#PitchMadness Submission Window now open!

The submission window for Pitch Madness SORRY! Edition is now open! 

To enter the contest, head over to Brenda Drake's blog and go to the submission post.

What is Pitch Madness? It’s a contest to win a request from one or more of the participating agents. I will have an agent introduction post up soon. The submission window will be open from 12:01 AM EST on February 20 until 11:59PM EST on February 23. You should have plenty of time to get your submissions in. There is no limit of how many entries will be accepted. All entries sent before or after the allotted times will be deleted. Make sure to perfect your entry. If you make an error, you may not resend. 

There will be 60 finalists moving onto the agent round. Pitch Madness will accept Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult (never before published) fiction only, novel length (no novellas) completed and polished manuscripts only. All genres (i.e. fantasy, contemporary, sci-fi, and so on) are welcome to enter. This time around we will not accept non-fiction. Only one entry per writer. 

Pitch Madness will be on four blogs and each blog host will have a co-host helping them choose their top 15 entries. We’ll have a team of first readers who will check for formatting, grammar, and content and put their top picks through to the hosts. To meet the readers and the teams go to this post here. 

Here are the host blogs … Brenda Drake’s blog Rebecca Coffindaffer’s blog Summer Heacock’s blog Sharon Johnston’s blog All the twitter fun will happen on the hashtag #PitchMadness! The agents will be playing a game to win their top requests and have some time alone with them before they’re sent to the other requesting agents. To meet our agents go to this post here. Good luck everyone, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Suspected by Rori Shay - Pre-sale!

East Country upheld the laws. Mid destroyed them.

In the year 2185 Earth is rebuilding after climate change created a global eco-crisis. Countries maintain complete isolation so there is no warfare over scarce resources. One Elected family is chosen to lead each country for 100 years to ensure stability. Women aren’t allowed to take office and must reproduce at all costs. Technology use of any kind is banned to preserve what’s left of the environment.

And yet, I’m my country’s Elected. I’ve just sanctioned technology use to ready us for war. I’m about to cross the border to spy on our neighbor. And…I’m a girl. 

Shhhh…

A note from Rori Shay

"A lot of you asked me to let you know when the next book in The Elected Series came out.  SUSPECTED, book 2, opened for pre-release this week on kickstarter.

It releases in all major vendors (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Smashwords, etc.) for real on Earth Day April 22, 2015.  The pre-release lasts just for a month and is fun because it allows the publisher to supply limited edition items, signed copies, ability for readers to get their names in the back of the book, stretch goals for free items, etc.  There are even tuckerizations available during the pre-sale, which won't be available at any other time.  A tuckerization is when the author writes you into the book as one of the characters.  Those are kind of expensive, but they're really cool!"

 

To check out the exciting pre-release on kickstarter, visit here!  

Book One

 

It’s the year 2185, and in two weeks, Aloy will turn eighteen and take her father’s place as president of the country. But to do so, she must masquerade as a boy to avoid violating the Eco-Accords, four treaties designed to bring the world back from the brink of environmental extinction. Aloy hopes to govern like her father, but she is inheriting a different country. The long concealed Technology Faction is stepping out of the shadows, and as turmoil grows within her country, cryptic threats also arrive from beyond their borders.

As she struggles to lead, Aloy maintains her cover by marrying a woman, meanwhile battling feelings for the boy who knows her secret—the boy who is somehow connected to her country’s recent upheaval. When assassination attempts add to the turmoil, Aloy doesn’t know whom to trust. She understood leadership required sacrifice. She just didn’t realize the sacrifice might be her life.

 

 

 

#PitchMadness Sorry Edition: Rules and Submission Instructions

The submission window for Pitch Madness SORRY! Edition is this Friday!

What is Pitch Madness? It's a contest to win a request from one or more of the participating agents. 

I will have an agent introduction post up soon. The submission window will be open from 12:01 AM EST on February 20 until 11:59PM EST on February 23. You should have plenty of time to get your submissions in. 

There is no limit of how many entries will be accepted. All entries sent before or after the allotted times will be deleted. Make sure to perfect your entry. If you make an error, you may not resend. 

There will be 60 finalists moving onto the agent round. Pitch Madness will accept Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult (never before published) fiction only, novel length (no novellas) completed and polished manuscripts only. All genres (i.e. fantasy, contemporary, sci-fi, and so on) are welcome to enter. This time around we will not accept non-fiction. Only one entry per writer. 

What do you need to enter? A 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of your finished manuscript. If the 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of the sentence. There will be a form on the submission post on Brenda Drake's blog for you to fill out and submit your entry. 

Please enter only once. You will not get an email receipt. Look for the notice after you submit that says it was received. Pitch Madness will be on four blogs and each blog host will have a co-host helping them choose their top 15 entries. 

We’ll have a team of first readers who will check for formatting, grammar, and content and put their top picks through to the hosts. To meet the readers and the teams go to this post here. Here are the host blogs ...

Brenda Drake's blog
Rebecca Coffindaffer's blog
Summer Heacock's blog
Sharon Johnston's blog 

All the twitter fun will happen on the hashtag #PitchMadness! The agents will be playing a game to win their top requests and have some time alone with them before they're sent to the other requesting agents. 

To meet our agents go to this post here.  

Here are the rules of the SORRY! game the agents will play ...

First Round - March 2-3 (Midnight to Midnight EST) Starting on March 2 just after Midnight EST and until the end of March 3 the agents will visit the host blogs, read the entries, and enter their moves (requests) for the pitches they want. The comments will be on moderate so that agents won't see what the other agents are requesting. Highest move "request" wins. 

Here are the moves (requests) that can be made for the first round:

• To place a partial request: Agents move their "pawn" the number of spaces they want to request. (Example: I move my pawn 1 space = 1 chapter). Agents can move their pawns up to 12 paces. Each partial will include the query. The agents don't have any restrictions other than they can't request more than 12 chapters or less than one chapter.*
• To place a full request: Agents move their "pawn" home. (Example: I move my pawn home = full request. Each full request will include the query.)*
• Highest request wins the play and an entry into the drawing referenced below.

*Only one request per agent for each pitch during the first round.

Second Round - March 4 at 12PM (Noon) EST

If there are ties (same winning request), then the competing agents go into the challenge round. Each player (agent) will be asked to play a SORRY! card in the comments of the tying entry's post. 

The first to post "SORRY!" wins the full request. We will announce all tying requests on the Twitter hashtag #PitchMadness. When both agents announce on Twitter that they are available for the challenge, we'll tweet for them to go to the entry's post and play their SORRY! card in the comments of that post. There will be three tweets counting down to "Go." First to post wins. 

If an agent can't be there for the challenge round, they can appoint someone to make their plays for them or we can find someone to do it. Just let us know ahead of time. 

Wait. There's more! To show our appreciation, the agents aren't only competing for requests, but for gift cards, too! We figured that it's a lot of work playing a game, so we decided to reward the winners as an extra incentive and bragging rights. 

The winning agent, grand ruler of the slush pile will receive a $50 gift card from either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winners choice) with two runners-up receiving $25 gift cards. There will be a drawing for the winners of the gift cards. Just for participating the agents automatically get an entry into the drawing. 

For each win, the agents get another entry into the drawing.

Please note: All requests will be honored, just the winning agents get a head start and an entry into the drawing. On March 11 from 8AM to 8PM EST we're holding a Twitter Pitch Party on #PitMad as a sort of consolation prize for those who entered the contest and didn't make it in. It's open to all writers with a completed manuscript.

Meet #TeamDarkSide: Lauren McKellar

Today I'm interviewing my great friend Lauren McKellar in the third of my Pitch Madness Meet Team Dark Side series. Lauren is an amazing writer and editor (look at my side bar for her editor services badge). Lauren and I are part of the Aussie Owned and Read blog team and this is her second year on my Pitch Madness team as a reader. 

So, here's a bit about Lauren! 

What do you write? I write young and new adult contemporary romance fiction.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Gosh, a better question might be where I don’t! I get it from reading amazing books, getting lost in a fabulous movie, from being outside, from being inside, from people, from places, from news and current affairs, and often from my husband. Because he’s my favourite love story.

What are you currently reading? Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher.

Describe your perfect read? Something that makes me feel. I want to care for your well-crafted character—I want to be so invested that I feel their pain and rejoice in their highs.

What are you waiting for someone to write that hasn't been written yet? I don’t know that I could say something hasn’t been written before. I mean, if dinosaur porn really exists, is any specific type of story as yet untouched?

Pitch Madness is all about connecting writers with agents by finding gems in the slush - what stories are you hoping to see? I’m hoping to see some strong writing, some fresh ideas and some stories that show growth through pain. I’d love to see something in suspense, too, or a mystery in the YA/NA genre that had real depth behind it.

If you could have dinner with three authors, who would they be? John Marsden, because he was the first author who just made me fall in love with words, Jane Austen, because of everything, and Colleen Hoover, as I’d like to hug her face off.

What book do you wish you had written? I don’t know that I wish I had written one specific book; I think it’s nice to just hope everything I do write gets better and better.

What's your favourite movie adaption of a book? I’ve really enjoyed The Hunger Games book two adaptation. For me, I almost found it more riveting than the read itself.

Rapid Fire Questions:

Yellow, Purple, Green? Yellow

Kombi, Porsche, Bike? Bike

Marshmallow, Liquorice, Cupcake? Cupcake

Unicorn, Gremlin or Cat? UNICORN.

You can find Lauren here and here and here!  

#PitchMadness - Meet The Agents!

Pitch Madness 2015 SORRY! Edition

The Agents!

The Pitch Madness submission window will be open for 72 hours starting on February 20! Pitch Madness is a contest to win a request from one or more of the participating agents. The submission window will be open from 12:01 AM EST on February 20 until 11:59PM EST on February 23. You should have plenty of time to get your submissions in. 

There is no limit of how many entries will be accepted. All entries sent before or after the allotted times will be deleted. Make sure to perfect your entry. If you make an error, you may not resend. 

There will be 60 finalists moving onto the agent round. Pitch Madness will accept Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult (never before published) fiction only, novel length (no novellas) completed and polished manuscripts only. All genres (i.e. fantasy, contemporary, sci-fi, and so on) are welcome to enter. This time around we will not accept non-fiction. Only one entry per writer. 

What do you need to enter? A 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of your finished manuscript. If the 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of the sentence. I will post formatting instructions and where to send when the submission window opens. 

Pitch Madness will be on four blogs and each blog host will have a co-host helping them choose their top 15 entries. We’ll have a team of first readers who will check for formatting, grammar, and content and put their top picks through to the hosts. To meet the reader and the teams go to this post here. Here are the host blogs ...

Brenda Drake's blog
Rebecca Coffindaffer's blog
Summer Heacock's blog
Sharon Johnston's blog 

All the twitter fun will happen on the hashtag #PitchMadness!  

And now, introducing the agents ...

            

Sara Megibow -- KT Literary 

Website | Twitter 

Sara represents middle grade, young adult, new adult, romance, erotica, science fiction and fantasy. She is also LGBTQ and Diversity friendly. Sara is an avid romance reader and a rabid fan girl of super sexy and intelligent stories.  

            

Louise Fury - The Bent Agency 

Website | Twitter 

 Louise represents young adult, middle grade, new adult, commercial fiction including romance, and select nonfiction.

               

Sean McCarthy - Sean McCarthy Literary Agency 

Website | Twitter 

He is drawn to flawed, multifaceted characters with devastatingly concise writing in YA, and boy-friendly mysteries or adventures in MG. In picture books, he looks more for unforgettable characters, off-beat humor, and especially clever endings.   

            

Laura Biagi - Jean V. Naggar Literary 

Website | Twitter 

She is actively building her own client list, seeking adult literary fiction and young readers books. 

            

Peter Knapp - Park Literary 

Website| Twitter 

Pete is actively looking for middle grade and young adult fiction, as well as suspense and thrillers for all ages. He will consider select adult fiction, including psychological suspense and mysteries, and plot-driven literary fiction.

    

Jessica Sinsheimer - Sarah Jane Freymann 

Website | Twitter 

Jessica is most excited about finding literary, women’s, and middle grade, young adult, and new adult fiction, and—on the nonfiction side—psychology, parenting, self-help, cookbooks, memoirs, and works that speak to life in the 21st century.  

          

Alexandra Machinist - ICM Partners 

Website | Twitter 

She is seeking new clients particularly in the areas of commercial women's fiction, suspense, high-concept young adult fiction, and anything and everything that keeps her up all night reading.  

          

Uwe Stender – TriadaUS 

Website | Twitter 

He is always open to any strong fiction (our current focus in fiction is YA, middle grade, Women's Fiction, Literary Fiction and Mysteries) and all non-fiction projects.  

          

Patrica Nelson - Marsal Lyon Literary Agency 

Website | Twitter 

Patricia represents adult and young adult fiction. On the adult side, she is interested in literary fiction and commercial fiction in the New Adult, women’s fiction, and romance genres. For YA, she is looking for contemporary/realistic fiction as well YA mystery/thriller, horror, magical realism, science fiction and fantasy. She is also interested in finding exciting multicultural and LGBTQ fiction, both YA and adult.   

              

Rachel Brooks - L. Perkins Agency 

Website | Twitter 

She is excited about representing young adult fiction, as well as adult romance. In YA, she's looking for authentic voices and memorable characters. In romance, whether contemporary or historical, sweet or spicy, she loves swoon-worthy heroes and determined heroines. 

            

The P.S. Literary Agents - Carly Watters, Maria Vicente 

Website | Carly’s Twitter | Maria’s Twitter 

Carly is actively looking for Literary, Upmarket and Commercial Fiction, World Literature, smart Women's Fiction and Book Club books, Literary Thrillers, LGBT, select Young Adult, and nonfiction in the Health, Wellness, Cookbook, Narrative, Lifestyle, Memoir, Humour, Pop Science, Pop Psychology and Business categories. Maria is actively acquiring both fiction and nonfiction projects. In fiction, she is looking for Literary and Commercial Fiction (including fiction with a touch of genre), LGBTQ, Young Adult (any genre), Middle Grade (any genre), and illustrated Picture Books. For nonfiction, she is looking for projects in the Pop Culture, Geek Culture, Pop Psychology, Design, and Lifestyle categories.  

The New Leaf Literary Agents - Suzie Townsend, Jess Dallow, Jaida Temperly, and Danielle Barthel 

Website | Twitter | Suzie's Twitter | Jess's Twitter | Jaida's Twitter | Danielle's Twitter 

Suzie represents adult and children’s fiction. In adult, she’s specifically looking for new adult, romance (all subgenres), fantasy (urban fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, epic fantasy) and crim fiction (mysteries, thrillers). In children’s, she loves YA (all subgenres) and is dying to find great Middle Grade projects (especially something akin to the movie Super 8). 

                  

Melissa Jeglinski - The Knight Agency 

Website | Twitter 

Melissa is currently seeking projects in the following areas: Romance (contemporary, category, historical, inspirational), Young Adult, Middle Grade, Women’s Fiction and Mystery.

              

Carrie Howland - Donadio & Olson 

Website | Twitter 

Carrie represents literary fiction and non-fiction as well as young adult fiction and middle grade fiction.

  

              

Brianne Johnson - The Writers House 

Website | Twitter 

She represents picture books (something where we could see fabulous, memorable characters encounter a variety of new circumstances), middle grade (the whimsical, the imaginative, the dark/crass/wacky/hilarious), young adult (creepy/horror/suspense, historical, historical fantasy, and creative fantasy in general, as well as beautiful, literary works that explore the coming-of-age theme from a truly original angle and beg for multiple re-readings), and adult.

               

Fuse Literary Agents - Sara Sciuto, Emily Keyes 

Website | Sara’s Twitter | Emily’s Twitter 

Sara is actively building her list with a focus on middle grade and young adult fiction; in particular, contemporary, historical, gothic/thriller/horror, sci-fi, mystery/suspense, fantasy and other speculative fiction. She’s also considering select adult nonfiction in the areas of craft, design, how-to, lifestyle, and pop culture. For children’s nonfiction, she’s open to a wider range of both narrative and prescriptive projects. Emily is a particular lover of all types of young adult and middle grade books. Emily is also looking for a select list of commercial fiction, which includes fantasy & science fiction, women’s fiction, new adult fiction, along with pop culture and humor titles.   

                

Lana Popovic - Chalberg & Sussman 

Website | Twitter 

Lana is looking for a broad spectrum of Young Adult and Middle Grade projects, from contemporary realism to speculative fiction, fantasy, horror, and sci-fi. For the adult market, Lana is interested in literary thrillers, horror, fantasy, sophisticated erotica and romance, and select nonfiction.

             

Taylor Haggerty - Waxman Leavell 

Website | Twitter 

Taylor is currently seeking young adult fiction, historical fiction, and historical romance. She is also looking for middle grade and young adult of all genres, women’s fiction, and romance—contemporary, historical, and new adult.

                 

Jessica Watterson - Dijkstra Agency 

Website | Twitter 

Jessica is most interested in all genres of romance. She greatly enjoys romance novels with strong characters that jump right off the page and a plot that stays with the reader long after the book has finished. She is also interested in select women's fiction and young adult fiction.

               

Elena Giovinazzo - Pippin Properties 

Website | Twitter 

She is seeking young adult, middle-grade, and children’s fiction. Elena loves funny picture books, is typically averse to rhyming texts, likes goofy middle grade, and is on the hunt for beautifully written YA.   

                

Claire Anderson-Wheeler - Regal Literary 

Website | Twitter 

In non-fiction, she is chiefly looking for topical memoir, popular science and pop psychology with a solid research background; in fiction, her primary interests are literary fiction, Young Adult fiction and upper-end middle grade, and commercial women's fiction with strong contemporary themes.  

 

Here’s the schedule …

• Agent Introduction on February 4
• Rules of the Game on February 13
• Submission window opens February 20 and will be open for 72 hours
• The top 60 picks for the agent round will go up on the blogs on March 2 at 12:01AM EST (NY time)
• March 4 at 12PM EDT (Noon) the agents requests are revealed, and right afterward is the tying agents challenge round
• There will be a #PitMad Twitter Pitch Party on March 11 from 8AM to 8PM EST. Check here for rules of the Twitter Pitch Contest.

Don't forget to come back for the instructions!