Tag Archives: Samantha Fountain

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving 2014
THANKSGIVING 2016

Thanksgiving is a designated time to remember what we are thankful for in life. For many, it’s having our health to spend time with family and friends while gorging on amazing meals until our stomach feels like it will explode. But there are others who might be joyful they survived a fatal illness to be here celebrating with people they love. Or maybe, there are those thrilled to still have a job, maybe paid off a mortgage, or even happy because they got that iPhone they’ve always wanted.

As for me, I’d like to thank:

  • My family and friends who’ve supported me with my writing. (And a special shoutout to Keith and Chris for donating on my GoFundMe page!)
  • My daughter and grandson for bringing me joy in my life with their adventurous spirit.
  • My readers. (Because without y’all, I’d have no reason to have a blog!)
  • All my critique partners, beta readers, and anyone who has ever glanced at a few pitches/pages/chapters and offered feedback  (I LOVE you guys!).
  • Contest hosts for supplying fabulous opportunities with agents and mentoring, and for those who selected me at some point in the past, for one thing or another. (For example: Brenda Drake, Authoress, Michelle Hauck, Samantha Fountain, and Jessa Russo.)
  • The mentors that participated in contests. Your feedback was completely awesome!
  • All slush readers (agents, editors, mentors, etc.) are the bomb. We don’t send enough chocolate, and I apologize!
  • The creator’s of Preditors & Editors, Writer’s Beware , Absolute Write Forums, Publishers Market Place, and QueryTracker. (I use them often.)
  • All the authors that allowed me to participate in their book releases or cover reveals!
  • For all the ARCs I received, because FREE BOOKS before their published is AWESOME!
  • I have a job and I adore working with all my coworkers!
  • And finally (but not last), to God for giving me the strength to get through each day.

I’m sure there are many things and other people I may have forgotten, and ask forgiveness if I have. Everyone in my physical and virtual life are very important to me. Y’all give me strength to become the best me. Thank you for being a part of my life!

Whatever your reason for being thankful today, I wish you the Happiest of Thanksgivings!

XOXO

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

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Pitch To Publication Is Coming

Pitch to Publication

Hard to believe it’s almost time for another Pitch To Publication, aka #P2P16, created by agency intern Samantha Fountain. Writers can follow along on twitter for announcements at the above hashtag (or Samantha’s account), but submissions for the contest will be on the P2P website via a form on October 22, 2016.

This contest is for finished and polished manuscripts only. Writers need to submit a query letter and five pages of their manuscript. The submission window will open at noon EST and last for 24 hours. Authors should peruse the participating freelance editors to know which one to submit their story to because only 3 can be chosen (plus a 4th as backup incase their selections “cap out”). Editors can only receive 100 queries. So authors, do the research necessary to prevent getting deleted because an editor isn’t interested in the genre or age category you submitted.

If chosen, the editor will work with the author for five weeks to hone the story before the agent round begins on December 5, 2016. Requests for fulls will be announced on twitter on December 9, 2016.

As always, good luck!

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

Pitch To Publication

Pitch to Publication

It’s almost time for Pitch To Publication hosted by Samantha Fountain. This contest is a golden ticket for the winners because not only do editors select manuscripts to edit, but there will be an agent round followed by a publisher round. It’s stretched over a few months for the winners, but when the contest comes to a close, a few might have agents as well as publishing deals!

The submission window will be on Saturday, March 5th 12:00pm EST to Sunday, March 6th 12:00pm EST. If you have questions, you can ask Samantha using the hashtag #P2P16 on twitter. The editors are listed on the website, along with what they are looking for. Samantha will also list the participating agents and publishers on the site, so stay tuned to her page!

As always, good luck!

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

Pitch to Publication

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