Heather Ayris Burnell is giving away a QUERY + FIRST FIVE PAGES critique. She is the author of KICK! JUMP! CHOP! THE ADVENTURES OF THE NINJABREAD MAN published by Sterling Children’s Books and is represented by Sean McCarthy.
To learn how to enter, read her post about the contest. The giveaway is open to all genres via Rafflecopter and ends in six days. Be sure to check out her book by clicking the link above to show her some love for her generosity!
As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
WriteOnCon is an online conference for kidlit writers and illustrators to teach, learn, and mingle. You do not have to be published to attend, nor do you have to leave your house! And if you think I’ve been sitting on my laptop waiting for the campaign to start, YOU ARE RIGHT! The campaign often has very affordable critiques and I WANT IN!
During the campaign, writers can purchase critiques of their queries, partial pages, or full manuscripts from NYT Best Selling Authors, publishing editors, or literary agents. Writers can even purchase calls from a couple of literary agents to discuss the publishing industry. Some of the participants of the crits or chats include:
All purchases appear to include conference registration and entry into a raffle to win a critique, book ARC, or a phone call from an agent! (There will be multiple winners.) And of course, you can purchase only the conference if not interested in any of the critiques. The prices are:
No, you’re not reading those numbers wrong! This will be the cheapest conference you will ever attend that will be packed with hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of information from the comforts of your home! What else could you ask for? For complete information of what the tiered admissions cover and to search through critiques you might want to purchase, go to the campaign page. The crowdfunding will end on December 7, 2017. so hurry if you want to purchase a critique. They’re going fast.
As for the conference, it’ll be February 9th – 11th, 2018. Mark your calendars and I hope to see you there, uh, virtually of course!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.
A cool twitter pitch party is coming on October 26, 2017 and I’m excited! Author Jason Huebinger is the host 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
Hashtags for GENRES & SUBGENRES
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.
The search for diversity within books has increased, not just with secondary characters but main characters. The world wants to see a fabulous palette of colors and cultures among the stories they read and the publishing industry is responding! This prompted literary agent Beth Phelan of The Bent Agency to create DVpit.
According to the site, #DVpit is a twitter event created to showcase pitches about and by marginalized voices. This includes (but is not limited to): Native peoples and people of color; people living and/or born/raised in underrepresented cultures and countries; disabled persons; people with illness; people on marginalized ends of the socioeconomic, cultural and/or religious spectrum; people identifying as LGBTQIA+; and more.
The next event will spread over two days:
Each day the event will run from 8am-8pm ET using the hashtag #DVpit. Be sure and pitch your manuscript on the correct day because agents/editors will search the feed on the specific day of the categories they represent/acquire.
As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction
Established in 2000, the New Voices Award is given annually to an unpublished author of color for a picture book manuscript. Previous winners include award-winning titles such as As Fast As Words Could Fly, Juna’s Jar, It Jes’ Happened, and Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds.
Manuscripts may be FICTION, NON-FICTION, or POETRY for children ages 5-12. Manuscripts should address the needs of children of color or native children by providing stories they can identify with and which promote greater understanding of one another. Themes relating to non-traditional family structures, gender identity, or disabilities are also of interest.
Contestants must meet all of the following criteria to be considered:
The Award winner receives a cash prize of $1000 and their standard publication contract, including their basic advance and royalties for a first time author. An Honor Award winner will receive a cash prize of $500.
But the window for submission is closing soon! All manuscripts must be postmarked no later than September 30, 2017. Be sure to read their entire guidelines before submitting. As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction
Agents and editors are taking live pitches on the SavvyAuthors blog! What you will need is a three line pitch (unless stated differently on their personal pitch page). Be sure to state the title, genre, word length, and your author name. Then post your pitch below that information. The format should look like this:
Title: This Scary Manor Blows
Genre: Middle Grade Paranormal
Length: 48,000 words
Author: P.D. Pabst
Agnes plays pretend in an old manor to keep her father’s memory alive and learns she must solve the murder of an eight-year-old ghost—daughter of Franz San Galli, the inventor of the radiator. Her non-believing brother wants her to grow up but she must convince him to acquire his help. After all, it’s not safe to play in secret passages and hidden rooms when a more sinister specter threatens her.
Be sure to read the guidelines thoroughly before pitching. And don’t forget to research each editor/publisher and agent to make sure your manuscript fits their wish list. To pitch editors/publishers, go here. To pitch literary agents, click here. And don’t delay! The Pitchfest ends tomorrow, September 17, 2017 at 11:59pm, EST.
As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
That’s right folks, today agents and editors tweet about their manuscript wishlists on twitter using the hashtag #MSWL. So, if you’re looking for an agent, read their wishes because you just might’ve written exactly what they are looking for. As for the editors, be sure and check their guidelines because not all of them accept unagented manuscripts. Then, why are they tweeting you ask? Because agents need to submit their clients just the same as when an author subs to an agent.
Don’t worry if you miss the live event, you can always scroll through the feed afterwards. And if you want to get more details regarding what agents/editors want, go to the website Manuscript Wish List. Now, quit dawdling and get to perusing the hashtag!
Good luck finding the perfect match!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.
Get your pitches ready for one of the coolest events hosted Brenda Drake on Thursday, September 7, 2017 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/editors to read. Things to remember:
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
For additional tips, go to Brenda’s Drakes Pitmad page. As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Writer and blogger of MG/YA fiction
This is a cool event sponsored by Kat Cho to help hone marginalized writerly pitches in preparation for #DVpit (DO NOT us this hashtag during the Pre-Event). Participants can post pitches on twitter using the #PreDV hashtag to get feedback from Kat and other volunteers. Marginalized writers are also encouraged to offer their own feedback on other pitches in the spirit of helping other writers.
Another great opportunity is writers can reach out to find critique partners from pitches they like in the age category or genres they also write in. So don’t miss out. Get those pitches ready!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.
This contest will feature the first 500 words and the 35 word pitch of completed and polished manuscripts written by Latinx authors. This is a diversity contest with many well known agents and editors participating.
Submissions open at midnight on August 30, 2017 and close on September 3, 2017 at 11:59 EDT. Please check out the website for complete guidelines. As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.
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