Thursday, September 20, 2012

Spooktacular Pitch Extravaganza Details

Update: Submission details can be found here.

Background came from this design.

Starting off this post with a huge shout-out to Master Yoda, Brenda Drake, for whom I've learned and borrowed fun ways to have a contest! (I always do my best to join her contest and find them super fun. So, I want mine to be like hers. Fun for all involved!) Brenda, you are the best and I hope I make you proud!

Okay, enough of the mushy stuff!

So the above picture says it all. If you've been following my twitter, you've seen me talking about a secret October project I've been working on. Well, this is it! It's grown, shrank, and reblossomed and I'm glad it did! This contest is a huge thank you to all of my blog followers, (I hit 100 followers and have been promising a contest for a bit,) and to my fellow writing friends I've met along my journey. Read the entire post and see what I've cooked up for you! *cue witchy laugh*

I can hear you now. "Details, woman! Details!" All right. All right. Settle down. Here are the details I know you're burning to know. The Spooktacular Pitch Extravaganza will open for submissions on October 13 at 8am EDT and stay open until October 16 at 12am EDT. On October 17 I will pull 50 names and have you email me your pitches to a special contest email then. So make sure you check back on October 17!

"What do we have to do?"
Great question! Polish and spit-shine your 3 line pitch (3 lines = 3 sentences. No specific word count. Just clear, concise sentences telling your story's plot. If you go over 3 lines, you'll be disqualified and someone else will take your spot) and the first 250 words of your finished and polished ms (if it ends in the middle of a sentence, feel free to go to the end of that sentence.) This contest is open to Adult, Young Adult, New Adult and Middle Grade fiction so bring it on!

"Who are we doing this for? You?"
Haha! No! This is a contest, so it should have a great prize and judges right? And here they are! It's a Corvisiero Literary Agency showdown! It's Brittany Booker vs Jordy Albert! Here are their bios.

Brittany Booker is a Jr. literary agent in training. She worked with Marisa Corvisiero in her time at the Lori Perkins Agency. She will graduate in December of 2012 with a BA in English. She is looking for novels that keep her up at night and transports her into the pages.In fiction she is looking for well-written contemporary romances, historical fiction, fantasies, YA and new adult. She is specifically interested in time travel novels. As for YA, Brittany is drawn to contemporary works; dramatic or funny romances; and urban fantasy. She's especially interested in YA that is funny and quirky. The goofier the heroine the better. She is a big sucker for happy endings. She also has a passion for books set in the south. She also has working knowledge of Japanese and Spanish.
Brittany is not looking for erotica, middle grade, memoirs or paranormal works at the moment.

VS

Jordy Albert is a Jr. Literary Agent in training. She holds a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University, and a M.A. from Millersville University of Pennsylvania. She has worked with Marisa Corvisiero during her time at the L. Perkins Agency for over a year. Jordy also works as a freelance editor, and of course enjoys reading in her spare time. She is a fan of the SyFy, History and Discovery Channels, enjoys studying languages (French/Japanese), and is teaching herself how to knit.
Jordy is interested in the following genres: Romance (contemporary, historical/Regency, paranormal. Erotica is okay, but it must have a strong plot and well-developed characters), MG/YA, dystopian, and horror. She enjoys quirky characters with a self-deprecating sense of humor. 

Brittany and Jordy will play a fun Halloween-esq game to win your pitches. Game, prizes, and how to format your entries along with contest email to be announced on October 8 along with the rules for these two lovely ladies. Make sure you come back for that.

Well, I think that's all for now. If you have any questions or just want to talk about the contest, my comments are always open! Until next time, happy reading/writing everyone!




22 comments:

  1. Good luck with the contest! Hope you get tons of entries!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You don't even know how cool I think this is. I love the concept and what you've put together! What a fun way to celebrate my favorite season, holiday, and month!! Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so much everybody! I'm so happy everyone is excited about this. I've been working on it for so long and I'm just glad I've finally been able to let the secret out. Good luck to all who sign up!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow this sounds just fab! Quick question: what twitter hashtag will you be using? Want to keep track of it! (and tweet it and post it on my blog and...)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Ellie At the moment I'm using #SpookPitGanza because everything else I've tried is in use. If anyone would like to suggest another hashtag, I'm all ears!

      I'm super glad you're all excited about this because I am too! It's going to be tons of fun!! Thanks again! :)

      Delete
    2. Checked these and none are being used that I can see:

      #PitchorTweet
      #Boo!ItsaPitch
      #SpookyPitch
      #PitchEvent

      Delete
    3. One last thought: If you think you'll be doing more pitch events, you might want to use a twitter tag which you can use again and will be associated with your blog like

      #TWWPitch for This Writers World Pitch
      or #PitchBunny

      I'll shut up now. :-)

      Delete
    4. #PitchBunny makes me giggle! Might use that for another contest. I'm thinking of just #SpookPitch from now on. Thanks for your hashtag input! :)

      Delete
  5. Oh, I love contests! And you're right: Brenda is the awesomest. :)

    I do have a question, though: "3 lines" is kind of inexact, since the length will change depending on the size of the screen, window, page, etc. So if I compose and polish my 3 lines on my word document using web view, I'm almost certain to go over once I plug it into a blog comment box that doesn't stretch over the whole screen, right? Even if it's only 3 lines in the comment box, if I view the entry on a smaller monitor, it could exceed that--so what size monitor are you using? Or do you mean 3 sentences? Can I suggest going with a specific word or sentence count?

    Help!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, Robin! *waves* All very good questions. 3 lines = 3 sentences. No specific word count. Just clear, concise sentences telling your story's plot. I'll go add this to the post just in case others are confused too. Thanks for asking!! :)

      Delete
    2. And yes, Brenda is the bomb-diggaty! I <3 her!

      Delete
    3. Oh, good. That's so much better. :) *relaxes* *heads off to polish her 3 sentences* *gets all tense again*

      Delete
  6. Brenda is the pitch contest QUEEN!! :) But, I always seem to find out about these too late. Putting this one into my calendar stat! Thanks for hosting - sounds like fun! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Can't wait for this. And I was wondering about the 3 lines, too. But okay, 3 lines = 3 sentences. Let's do this!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm scheduling this baby in! So it's three lines, no more--how 'bout, no less? Exactly three. Thanks Jamie.

    ReplyDelete
  9. And last question, what is the email to send to send pitch and first 250 words? Did I miss this somewhere too. THANKS Jamie!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yes, how do we send the pitch/first 250? Oh, and I put the contest info on my blog. Tx again!

    ReplyDelete
  11. No problem! I'm glad that y'all are excited about #SpookPitch!

    You'll sign up on a widget and on October 17th, I'll use random.org to pull 50 names. Those 50 will then email their pitches & 250 to a contest email that will be on the sign up post & announcement post w/the lucky 50. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow. I just found your blog tonight. Just in time for this contest. I'm really glad I found it. I'm a new follower, btw. It's nice to meet you. Thanks for hosting such a cool contest!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yay! I'm so glad you found me in time for the contest! Thanks for following and nice to meet you too! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey, I just found the contest with little time to spare. Thanks for going to all the trouble. I'll let my writing friends know about this!

    ReplyDelete