“An Agent's Inbox” is exactly what it sounds like--next week, I'm turning the blog into an agent's inbox, a public one. We'll get to see 20 queries along with their first pages, and we'll get to hear what a bona fide agent thinks of each one.
The queries and first pages will be yours, of course. I'll accept your entries this Monday, September 22, and then I'll post them next Wednesday, September 24. The entrants and anyone else who wishes to review them may comment until the following Monday or Tuesday, September 29 or 30, when I'll announce the winners.
Those winners will be chosen by The Agent, and this month, The Agent is Melissa Jeglinski* of The Knight Agency!
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 ROUND OF “AN AGENT’S INBOX,” please DO NOT participate in this one UNLESS YOUR HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT that meets the criteria listed above. I have a pretty good memory, and I will disqualify previous entries. If the entry slots don’t fill up by Tuesday, September 23, I may allow previous participants to enter, but honestly, I don’t expect them to last that long.
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 1:00 P.M. EDT (OR 10:00 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. I know I instituted a last-second lottery last month, but I'm planning to stick with the first 20 entries this time (since the last-second lottery took a lot more time than I thought it would). In other words, make sure you have your entries ready to go at 1:00 p.m. EDT on the dot!
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 she might only pick one. The Agent might offer full requests, 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 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.
So get those queries and first pages polished up, then meet us back here on Monday, September 22, at 1:00 p.m. EDT! At that time, you may send your entries to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com. Looking forward to it!
The Genres
MG fiction (all genres)
YA fiction (all genres)
Adult Romance (specifically inspirational, historical, contemporary, and category)
Adult Cozy Mysteries
Adult Thrillers
Women's Fiction
And of course, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below!
*I know this probably goes without saying, but if you’re thinking about entering, you should probably treat this round a little differently than you would if you didn’t already know The Agent’s identity. Feel free to do a little research and include personalization in your queries. Also, if you've already queried Ms. Jeglinski, PLEASE DON'T ENTER UNLESS YOU HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT THAT MEETS THE CRITERIA LISTED ABOVE. Since I don't have access to Ms. Jeglinski's inbox, I can't really police this, but you--and she--are going to get a lot more out of this contest if you enter something The Agent hasn’t seen before.
*I know this probably goes without saying, but if you’re thinking about entering, you should probably treat this round a little differently than you would if you didn’t already know The Agent’s identity. Feel free to do a little research and include personalization in your queries. Also, if you've already queried Ms. Jeglinski, PLEASE DON'T ENTER UNLESS YOU HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT THAT MEETS THE CRITERIA LISTED ABOVE. Since I don't have access to Ms. Jeglinski's inbox, I can't really police this, but you--and she--are going to get a lot more out of this contest if you enter something The Agent hasn’t seen before.
7 comments:
Hi Krista. I was hoping for clarification on one point. 2. IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN LAST MONTH'S ROUND OF “AN AGENT’S INBOX,” please DO NOT participate in this one UNLESS YOUR HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT that meets the criteria listed above. I have a pretty good memory, and I will disqualify previous entries. If the entry slots don’t fill up by Tuesday, September 23, I may allow previous participants to enter, but honestly, I don’t expect them to last that long.
Does this mean all entries last month aren't eligible, or just the entries that were selected to participate?
I thought one thing and then I read it again and wasn't sure.
Great question, innerfabrications. If your entry didn't win the lottery and wasn't in the actual contest, then you're more than welcome to enter this month's round. That rule only applies to the entries I actually post on the blog.
Hope that helps. Good luck!
Thanks for the clarification!
Good luck to everyone who participates! I was in last month's round and really appreciated the feedback. Even made changes to my query because of it. Best of luck y'all!
Will personal information be removed from the query? I'm not comfortable putting my name and address, etc out there on the internet--yet the agent certainly needs to be able to contact me!
Thanks,
Spike
Krista--Spike here again, with one more question. I realized I've already queried a different agent at the Knight agency and been rejected (they didn't recognize my genius--yet :) ). Does this make me ineligible to enter?
Thanks,
Spike
Spike, I always redact any identifying information (and just use initials in the signature line). If you win, I'll let you know how to get in touch with Ms. Jeglinski.
As for your other question, I don't think you're ineligible to enter if you're already queried another agent at The Knight Agency, but I'll leave that decision up to you.
Hope that helps!
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