Monday, July 25, 2011

Now Accepting Entries

UPDATE: And that's a wrap! Our 25 entries are set; they'll go up first thing Wednesday morning. I've responded to every e-mail received as of 8:35 p.m. EDT. If you didn't get a confirmation from me, please e-mail me again and let me know.

I'm now accepting entries for the second round of "An Agent's Inbox"! (Actually, I started accepting entries about half an hour ago, but I overslept and forgot to get this post set up on Saturday. I'm embarrassed and totally apologize for the delay. If you sent your entry at or after 10:00 a.m. EDT, it still counts!) Here's a quick refresher:

The Rules

1. To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions: First, it must be COMPLETE, POLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the genres The Agent represents (which are listed at the bottom of this post).

2. IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN LAST MONTH’S “AN AGENT’S INBOX” CONTEST, please DO NOT participate in this one. I have a pretty good memory, and I will disqualify previous entries. If the entry slots don’t fill up by Tuesday, July 26, I may allow last month’s participants to enter, but I’m not going to make that decision right now.

3. All entries must include A QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. You must paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL; otherwise, I'll disqualify it.

4. THE ENTRY WINDOW OPENS AT 10:00 A.M. EDT (OR 7:00 A.M. PDT). Once the entry window opens, I'll accept the first 20 entries. I won't accept any entries sent before the entry window opens or after the first 20 slots fill up.

5. If your entry makes it in, I'll send you a confirmation e-mail with a post number. If your entry doesn't make it in, I'll still send you an e-mail, but it won't have a post number.

6. If your entry makes it in, YOU MUST COMMENT ON AT LEAST 3 OTHER ENTRIES.

The Prizes The Agent will select both the winners and the prizes. The Agent might pick 20 winners, or he or she might only pick one. The Agent might offer full requests, or he or she might only ask to see another page. It all depends on how good the entries are.

Please keep in mind that THIS CONTEST ISN'T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. I've encouraged The Agent to treat the entries exactly as he or she would a normal batch of queries. Essentially, The Agent will be answering the question, "How much of the entry did you read, and if you didn't read it all, why did you stop?" I think this process will be instructive for all of us, but if you enter, you need to be prepared to hear exactly what The Agent thinks of your query and first page.

The Genres

YA Contemporary/Realistic Fiction
YA Science Fiction
YA Light Fantasy
YA Mystery
YA Horror
Adult Literary Fiction
Adult Magical Realism
Adult Horror
Adult Dark Mystery

To enter, please send an e-mail with YOUR QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com. And please, please, please remember to PASTE THESE ITEMS IN THE BODY OF THE E-MAIL.

7 comments:

Melinda said...

This is so exciting! Wish I could enter again, but I'll just look forward to watching instead! Good luck everyone!

If you're interested in entering a contest to win Elana Johnson's POSSESSION, I'm doing a giveaway contest on my blog. It should be small and a great chance for an awesome free book.
www.melindawriter.blogspot.com

Mark Fenger said...

Your reply landed in my spam filter. I think it's because of the way most spam filters work, it probably noticed 'congratulations' (a common spam word) and not much other content.

If anyone is missing their reply, check your spam filters.

Laura C. said...

I appreciate the heads-up and have sent in my entry, hoping for one of the last spots even thouh Im late...
Thanks Krista!

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Melinda, thanks for the heads-up about your giveaway! I've been wanting to reading POSSESSION.

Good to know, Mark. I always find it a little strange when my e-mail account marks a reply to an e-mail I sent as spam. Ah, technology:)

Laura, last time I checked (about half an hour ago, we still had a couple of slots open). I'll go look for your e-mail now..

Melinda said...

Krista, You should check it out! The book is great!

Lorena said...

Wow. What a great contest. Unfortunately I don't write any of these genres :-( (this happens to me every time, buuh!)

Hey, if you get a chance, check out my latest agent interview with Elizabeth Kracht of Kimberley Cameron & Associates.

http://divinesecretsofthewritingsisterhood.blogspot.com/2011/07/interview-with-agent-elizabeth-kracht.html

Elizabeth will stop by on Friday July 29th to answer any questions left for her throughout the week!

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Melinda, thanks for the recommendation. I will.

Lorena, thanks for the heads-up about your interview. And I must say, I like the interactive part:)