Tag Archives: Writers

2017 Query Kombat Free Passes & Contest Information

May 11, 2017Contests, LiteraryAdult, Agents, Authors, Brackets, Competition, Feedback, First Pages, Free Pass, Judges, Laura Heffernan, Manuscripts, Michael Anthony, Michelle Hauck, Middle Grade, New Adult, Opportunity, Publishing, Query, Query Kombat, Stories, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

Query Kombat is approaching and the hosts are offering free passes. Each host has their own rules on how to enter to win a free pass. Go to the individual websites by May 15th, 2017 to learn how:

Michelle Hauck’s Free Pass
Laura Heffernan’s Free Pass
Michael Anthony (Doesn’t appear to be giving a free pass, but visit his site for updates!)

As for the contest itself, submissions are between May 17-19, 2017. (Sorry, the site doesn’t say what time zone, but I’m pretty certain it’s one of the U.S. zones, most likely EST.) Query Kombat is a bracket style competition where 64 query letters and first pages are matched against each other until only one is left. There are six rounds of competition that last the entire month of June and our expert judges leave notes and determine the winners. Agents request from the entries between the 1st and 2nd round, but there’s a catch. No agent requests are revealed until an entry is knocked out of the competition. Entries are known by their fun nicknames. Surviving entries are allowed to revise twice over the six rounds.

Submissions are for all genres in middle grade, young adult, new adult, and adult. For submission instructions, go here. Not only can writers get their query polished but they might just land an agent with over 30 participating!

As always, good luck!
P.D. Pabst

Query Critique from Agent Lauren Spieller of TriadaUS Literary Agency

May 9, 2017Contests, LiteraryAuthor, Blog, Facebook, Feedback, Free Critique, Interview, Lauren Spieller, Literary Agent, Literary Rambles, Manuscripts, Query, TriadaUS Literary Agency, Twitter, Writerspdpabst

Literary Rambles has an excellent Q&A post with Agent Lauren Spieller of TriadaUS Literary Agency. In addition, Lauren is offering a free critique of one query letter. She is interested in picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels. In order to enter, follow and comment on the Literary Rambles interview post by May 13, 2017. If you mention the contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in your comment and you’ll get an extra entry!

Lauren joined TriadaUS in July 2016, having worked in children’s scouting and as a freelance editor. Her focus has been on building her client list, so she spends most of her time reading submissions, meeting with editors, and pitching projects! In fact, her first sale was finally announced earlier this month—a YA Fantasy entitled The Weight of Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth, which sold at auction to Harper Teen and has already been picked up by publishers in France and the UK.

As always, good luck!

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

Writing Retreat in Venice, Italy

May 6, 2017Holiday, Literary, Writing Conferences & GetawaysAdventure, Art, Authors, Culture, History, Inspiration, Italy, June, Manuscripts, Novel, Pink Panged, Restaurants, Retreat, Scenery, Shopping, Vacation, Venice, Women Only, Workshop, Writers, Writingpdpabst

The Pink Panged writing retreat in Venice is for women only during June 11-15, 2017. If you’re looking for inspiration for your next novel, this might be the spot. The retreat is filled with adventure, culture, art, shopping, restaurants, and history. During Pink Panged writing retreat in Venice authors will:

Express themselves through the written word
Experience Venice’s age-old beauty
Immerse themselves in Italian culture
Participate in Pink Pangea’s interactive workshops
Connect with participants from all over the world
Feel emotionally refreshed and physically rejuvenated

If you’re wanting to visit this scenic place and write your novel, hurry because seats are filling fast! And enjoy your writing vacation.

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

Pitch Wars Webinar with Michele Rubin of Cornerstones US

May 5, 2017Literaryadvise, agent, Ask Questions, Authors, Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, Cornerstones UK, Cornerstones US, editor, Learning, Managing Editor, Manuscripts, Michele, Michele Rubin, Pitch Wars, Publishing, Publishing Industry, Webinar/Workshop, Writers, Writers Housepdpabst

WEBINARS

The Pitch Wars Webinar will be on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 from 8:30pm-9:30pm EST. The speaker will be the Managing Editor at Cornerstones US, Michele Rubin. She previously had been a Senior Executive Literary Agent with Writer’s House for almost 25 years where she represented everything across the board before joining the literary consultancy team at Cornerstones. Join this webinar and ask Michele all of your burning industry questions—no topic is off limits!

While the cost is free, there is a limited seat of 50. However, if you can’t make the event, the webinar will be prerecorded for access afterwards.

About Michele Rubin . . .

MicheleRubin-140x180 Twitter | Cornerstones US | Cornerstones UK

Michele Rubin was a literary agent at Writers House for 25 years, leaving agenting in 2013 to work full-time as a freelance editor, writer, ghostwriter, and conductor of writing workshops. Her areas of expertise and interest are broad; she is open to all genres. Michele is a Cornerstones industry editor.

As for myself, I’m thrilled to say she is my editor at Cornerstones US and I can’t wait to get her feedback! Now, go forth and learn a lot!

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

Inklings Literary Agency Critique Giveaway

May 4, 2017Contests, Critiques, LiteraryAgency, Assessment, Authors, CM McCoy, Editing, Feedback, Five Winners, Inklings Literary, Interns, Manuscripts, PR Manager, Published Authors, Rafflecopter, Stories, Writerspdpabst

Win-a-query-1stpagecrit-500x419

Inklings Literary Agency interns are giving away a critique of a query plus first 250 words to FIVE lucky winners! Each winning author will get at least 3 critiques, which means 3 points of view on their work from folks who love books and who’ve worked alongside agents for months. Many of these interns are published authors themselves!

For complete details and the Rafflecopter entry, visit Inklings’ PR Manager CM McCoy. She has all the important deets!

As always, good luck!

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

The Manuscript Academy First Pages

May 3, 2017Critiques, Literaryagent, Author, D4EO Literary, editor, Episodes, Feedback, First Page, Free, iTunes, Kelly Van Sant, Manuscripts, Podcast, Professional, Soundcloud, The Manuscript Academy, Word Document, Writerspdpabst

the-manuscript-academy

Wanting feedback on your first page from a professional? The Manuscript Academy might be the answer! The Academy has a podcast where an agent or editor picks a submitted first page and talks for ten minutes about the selected page on air. And most importantly, it’s free!

So how do you submit your first page for a chance for the free feedback? Send it to Academy@ManuscriptWishList.com as a Word document with “First pages podcast” in the subject line. The expert of the week will choose his or her favorite to discuss.

This week on the First Pages Podcast, they speak with Kelly Van Sant, agent at D4EO Literary. All episodes of The Manuscript Academy podcast are free for everyone, and available on iTunes and Soundcloud.

Writers of Today, It Matters

May 3, 2017LiteraryArticles, Authors, Errors, It matters, Journalists, Literary education, novels, plausible stories, Publishing Experience, read out loud, repetitive words, research, self publish, spell check, Stories, Writers, Writers of todaypdpabst

Lately, I’ve found typo after typo on MSN news snippets from stories plucked from places like The Associated Press, or other reputable news feeds. While my eyes are freshly rolling, I thought I’d revisit a post I made a few years ago.

***Writers of Today, It Matters***

An education doesn’t always mean a writer can capture your attention. Even those with years of experience might leave you to hunger for something more profound. Or the pen artists with a natural ability for prose can fall short of fulfilling a story. Nothing guarantees a writer’s success.

Nothing.

But the internet has empowered people to become writers regardless of education, experience, or natural ability. They type across blog pages, or self-publish a novel, and pray someone will fall in love with their words. Unknown people become journalists and authors overnight. And this is Fab-tastical! (Even for making up words.)

So what’s the problem? The lack of planning, researching, and editing before publishing. No matter who you are…read the rest .

The Daily Mail and Penguin Random House Crime-Writing Competition Closing

May 1, 2017Contests, LiteraryAdvance Payment, Authors, Century, Contract, Crime, Entrants, First Novel Competition, Imprint, Manuscripts, Monetary Prize, novels, Penguin Random House, Publishing, Republic of Ireland, Submissions, The Daily Mail, Thriller, United Kingdom, Writerspdpabst

Have you written a crime novel? Do you live in the UK or the Republic of Ireland? Then this contest is for you. The Daily Mail and Penguin Random House competition to search for a new crime-writing talent ends May 5, 2017. So you’d better hurry! Here’s the deets. The winner of the First Novel Competition will receive a £20,000 advance and publishing contract with Century, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK, and the services of literary agent Luigi Bonomi. Now that’s something to talk about people!

Entrants are invited to submit the first 5000 words of their novel along with a 600 word synopsis. The submissions must be in the crime and thriller genre and entrants must not have had a novel published before. And let me reiterate, submissions must be postmarked by May 5, 2017. For guidelines and submission address, go here.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst

Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Children’s and Teens Fiction/Non-Fiction #DVPit Hosted by Lit Agent Beth Phelan

April 21, 2017Contests, Literary#DVpit, Adult, Agents, Authors, Beth Phelan, Childrens Books, Disabled Persons, Diversity, Editors, Feedback, Fiction, LGBTQIA, Manuscripts, Marginalized Voices, Non-Fiction, People of Color, People With Illiness, Pitch Event, Pitching, Publsihing, Religious, Stories, The Bent Agency, Twitter, Unagented, Underrepresented Cultures, Writerspdpabst

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. April 25th will be for Children’s & Teen Fiction/Nonfiction (picture books, chapter books, graphic novel, middle grade, young adult). April 26th will be for Adult Fiction/Nonfiction (all genres, commercial and literary). 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.

Curtis Brown and Conville & Walsh’s #PitchCB on #Twitter

April 19, 2017Contests, Literary#PitchCB, Adult, Agents, Authors, books, Conville & Walsh, Curtis Brown Literary Literary and Talent Agency, Fiction, Jess Whitlum-Cooper, Manuscripts, Middle Grade, Pitch Event, Richard Pike, Twitter, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

This Friday (April 21st) will be the #PitchCB twitter event hosted by Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency and Conville & Walsh. These events are held on the fourth Friday of most months (so you can catch the next event if you miss this one), hosted by Jess Whitlum-Cooper and Richard Pike of Curtis Brown

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 the agencies’ submission guidelines.

As always, good luck!

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

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