Tag Archives: Writing

Do You Have An Amazing Real-Life Story? Glamour Wants to Know!

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , ,

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Glamour is sponsoring a writing contest because they believe every woman has a moment in her life that changes everything. Oh, so true! If you’ve had one of these moments, Glamour wants to know. To enter, you need to write an essay of no more than 3500 words by November 2, 2016. The winner could win $5000, have story published in Glamour, and speak with a top New York literary agent.

Go here for complete rules and here for the submission form. As always, good luck!

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

Pitch To Publication Is Coming

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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.

The Manuscript Academy Scholarship Giveaway

Contests, Literary, Writing Conferences & Getaways, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The Pitch Wars community, founded by Brenda Drake, has joined forces with The Manuscript Academy to give away scholarships for upcoming conferences:

Writing Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult, begins November 5, 2016

How to Get Your Adult Fiction (or Memoir) Published, begins November 26, 2016

THREE writers will be selected based on a brief description of why they want/need this opportunity. Authors should check out The Manuscript Academy and then fill out the form on Brenda’s blog to let the community know why they would like to win. The scholarship giveaway will be open until October 18th!

As always, good luck!

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

Nightmare On Query Street 2016

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , ,

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It’s getting close to Halloween, which means Nightmare On Query Street is soon! But don’t let the title fool you into thinking you’re manuscript won’t qualify. The title is more about when the contest takes place. You can enter any age category or genre, excluding picture books and erotica.

The submission window opens at 4:00 pm (EST) on October 14th. All entries sent before this time will be deleted. For this years contest, there are 25 agents lined up! TWENTY FIVE! How awesome is that? But you’d better be on your toes if you want to submit. They will close submissions when they reach 250 entries or in two hours, whichever is first.

Michelle, Mike, and Laura will make 13 picks each. Then a few mentors they’ve selected will help the authors hone their entries before the agent round. On October 29 through October 30, the entries will go live for the agents to select.

Some rules to take note of:

  • You are not eligible if you’ve been in an agent round in the last six months. (This does not include open twitter pitches.)
  • You can enter if you have a different manuscript to enter than previous agent round you were in.
  •  Only ONE entry per person. (No using multiple emails or pen names!)

You’ll need to send you query and first 250 words, along with a short paragraph (no more than 100 words) answering this question: What is your main character’s most stressful relationship? Who really makes them sweat?

For complete details and submission formatting, go here. Also, be on the look out on each of their blogs for FREE PASSES!

As always, good luck!

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

Books By The Banks Contest (Cincinnati)

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The 2nd-annual Books By The Banks Writing Contest includes almost $2,600 in cash prizes. It is generously underwritten by the McLane Foundation to recognize excellent work by the region’s writers. The contest is open to current residents of Cincinnati’s Tri-State Area. (Note: College students whose homes are in Cincinnati but who currently attend school elsewhere are also eligible.) This years theme is the river with a maximum word count per entry of 2,000 words. In the Adult category, prizes of $1,000, $750, and $250 will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards.  In the Teen category, prizes of $500, $250, and $100 will be awarded. All entries must be emailed or postmarked by Oct. 1, 2016. Be sure to read the entire eligibility and submission guidelines before submitting!

As always, good luck!

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

The Sunday Times Short Story Award

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The Sunday Time Logo

The Sunday Times is sponsoring an international award worth £30,000 to the winner. It’s open to any story of up to 6,000 words written in English. Stories need to have been either previously unpublished or only published after December 31, 2015. Five authors shortlisted for the award will each receive £1,000. The prize is administered by the Society of Authors.

To be eligible, the author must simply have a record of prior publication in creative writing in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

The deadline for entries is 6pm (GMT) on Thursday, 29 September 2016.

Make sure you read the entire instructions and terms and conditions (available as a download) before you submit your entry form! Go here for all the details.

As always, good luck!

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

“DEAR LUCKY AGENT” CONTEST

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Chuck Sambuchino announced Writer’s Digest is hosting the 23nd “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest. The agent judge is Marisa A. Corvisiero of Corvisiero Literary Agency.

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Marisa A. Corvisiero is the founder of the Corvisiero Literary Agency and their Senior Literary Agent. Before starting her own agency, Marisa worked at the L. Perkins Agency, where she learned invaluable lessons and made a name for herself in the industry. Marisa is seeking creative stories with well developed plots and rich characters with unique voices. She will consider  Contemporary Romance, Thrillers, Adventure, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, or any combination thereof, unique concepts in Fantasy, Adventure and Science Fiction for middle-grade and Picture Books with special stories to deliver a subtle non didactic message. In non-fiction, she enjoys out of the box and high concept spiritual, self-improvement, science, and business books for all ages. You can visit her on Twitter at @mcorvisiero.

Even though you can query Marisa with different age groups that interest her, THIS contest is for completed MIDDLE GRADE novels across all genres — from realistic to contemporary to speculative sci-fi and fantasy. The contest is now live and runs through the end of September 19, 2016 (PST). There will be three winners! First place wins a critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work by your agent judge (and she reserves the right to request the full manuscript). Second place gets a free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)! And third place gets their choice of any of Chuck’s two new books coming out in September 2017 (the Guide to Literary Agents 2017 or the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market 2017).

Be sure to check out the submission guidelines and pay close attention to a few things you need to do in order to be eligible. And as always, good luck!

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

Harlequin #SexyBlitz Subs Ending

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On August 1st, 2016, Harlequin put a call out for writers of sexy, contemporary romance because they’re launching a new sexy contemporary series! They dubbed this the #SexyBlitz submissions. Ooo-la-la. So if you have a manuscript you’ve polished in this category, this is for you. But you need to hurry because the subs close on September 15, 2016.

You’ll need to send your first three chapters and a synopsis to submit. But be sure and check out their series guidelines before sending your manuscript!

As always, good luck!

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

Pass or Pages Submission Date

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PASSORPAGES

Once again, Operation Awesome is hosting a Pass or Pages entry between September 12-14, 2016. This event is for YA Speculative Fiction (including all subgenres of science-fiction, fantasy, and magical realism). When the submission window opens, you’ll fill out a form on their blog with all the pertinent information. Part of that is submitting your query and first 250 words of your manuscript. (Those that go over this limit will be disqualified.) You don’t need to personalize your query or include your bio, but be sure to include your word count and title in it.

Those that are chosen get detailed feedback from the participating agents about why they pass. A few lucky ones will get requests to send their full manuscript to an agent. Either way, it’s a win-win situation!

As always, good luck!

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

#PitMad is Tomorrow!

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Nothing soothes the writerly soul than a good twitter pitch party! Tomorrow is Brenda Drake‘s infamous #PitMad between the hours of 8am-pm (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
#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

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 feed. So, do your research before submitting your manuscript!

As always, good luck!

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