Because we are so cool, we’re opening the submission window early! It will remain open until the original closing of August 18 at 11:59PM EDT (just before midnight).
For those unfamiliar with Pitch Wars, it’s a contest where published/agented authors, editors, or interns choose one writer each, read their entire manuscript, and offer suggestions on how to make the manuscript shine. The mentor also critique his/her writer’s pitch to get it ready for the agent round. To do this, the mentors read all their applications and choose the writer they want to mentor for two months to get them ready for the agent round. Writers can pick up to four mentors to submit to.
For a list our mentors and submission guidelines go here. For a list of our agents this year, go here.
If you have any difficulties with this form, or if there’s a technical glitch, or if the site blows up, don’t panic, just e-mail Dan Koboldt at dan.k.pitchwars@gmail.com and let him know the issue. And maybe me, too, but my bet is Dan would know what to do before I would.
About your queries: It should have all parts of the query, as if you were sending to an agent. “Dear Mentor” works for the salutation and make sure to include your bio (if you have one) and category/genre/word count.
About your first chapters: Send the first chapter of your manuscript no matter how long it is. Don’t send your prologues, send the first chapter. You can send the prologues later if the mentor asks for a full manuscript. If you don’t have chapters in your book, send the first 2500 words. If you fear your first chapter is too short, don’t worry, our mentors will ask for more if you hook them.
After you hit send on the form, it will tell you if your submission has been accepted.
PLEASE DON’T ENTER IF YOU AREN’T READY, once you hit send there are no take backs or changes. Double check that you have the right mentors for the category (MG, YA, NA, or Adult) you are submitting, your entry will be deleted if you send it to a mentor who is not requesting your category.
Please do NOT reenter your form. When you hit submit the form will say your entry has been received. Receipts are talking hours to days to arrive in entrants’ email boxes. AGAIN, please do not reenter your entry!
THE SUBMISSION WINDOW IS NOW CLOSED. COME BACK SEPTEMBER 3 FOR THE MENTORS’ PICKS!
59 Comments
Rochelle · August 12, 2014 at 11:35 pm
Um… I’m a little confused. I used the form to submit and don’t think I made any mistakes on it. But the text above says that we will not get an email receipt, and I did…
Brenda Drake · August 12, 2014 at 11:36 pm
I think Dan Koboldt fixed that why my back was turned. Yay!
Rochelle · August 12, 2014 at 11:38 pm
Definitely yay! I love email receipts; I don’t have to worry about whether I typed my email address right.
Colleen S. Myers · August 13, 2014 at 12:03 am
Per above.
You will not get an email receipt. After you hit send on the form, it will tell you if your submission has been accepted.
PLEASE DON’T ENTER IF YOU AREN’T READY, once you hit send there are no take backs or changes. Double check that you have the right mentors for the category (MG, YA, NA, or Adult) you are submitting, your entry will be deleted if you send it to a mentor who is not requesting your category.
Thank you for entering Pitch Wars! Your submission has been received, and you should soon receive an automatic confirmation by e-mail.
I have not gotten an email but am confused if I will be getting an email!. Thanks!
Kaitlin Caul · August 13, 2014 at 12:07 am
I received an email. Did you double check your address when you entered it?
Brenda Drake · August 13, 2014 at 12:17 am
Some are starting to get receipts.
Brenda Drake · August 13, 2014 at 12:17 am
You won’t get an email. The submission form would have said it was accepted. Dan is fixing an email receipt but that would be for people who submit after it’s fix. But I did get your applications.
Colleen S. Myers · August 13, 2014 at 7:02 pm
Thanks Brenda!
Kristin · August 13, 2014 at 8:54 am
Well, I did it. It’s in the hands of the Gods now.
Quiarah Butler · August 13, 2014 at 11:25 am
Sent mine, but still haven’t gotten a receipt. Guess I’m playing the waiting game.
I double checked my email, and all the other information as well, so I hope to get a confirmation soon.
Thanks for keeping us up-to-date, Brenda!
Quiarah Butler · August 13, 2014 at 11:28 am
Oh, never mind. I just reread the comments on here. We’re NOT supposed to get a receipt. I thought it said that we WERE.
did I get this right?
Brenda Drake · August 13, 2014 at 11:30 am
We did get yours, Qularah Butler.
Quiarah Butler · August 13, 2014 at 11:36 am
Oh, yay! Thanks for letting me know. Now my brain can rest! 🙂
Kristin · August 13, 2014 at 11:35 am
If you scroll down after you submit it’ll say your submission has been received in bold green text. I was confused at first as well but then I saw it
Quiarah Butler · August 13, 2014 at 11:41 am
Thanks Kristen! I saw the green, but I misread the part about the confirmation. When it didn’t come as quickly, I thought I messed up on my email. I think submitting to a contest is the most stressful part, then the waiting. Lol.
Kristin · August 13, 2014 at 11:45 am
I know the feeling. I think my head exploded shortly after I hit “submit”.
Kevin Pech · August 13, 2014 at 2:10 pm
*Tosses hat into the ring* Here we go!
*Goes back to writing*
somer givens · August 13, 2014 at 4:42 pm
I sent in my submissions but I don’t think I got a “Submission accepted” note. Not sure what to do to see if mine went through???
Brenda Drake · August 13, 2014 at 4:52 pm
We got it twice, Somer Givens.
Somer givens · August 13, 2014 at 4:54 pm
Oh jeez. Sorry about that. Weird. Glad it went through though. 🙂
Jocelyn Frentz · August 13, 2014 at 4:57 pm
Thanks for this Brenda! I got my confirmed receipt. This is so much work and I’m so happy you do it : )
Leah Collum · August 13, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Sorry, I’m a little confused . . . My message says “Your submission has been received, and you should soon receive an automatic confirmation by e-mail,” but I haven’t received an e-mail confirmation yet. Is this something to be worried about, or should I not expect an e-mail confirmation after all?
Brenda Drake · August 14, 2014 at 1:40 am
We received yours. 🙂
Laurie Gigliotti · August 14, 2014 at 12:56 am
Submitted and site didn’t tell me if my submission went through…. hoping for the best! 🙂
Brenda Drake · August 14, 2014 at 1:26 am
We received it. 😉
Jericho McKraven · August 14, 2014 at 3:05 pm
This seems to be a trending comment right now, but I also didn’t get any sort of conformation that my submission went through.
Anyways, best of luck to each of you, I’ve got my fingers crossed for all of us! 🙂
Brenda Drake · August 14, 2014 at 3:55 pm
We got yours. 😉
Maghen B.B. · August 14, 2014 at 9:36 pm
My MS is adult fantasy romance.For the submission form I need to pick either fantasy or romance. Do you have any suggestions on which one I pick? Does it matter that much since my query clearly defines that it is both?
Thanks
Brenda Drake · August 14, 2014 at 10:59 pm
I would use fantasy since romance in this case would be a sub-genre, right?
sgf · August 14, 2014 at 11:09 pm
“You can send the prologues later if the mentor asks for a full manuscript.”
Does this mean mentors may request a full manuscript before they choose a mentee?
Thank you!
Brenda Drake · August 14, 2014 at 11:12 pm
Yes, mentors can request additional pages all the way up to a full manuscript and/or a synopsis.
Suja Sukumar · August 14, 2014 at 11:52 pm
Hi,
Same issue here. I hit submit, but received no confirmation that the submission went through. I’m hoping it did.
Brenda Drake · August 15, 2014 at 1:16 am
We received yours.
Trish Knox · August 15, 2014 at 12:00 am
I submitted but didn’t see the confirmation email so have submitted again!
Brenda Drake · August 15, 2014 at 1:17 am
We received both.
Trish Knox · August 15, 2014 at 7:41 am
Checked junk mail–just so you know your system generated the emails!
Quiarah Butler · August 15, 2014 at 12:41 am
Were we supposed to included our twitter name? I saw a few mentors say something about it on twitter, but I didn’t see it anywhere in the rules. I’m still new to twitter, so I’m learning as a I go, especially with contest. Are my chances slim since I didn’t include my twitter handle?
Brenda Drake · August 15, 2014 at 1:17 am
Only if you wanted to. They asked so that they could connect with you. No worries, it was not a requirement from me.
Quiarah Butler · August 15, 2014 at 1:38 am
Oh, good! Thanks, Brenda! Just making sure I didn’t miss anything. 🙂
Kiri Jorgensen · August 15, 2014 at 11:56 am
Thanks so much for opening the submissions early! I’ll be out of town/internet on the 18th so I had worked out all kinds of complicated back-up plans for submission. I just submitted, and can now travel with much less stress. Thank you!
angie · August 16, 2014 at 2:15 pm
There was some confusion with Ben Brooks accepting YA or not.
He tweeted at it said YA for 3 hours on his site – then he took it off….I wish he was still able to glance at YA!
I think he’s awesome.
I sent to him, but he is now only accepting MG – am I able to pick another mentor or am I out of luck on that one?
Thanks – Ang
angie · August 16, 2014 at 2:31 pm
Actually – don’t worry about it. The other 3 I picked rock —
But you might want to know that this was a glitch — some others might have sent him YA too.
Thanks A
D.R. Perry · August 17, 2014 at 9:47 pm
Hello,
I’m another person who didn’t get a confirmation. Did my entry go through?
Thanks so much for all the hard work everyone does for this contest!
D.R. Perry
Brenda Drake · August 17, 2014 at 10:01 pm
We did receive yours.
D.R. Perry · August 17, 2014 at 10:14 pm
Thanks so much for letting me know.
D.R. Perry
Beth Pond · August 17, 2014 at 10:52 pm
Tried to submit and it says I failed the secret question. Is that the number thing? I double checked everything, retried and got the same message. I’m confused…
Rachna Chhabria · August 18, 2014 at 12:28 am
I submitted and got a receipt that my submission was received. Mine is a Humorous MG. Fingers crossed.
Sharon M. · August 18, 2014 at 9:12 am
Hi! I’ve attempted to enter my submission this morning. I had everything in but when I pressed submit, nothing happened except that the link for my first chapter does not seem to want to go through. I’ve tried more than once w/ no luck. It keeps saying “This field is required.” I’ve already sent Dan an email 🙁
T. M. Becker · August 18, 2014 at 2:30 pm
Brenda, I was wondering if the four mentors we submitted to will send us a rejection if they aren’t interested, or if we can only expect to hear from them if they want more. Thanks.
Brenda Drake · August 18, 2014 at 2:37 pm
It’s up to the individual mentors. I will post the mentors’ picks on September 3, so if your name isn’t on it then it’s a pass.
Bianca · August 18, 2014 at 8:09 pm
oh no 🙁 I submitted and there was no message that said ‘your pitch has been accepted’, it just brought me back to this page… (I know I’m not supposed to submit again, but what do I do?). Today’s the deadline, help!
Bianca · August 18, 2014 at 8:16 pm
I got an email! So that means I am fine and did not miss the deadline (?). Should anyone notice my submission was NOT received then pleeeease let me know. I am following replies on this blog 🙂 What a cool idea (pitch wars), I’ve got my fingers crossed!
Carrie-Anne · August 18, 2014 at 11:03 pm
Thanks so much for giving us this opportunity! Hopefully one of my would-be mentors likes a quiet, historical MG.
I just got a new computer, which no longer has Word and can’t open Word 2004 from my old computer. I’m trusting the Pages to Word conversion I did for the file has worked!
Brenda Drake · August 18, 2014 at 11:09 pm
The pages look fine to me.
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