It’s here! Well, not quite yet. The submission windows for the semi-annual Pitch Madness go live on Saturday, September 1 at 12PM EDT (NY time) and 6PM EDT (NY time) and another window has bee added for Tuesday, September 4 @ 10AM EDT (NY time). The game theme this time is Paintball (Great suggestion SM Johnston of YATopia!). What’s Pitch Madness, you ask? Well, its a game where we bring together a bushel of agents to compete for your pitches. There’s three other blogs joining me in this funtastic event. So I guess I’ll start by introducing them first.
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| Shelley Watters |
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| Erica M. Chapman |
Here’s the crazy awesome agents participating…
Dawn Frederick – Red Sofa Literary
Brittany Howard – Corvisiero Agency
John Cusick – Scott Treimel NY
Victoria Marini – Gelfman Schneider Lit.
Judith Engracia – Liza Dawson & Assoc.
Louise Fury – L. Perkins Agency
Sarah LaPolla – Curtis Brown Ltd.
Brooks Sherman – FinePrint Literary Management
Molly Ker Hawn – The Bent Agency
Brittany Howard – Corvisiero Agency
John Cusick – Scott Treimel NY
Victoria Marini – Gelfman Schneider Lit.
Judith Engracia – Liza Dawson & Assoc.
Louise Fury – L. Perkins Agency
Sarah LaPolla – Curtis Brown Ltd.
Brooks Sherman – FinePrint Literary Management
Molly Ker Hawn – The Bent Agency
We’ll have more about the agents up in our Meet the Agents’ post coming September 4 and 5.
Now, here’s the submission deets …
Shine up your 35-word (exact-anything over will be disqualified) pitches and the first 150-words (if the cut-off falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of that sentence) of your finished Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade fiction. We’ll pick 60 entries to move on to the Agent Pitch Match.
We’ve doubled the number of entries we’re taking in this time. There will be a percentage of what genres make it in based on all the agents likes. You guessed it, there will be more YA in the contest than Adult, but the main thing we’re looking for is the WOW factor. Only one entry per person.
We have two submission times, and this year we’re holding it on a Saturday.
The windows open on September 1 …
1ST SUBMISSION TIME: 12:00 pm EDT (EST-NY time) first 100.
2ND SUBMISSION TIME: 6:00 pm EDT (EST-NY time) first 100.
2ND SUBMISSION TIME: 6:00 pm EDT (EST-NY time) first 100.
And we’ve added another submission time for September 4…
3RD SUBMISSION TIME: 10:00 am EDT (EST-NY time) first 100.
Submissions will be emailed to brendadrakecontests@gmail.com. All email submissions received before the submission times will be deleted.
Only the best of the best will make it to the final round.
Submissions will be emailed to brendadrakecontests@gmail.com.
Here’s how to format your entry …
Subject line: Pitch Madness: TITLE
Name: Brenda Drake
Title: The Britanika Journals: Around the World in 80:45:07
Genre: Middle Grade Adventure
Word Count: 50,000
Max and Annika use a transporting globe to find her missing father. With evil men in an airship on their tails, Max must use his sleuthing skills with Annika’s inventor ones to rescue her father.
Maximilian Drayson knew that a masterful sleuth had to pay attention to one crucial thing—the details. He tightened his grip on the white apron he had snatched from the Britanika’s laundry room. It took several hours into his investigation to find it, and most would think it was just a soiled apron, but he believed it to be a clue.
He paced the manicured lawn of the Britanika’s residence, scratching the back of his neck and searching the ground. This particular mystery came about after he had overheard one of the Britanika’s housemaids, Molly, sobbing to another servant about losing her mother’s brooch. At hearing Molly’s distress, he went into action.
Before beginning his investigation, Max interrogated Molly, asking her a series of questions: When had she last seen the brooch? Did she wear it while she worked? What were her household duties? He needed every bit of information he could obtain if he wanted to mark this case as solved.
For those that don’t make it into Pitch Madness we’ll be hosting a twitter pitch party on the hashtag #PitMad on September 13 from 8AM to 8PM EST. So get those twitter pitches ready!
That’s it. We’re so excited!
A couple of announcements for my blog…
The query workshop was great fun, and hopefully informative. A huge thank you to all the participants and critiquers. I know how hard it is to put yourselves out there and I’m so pleased with everyone’s comments. You all are so kind and helpful to each other, I love it. Hug it out. You all deserve pats on your backs. And, most importantly, a gigantic thank you to my co-hosts. Drop by their blogs, read their critiques, and show them some love!
The query workshop was great fun, and hopefully informative. A huge thank you to all the participants and critiquers. I know how hard it is to put yourselves out there and I’m so pleased with everyone’s comments. You all are so kind and helpful to each other, I love it. Hug it out. You all deserve pats on your backs. And, most importantly, a gigantic thank you to my co-hosts. Drop by their blogs, read their critiques, and show them some love!
The winners of a first chapter critique for the Query Workshop by Random.org are:
KL Layton
Andrew Patterson
Laurie Litwin
Please email me the first chapter of your manuscript to brendadrakecontests@gmail.com.
Coming up after Pitch Madness…
The Teenaged Nitpick critiques by John Hansen (@ABoredAuthor). John will critique ten lucky winners in a drawing to receive a first page critique from him and posted on my blog the week of September 24. This is for young adult finished/unfinished manuscripts any genre.
John is a high school student and an intern for Pam van Hylckama of Larsen Pomada Literary Agents. You may have seen him answering questions on Leigh Ann Kopan’s Ask A Teen hashtag #YAWritersAAT. He brings the teen perspective to his critiques. You can get more information about John on his site The Incessant Droning Of A Bored Writer.
Look for more details and for the Rafflecopter to go live on the blog on September 17.
29 Comments
Andrew · August 27, 2012 at 6:55 am
Woot! 😀 I wish my MS was finished I would join in the fun on pitch madness. Maybe next time. 😀
Congrats to the winners of the Query Workshop and big thanks to the blog hosters, and special thanks to Brenda. 😀
Dana E · August 27, 2012 at 6:58 am
Cool! Thanks for the heads up!
TNJ · August 27, 2012 at 8:27 am
Thanks for the opportunity! Will we submit by entering a comment on your blog on that day, or is there another website you will direct us to?
Brenda Drake · August 27, 2012 at 8:41 am
You’ll email your entries to my contest website.
caterina torres · August 28, 2012 at 10:13 am
Where is your contest website? Or did you mean to email entries to brendadrakecontests[at]gmail[dot]com ?
Thanks for clearing things up
Brenda Drake · August 28, 2012 at 11:37 am
Yes, I meant the email brendadrakecontests@gmail.com
Janet Johnson · August 27, 2012 at 8:29 am
I wish I were ready for this, but best of luck to all the entrants! You guys are awesome for hosting these!
Amber · August 27, 2012 at 8:31 am
What a fun contest! Bummed my genre isn’t included, but I’ll be rooting from the sidelines!! Good luck everyone 🙂
K.L. Layton · August 27, 2012 at 8:52 am
I just might be more stoked than ever right now… Well third to the births of my two boys.
Thanks so much for taking your time to do this!!!!!
Karen lee Hallam · August 27, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Fantastic! I look forward to slamming my pitch right in there with the lions. I was going to ask the same question as TNJ–is there a special email to send the pitch, etc. to?
I’ll be out of town using my phone most likely. Have it all set up on my email, ready to go. Thanks for hosting this Brenda.
Karen lee Hallam · August 29, 2012 at 10:35 am
sorry–I see the email. Must slow down, my enthusiasm kills me.
Stacey Trombley · August 27, 2012 at 4:43 pm
So you won’t be as strict on the 150 words as the pitch correct? Mine is looking to be about 154 to finish that last sentence.
Is that okay? Otherwise I will probably cut it to 125, because those few sentences aren’t strong if you don’t see where they are going.
Brenda Drake · August 27, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Right, you can go to 154 (to the end of the sentence where the 150 falls).
Carrie-Anne · August 27, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Looks like I’ll have to use my new scheduling software for the first time, since I’m never on the computer on Shabbos day! Hopefully it’ll go through at the correct time. (All my Saturday blog posts are scheduled in advance to avoid the issue of using electricity on the Sabbath.)
Michelle · August 28, 2012 at 6:53 am
Hi Brenda! What a great opportunity. I shared this on Twitter and my FB page. Love your blog.
Michelle
Random Writing Rants
Stephsco · August 28, 2012 at 10:06 am
Very cool. Hope I make the cut!
Stina Lindenblatt · August 29, 2012 at 6:23 am
I would have loved to enter but we’re camping that day, and I can guarantee I’ll no internet service. 🙁
Lauren Harris · August 29, 2012 at 9:28 am
Arg! Dragon*Con! I will be standing in the parade lineup dressed as Stemapunk Poison Ivy…maybe I can send it from my phone?
Brenda Drake · August 31, 2012 at 8:59 am
We’ve scheduled another window for Tuesday at 10AM EDT!
Karen lee Hallam · August 29, 2012 at 10:37 am
Okay-this question I don’t see- What should we put in the subject line? Thanks Brenda!
Jadzia Brandli · August 29, 2012 at 5:46 pm
Brenda,
It’s lovely to meet you, and thanks for the follow on my blog. Your blog is very nice. What an awesome contest! Sounds fun. 🙂
Barbara Watson · August 29, 2012 at 6:21 pm
What a fantastic opportunity! Off to perfect my pitch…
Stacey Nash · August 30, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Wow, what a great opportunity you’ve created! Looks like I’ll be setting the alarm for 2am to email you from Australia!
Laura Hughes, MittensMorgul · August 30, 2012 at 3:50 pm
I second Karen’s question: Do you want something specific on the subject line? Perhaps Pitch Madness followed by the title? Just want to make sure. Thanks! I can’t wait! 🙂
Brenda Drake · August 31, 2012 at 8:57 am
Doh! I always miss something. Yes, subject line – Pitch Madness: TITLE
Nick Wilford · August 31, 2012 at 2:00 am
Thanks for this, it looks awesome. Thanks for following my blog. Off to polish my pitch, and check how your times correspond to Greenwich Mean Time! 🙂
Ellie Heller · August 31, 2012 at 6:39 am
Oh! I am so, so glad you added that additional date!! Just found out there’s a funeral I’ll be going to on Sunday which necessitate an almost all day drive Saturday so I will definitely miss the noon one, and probably the six pm one too.
You *so* rock for providing these opportunities. Thank you!!
Jess Crockett · August 31, 2012 at 1:49 pm
If we don’t make it into the first 100 with one submission window, can we try for another? Will we know if we made the first 100?
Dana E · September 1, 2012 at 9:04 am
Opps – so sorry! I wished I had read your comment about the subject line before I hit send! I’ve got Pitch Madness and my name, not title.
Please let me know if I need to submit it again in another window. Thanks!!
Comments are closed.