda Drake, ran now by Managing Director Sonia Hartl, and a full committee (yeah, it’s grown that much!). This event will run between the hours of 8am-8pm (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
#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

Additional hashtags (optional):

#BVM = Black Voices Matter (to be used by black creators)
#POC = Author is a Person of Color
#OWN = Own Voices
#IMM = Immigrant
#LGBT = LGBTQIA+ subject matter
#IRMC = Interracial/Multicultural subject matter
#MH = Mental Health subject matter
#DIS = Disability subject matter
#ND = Neurodiverse subject matter

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 pitches. So, do your research before submitting your manuscript. And as always, good luck!

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

PitDark Pitch Contest Hosted by Jason Huebinger

PitDark-May-October

 

This cool twitter pitch party will be May 21, 2020 and is hosted by author Jason Huebinger, the creator of #PitDark. This is one of my favorite contests because it’s strictly for manuscripts with darker elements, which is soooo down my alley. The event is between 8am and 8pm EST. Authors may pitch once an hour per manuscript. Please do not clog the feed by over pitching so agents don’t get frustrated and quit reading.

Hashtags for AGE CATEGORIES

  • #MG – Middle Grade
  • #YA – Young adult
  • #NA – New adult
  • #A – Adult

Hashtags for GENRES & SUBGENRES

  • #H – horror
  • #PH – psychological horror
  • #GH – gothic horror
  • #CSH – cosmic horror
  • #BH – body horror
  • #CH – comedy horror
  • #DC – dark comedy
  • #DR – dark romance
  • #SFH – science fiction horror
  • #PNH – paranormal horror
  • #ZH – zombie horror
  • #MH – monster horror
  • #GRH – graphic horror
  • #MM – murder mystery
  • #FA – fantasy
  • #DF – dark fantasy
  • #T – thriller
  • #EF – epic or high fantasy
  • #HF – historical fantasy
  • #LF – literary fantasy
  • #AH – alternate history
  • #PN – paranormal
  • #PR – paranormal romance
  • #UF – urban fantasy
  • #MR – magical realism
  • #SF – science fiction
  • #AF – apocalypse fiction
  • #ML – military science fiction
  • #PA – post-apocalyptic SF
  • #CP – cyberpunk
  • #SFT – sci-fi thriller
  • #SH – superhero / superhuman
  • #SO – space opera
  • #DS – dystopian
  • #SP – steampunk
  • #TT – time travel
  • #WW – weird west
  • #SPEC – speculative fiction
  • #NF – non-fiction

For complete rules, go here. (Note: If your curious about previous agent, editor, and film company participation, there is a link on this page.) As always, good luck!

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

Secret Agent Contest

Authoress (aka Jillian Boehme) is hosting a round of Secret Agent on her popular Miss Snark’s First Victim site. If you’ve followed Authoress for several years, then you know that she unveiled herself because she got her first book deal, which is out in the world today! (And this was her one condition she had promised herself before unveiling her true identity.) And many of us are so excited for her because she has given back to the community for so-so-so long! (Thank you Jillian!)

Now, for a few basic details of the contest:

  • Submissions open between Noon to 6pm EDT, April 13, 2020
  • This is a lottery. The BOT will draw 50 random names.
  • Only the First 250 words will be submitted.
  • Only completed and polished manuscripts may be entered.
  • Only ONE entry per person!

As always, there is no fee to enter the contest. This month’s contest will include the following genres only:

ADULT

  • High-concept women’s fiction
  • Rom-com
  • Mainstream with a hint of magic
YA
  • Fantasy
  • Magical Realism
  • Historical
  • Contemporary
  • Thriller
  • Mystery
MG
  • Contemporary
  • Mystery
  • Light fantasy
  • Light magical realism

For complete guidelines and entry form, go here. Also, keep an eye on her blog because she’ll post more details a week before submissions, especially the brief time the window for entries will be open. As always, good luck!

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