Monday, December 3, 2012

12/3 Two big opportunities this week: #PitchWars through 12/5 & #Pitchmas 12/4-6, & more

First, the PitchWars submission window will close at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, December 5. If you haven't entered yet, NOW is the time to do it! Be sure to read through ALL the mentors blogs who are looking for your category. AND follow the hashtag on twitter - lots of chatter and helpful information there! This is just a drop in the bucket of the information you wil need. Be sure to go to Brenda Drake's blog for ALL the details! :
We're extremely excited to announce an upcoming event where agented authors, industry interns, and editors team up with aspiring writers to shine up their manuscripts and pitches to present to some awesome agents. Here's the deets... ·        The teams will consist of 1 agented author or industry intern or editor (coaches) and 1 aspiring author. ·        
November 26: The coaches (listed on the linky below) will post on their blogs what genre/category they want to coach. They'll be very specific genres. Aspiring writers will hop around and decide which coaches best fit their manuscripts. ·      
Between November 26- December 5: Aspiring writers will submit 3 "applications" to their top choices for coaches to the contest email (check site for parameters, formatting, etc!) That means, participants will send three separate emails to the contest email addressing each with one of their three top choices for coach.
AND here are the mentors!:
REMINDER: You can send an application for up to 3 coaches.Our mentors ...
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Lots of YA, but some NA and four Adult in there too. A great opportunity to get some feedback on your manuscript AND query and get it in front of an agent. :-) .
On December 4-6, Pitchmas, A Holiday Pitchfest (multi agent/editor) will be happening on Jessa Russo and FeakySnucker's blogs. On December 4th Jessa will be hosting a pitch polishing workshop leading up to the first opportunity to pitch that evening on Tamara (FeakySnucker) Blog. PLUS a list of participating editors and agents is up for anyone who wants to peruse. Important dates, FULL DETAILS ON THE BLOG! (be sure you go there!):
Tuesday 12/4: 4am-9pm PST PITCH-HONING WORKSHOP (Jessa's Blog) .
Tuesday 12/4: 11pm-2am EST First PITCH SUBMISSION WINDOW (Tamara's Blog) .
Wednesday 12/5: 10AM EST-11AM EST Second PITCH SUBMISSION WINDOW (Tamara's Blog) Comments on Tamara’s contest post will be open again, and she will take an additional 25 pitches only. .
Wednesday 12/5: 11:30am-9:30pm EST BLOG PITCH CONTEST (Tamara's Blog) .
Thursday 12/6: All day! TWITTER PITCH PARTY!  {140 Characters or Less - obviously}  You may not pitch more than twice per hour. Please respect your fellow pitch fest contestants buy obeying this rule. It is unfair to clog the feed with your manuscript every two seconds. We will notify you throughout the day if we see an agent or editor is lurking, so make sure you follow both Tamara and Jessa on Twitter.
***Follow along with the hashtag: #PitchMAS***
*You may only pitch completed and polished manuscripts. *You may pitch more than one manuscript, but each pitch must be its own comment, or its own tweet. (Read: Do NOT pitch multiple manuscripts in ONE comment or ONE tweet.)
Over at Muse Tracks, they're having their Agent/Editor Shop on December 15:
I'm happy to say the awesome Rhonda Penders with The Wild Rose Press will be our first ever guest editor at Editor Shop, and I wish you all the best of luck on pitch day. December 15th is pitch day, so mark your calendars!
Now we all want to think every agent and editor out there is legit and a majority of them are. But there are a few things you'll want to consider as you enter contests (and NO, I do not mean you shouldn't enter contests - just go in with eyes wide open :-) ) I'm pointing this out now, so *when* you get your offer (and I am saying when, since I'm pulling for you!)  you'll have done  your due diligence and checked out the agent/press who has contacted you. One place to start is Sarah LaPolla's blog post on 'Shady Business'  where she talks about 'new' agents who have no experience as well as new (e)publishers . She has EXCELLENT advice on what to look for (and what to watch out for) as you look for an agent/at new e-pubs. Another blog with excellent advice is Writer Beware Blogs & Guest Blog Post: Mustering the Courage to Turn Down a Publishing Contract. Personally I'd suggest checking things out prior to entering any contests so if there's a request for more information you can go in eyes wide open and not just respond in a heady rush. To be clear, I'm not saying there have been any publishers which are on any of the 'beware' lists, or anything of that nature, in any contest that I am aware of, just that it make sense to not automatically assume a publisher (or agent) is in 'good standing' because they are taking part in a contest. (and that was clear as mud, but hopefully you get the point)

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