After taking a long break from "The Writer's Voice," I'm
back with another multi-agent query contest--this time on Twitter! If you take
what I loved most about "The Writer's Voice"--mentoring great writers
at wherever they happen to be on their publishing journey--and mash it up with
a pitch fest, then you've basically got #PitchMe. Are you interested? Read on!
Here’s the timeline:
September 8: The submission window opens
September 22: Selected submissions announced
September 22-October 19: Mentoring takes place
October 20: Revised Twitter pitches posted; agents like their favorites
Submissions
To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions. First, it must
be COMPLETE, NEVER-PUBLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one
of the following genres:
PB fiction* (all genres)
MG fiction (all genres)
YA fiction (all genres)
Adult fiction (all genres, including commercial, literary, and/or
upmarket but excluding erotica)
*Since I admittedly know less about writing and pitching PBs, I’ve
asked PB author and two-time #TacoPitch winner Tara Shiroff to help me help
you!
1. All submissions must be sent to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com and
include A TWITTER PITCH, A QUERY, AND THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. (PB
author-illustrators are also encouraged to share links to their online
portfolios.) You must also paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL;
otherwise, I'll disqualify it.
2. Please submit ONLY ONE PROJECT. If you submit multiple projects, I'll only consider the first.
3. It would also really help if you INCLUDE YOUR CATEGORY--PB, MG, YA, OR ADULT--SOMEWHERE IN YOUR SUBJECT LINE, but it's not a requirement.
4. The submission window opens on Wednesday, September 8, at 11:00
a.m. EDT and closes at 12:00 noon EDT or when we reach 150 entries, WHICHEVER
HAPPENS LAST. If we haven’t reached 150 entries by September 14 at 11:00 a.m.
EDT, the submission window will close then.
5. Once you send me your submission, I’ll send you a confirmation
e-mail with a summary of these rules.
6. Lastly, because there's so much need in so many places around the world, I PLEDGE TO DONATE $1 FOR EVERY SUBMISSION RECEIVED, which I'll split evenly between Haitian, Afghan, and Hurricane Ida relief efforts.
Selections
I'll select 6 entries within each major category--PB, MG, YA, and
adult--and up to 6 wildcards. I may pick 6 adults or 3 YAs and 3 MGs or just a
single PB; it depends on what I know the agents are looking for and which
submissions seem strongest.
Once I've finalized my picks--with Tara’s help, of course--I'll
e-mail the winning writers and announce the winning titles here and/or on my
Twitter feed on Wednesday, September 22. Then the real work will begin!
Mentoring
For the next roughly 4 weeks, the winning writers will revise their pitches,
queries, and first pages with my and Tara’s help. You won’t be obligated to
incorporate our thoughts, and the feedback we provide on your queries and first
pages won’t actually be featured in the agent round itself. We just want to
help you make your pitches, queries, and first pages the very best that they can
be.
Liking
On Wednesday,
October 20, I'll post the revised pitches ON MY TWITTER FEED for the agents to
review. Here are the awesome agents who’ll be liking your pitches:
Each like will count as a partial or full request based on the agents’
preferences. Agents will be able to review and like your pitches for a full 24
hours, at which point you’ll be allowed to submit your materials to all the
agents who requested them. These likes represent serious interest in your
project, so PLEASE DON’T ACCEPT AN OFFER OF REPRESENTATION BEFORE GIVING THE
#PITCHME AGENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A COMPETING OFFER.
So get those pitches polished up and plan to e-mail them to
me--with your queries and first pages--on Wednesday, September 8, at 11:00 a.m.
EDT. We can’t wait to read your work!
Have a question? Ask below!