A Stab in the Dark Contest Posts Will Go Live Thursday

In case there was any confusion, the deadline for A Stab in the Dark Contest has been extended until Wednesday at midnight. Posts will go up on Thursday. We have also done away with the teams. So anyone who submits will automatically be entered.

If you have any questions--leave us a comment.

Thanks for your patience and entries!

~Liz

A Stab in the Dark Agent Three

Hello lovelies,

Of course we save the best for last, which is ya know...ME! JK, no I did not become an agent, although it totally was a possible career path. Still ya'll should definitely want to be on my team. So when you send in your subs totally address them to me ;) Why? Because I'm awesome. No...but seriously I was a literary agent intern for a year and a half AND put together some sweet events for Pulitzer award-winning author, Gilbert King. So ya know, there's that. I'm also the resident MG writer here AND love me some smexy YA of all genres...except mystery...Nancy Drew just never did it for me. And I'm a lover of fantasy and light sci-fi. As for middle grade, boy books are always up my alley.

Let me just reiterate this: Nazarea, Auzy and I (Liz!) will be choosing our top ten each from submissions. So if there is a particular one of us you're fond of then seriously feel free to choose us, if not you'll be up for grabs and we can argue over you on our own time.


~Liz


Anyway, onto the third and final agent in our reveal...

Dun Dun Dun

.......................

Olga Filina Associate Agent at The Rights Factory <--Which yes, I'm biased but this agency totally rocks.

Olga joined The Rights Factory in 2013. A graduate of Humber's Creative Book Publishing Program, Olga spent over a decade as a sales manager and book buyer for both national and independent book store chains and two years as a literary assistant at The Cooke Agency. While Olga will read anything that may set her book clubs on fire, she gravitates towards commercial and historical fiction, great genre fiction in the area of romance and mystery, non-fiction in the field of business, wellness, lifestyle and memoir and young adult and middle grade novels with memorable characters. In her spare time, Olga sits on library boards, organizes literary festivals and runs more book clubs than she can count.

We've Got a Halloween Contest in the Works!

Hello darlings!

Stay tuned. We have a lovely Halloween Contest in the works. We already have two confirmed agents! Some of you will be happy to know that this contest's agents accept both ADULT and YOUNG ADULT works.

One does handle middle grade while the other does not. And one also goes for memoirs and non-fiction projects!

We're still working out the kinks, but we're hoping to have this contest up and running in early to mid-October!

So make sure to check back each week. Maybe we'll even share some agent hints!

Cheers,

~Liz

New Contest: Pitch Wars!!

Hey Lovelies! 

Check out what kind of contest Nazarea and I (Liz) will be a part of next month!

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.

Note that our bios and what we are looking for will go up on Nov. 26th!

Here's the deets...

• The teams will consist of 1 agented author or industry intern or editor (coaches) and 1 aspiring author.

• December 1: 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.

• December 5: Aspiring writers will submit 3 "applications" to their top choices for coaches to the contest email (brendadrakecontests@gmail.com) during the allotted times (8AM to 8PM EST). That means, participants will send three separate emails to the contest email addressing each with one of their three top choices for coach.

• December 5 through December 10: Coaches will read the applications and pick teammates.The coaches don't have to pick from their applications. If a coach passes on an application, it is then up for grabs and another coach, if they haven't connected to their applicants, can snatch it after notifying the applicant and if the applicant chooses the coach.

• December 12: Teams will be announced. On the announcement post there will be instructions on how the winners must send their work.

• December 12 through January 16: Each coach will read their teammate's manuscript and give general notes on any issues they find. The coach will help their teammate get his or her pitches ready for the agent round.

• Note: The material for the agent round will be a 3 sentence pitch and the first 250 words of your manuscript. Coaches will read manuscripts and query letters only once and give notes. It is up to the writer to use the notes from their coaches to get the manuscript and query letter in as best shape as they can to send to requesting agents. The coaches will critique the three sentence pitch and first 250 words. The coaches will read them as many times as they deem necessary. In no way will writers expect the coaches to read the manuscript and query letter more than once or the pitches more than twice.

• January 20: Coaches will submit shined pitches to the contest email.

• January 23 and 24: Agents will read and make requests on the pitches they like (it is likely that not all participants will get requests).

• January 25: We'll announce the team with the most requests and who will take home the winning prizes (an amazon gift card for each).

• This is open to finished manuscripts only.

• You may only enter one manuscript.

• Only the genres requested by each coach will be considered for the contest.

 Formatting...

Subject line: Pitch Wars Application: Coach Name you want to apply for: Title (Example: Pitch Wars Application: Brenda Drake: GONE WITH THE WIND)


Name: Your Name

Genre: The genre of your manuscript

Word Count: The word count of your manuscript


Query letter here  (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.


First five pages of the manuscript here (embedded in email). Single spaced. No indentions. A space between each paragraph.


````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

REMINDER: You can send an application for up to 3 coaches.

Our mentors ...

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
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For best results, use HTML mode to edit this section of the post.

And the winner is....

Edit: We received an email from Bridget this morning saying she'd like to receive queries from the 5 finalists. WHO are these finalists you ask?

#24 Heather Hawke --Raven's Wing
#16 Karen lee Hallam --AbeGale Force
#14 Sara Biren --CLOUD 9
#10 Kate Brauning --The Other Side of Silence
#5 Emily Cushing --Race to Butch Cassidy's Gold

(Be sure to mention you were a finalist!)

As for the others involved feel free to query her too and mention the contest in your subject line :)

 

You guys are so awesome, with all the comments and the awesome entries. We have a very talented group of followers, dears. So! First up...
The mystery agent is....
Bridget Smith of Dunham Literary!!!
A bit about Bridget:
Bridget Smith began her career at Dunham Literary, Inc. in June 2011.
Previously, she was an intern at Don Congdon Associates, worked at a secondhand book store in Connecticut, and evaluated short story submissions for Tor.com under Liz Gorinsky and Patrick Nielsen Hayden.
She graduated from Brown University in 2010. While there, she studied anthropology and archaeology, worked as a radio DJ, fenced on the varsity team, and helped design an experiment that she later performed in microgravity at NASA.
A lifelong fan of children’s books, she’s looking for middle grade and young adult novels in a range of genres, including fantasy and science fiction, historical fiction, romance, and contemporary, plus anything that bends the rules of genre. She is actively seeking books with underrepresented or minority characters.
She is also seeking fiction for adults, especially fantasy and science fiction, historical fiction, and literary women’s fiction.
In accordance with her college degree, she’s interested in informational, literary nonfiction, especially science or history written by experts for a general audience.
And for the part y'all are all waiting on. Bridget has selected Entry 8--Lovesense by Robin Hall as the winner! She will be critquing the first 50 pages of your manuscript! :)
Please email us at writerlyrejects@gmail.com for instructions :)
Thanks for participating, y'all. We're hoping to put together a contest for late October or early November--if you have any suggestions for it, please share them in the comments or email us! :)

Contest Window! :)

Here we are, you guys! Keeping it short and sweet: send your submission to writerlyrejects@gmail.com

PLEASE format it properly!
Name: 
Title:
Genre: 
Tagline: 
First 250 words: 


The contest is open until we receive 35 submissions (30 entries and 5 alternates).

Please remember you need to be a follower of the blog, and will be expected to crit five fellow contestants. That's all folks! Spread the word on Twitter and come back to read and comment on the entries Monday morning! :)

N~

News! And an AGENT CONTEST! :)

Wanna know what’s coming up on the blog? Sure you do, and I’m gonna tell you. Cuz I’m cool like that.

Next week, we have an INTERVIEW. From a Reject reader who has some exciting news to share. On September 12, S.R. Johannes (author of Untraceable and the upcoming Uncontrollable) will be joining us for an interview about indie vs self-publishing.

ANNNND!

We have an agent contest coming up! :) Mark your calanders or phone or what have you, for Friday September  7<sup>th</sup>. We will begin accepting submissions at 9am and will be a little different from our previous contests. Some quick notes:  

• We will take the first 30 entries.
• You must be a follower of the blog to enter.
•  The entries WILL BE POSTED ON THE BLOG.
•   Entries will be open to peer critique, and we (the Rejects) will be stopping by and offering thoughts. (You are not guaranteed a crit from a Reject).
• IF YOUR ENTRY IS ACCEPTED, you must critique at least 5 others.
• Our super awesome-sauce agent will be reading and selecting her favorite
• This is for FINISHED POLISHED manuscript
• You’ll need a tagline and the first 250 (ish) words.

So here’s how to format it

Name:

Book Title:

Genre:

TAGLINE:

1<sup>ST</sup> 250 WORDS:

Simple enough, yeah?  Genres are:

Fantasy

Historical Fiction

Middle Grade

Science Fiction

Women's Fiction

Young Adult

Posts will go live on the blog for critique on Monday the 10<sup>th</sup>. Questions? Ask in the comments! :)

Pitch Critique--Call for Subs!

Hey all!

So after our pitch contest this past week we thought it would be a great idea to critique some pitches (3-5 sentences!) and show people why some worked and why some didn't.

Thing is, we would love submissions to critique. SO if you'd love a constructive critique on your pitch feel free to submit your pitches via our email:

writerlyrejects (at) gmail (dot) com

**Note that these will be posted on the blog as an example to others. Not all will be selected, but a few will be used**

Thanks guys!

~Liz  

The Winner of the Claire Anderson-Wheeler Full Ms Crit!!

And the winner (since we all know you won't read the rest until I announce it lol) is...

Chantee Hale's HEAT!! Congratulations Chantee!! :)

Chantee please email the full manuscript to writerlyrejects (at) gmail (dot) com. 

The Winner's Pitch:

Title: HEAT

Name: Chanteé Hale

Genre: Young Adult

Seventeen-year-old Arie has learned to count on one thing: her boyfriend Steven will always come back. This time, when his disapproving father drags him away, Arie can't wait for him to find her because she's pregnant. Like her life, the world is one hot mess. Whole cities are melting down, and Arie is beginning to suspect her boyfriend's family may be hiding some life-changing truths. As her loyalty to Steven is tested, Arie has to find the strength to save herself and the ones she loves.

 

Now, for those who participated. Claire did have a few things to say so don't lose heart!

"I have to say it’s a strong selection. It’s a hard thing to do, boiling down your 70-odd thousand words into just a few, and the ones I read were impressively concise and effective."

"But I read a lot of queries that unfortunately just set up a challenge for the protagonist but don’t sketch in the ‘how’ and ‘what’ that follows. It’s important for an agent to know more about how your protagonist is going to tackle the central issues."

Here's her reasoning for choosing Chantee's pitch:

"I liked Chantee's synopsis in part because there is the promise here of a personal drama, but also of a wider human drama surrounding it: it can make for a really effective and satisfying story when you have both these elements operating at once; a macro and a micro storyline coinciding as each hits ‘crunch time’."

Thanks again to all those who have participated! You guys have been wonderful :) And keep following we're always up to something around here.

~The Writerly Rejects Team 

Top Twenty!

There were so many entries in this contest, and we had a really hard time picking our top twenty. But these are the ones we eventually picked:


Death By High Heels by Violet Ingram
Heat by Chanteé Hale
Veritas by Christina Ferko
Trespassers by Laurie Dennison
Tagestraum by T.L. Bodine
Remake by Ilima Todd
The Glass Prince by Donea Weaver
Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timer
Beneath the Surface by  Jessie Harrell and Nikki Katz
Moon Strings by Lesile S Rose
Dusted by Robin Weeks
Of Fire and Shadow by Mia K Rose
The Apollo Academy by Kimberly P Chase
Relic by Amanda Foody
Isle in the Sea of Ghosts by G B Skye
Broken Wings by Ana Champion
Averagely Extraordinary by Utsav Mukerjee
Right State of Mind by Jenn Soehnlin
Existence by J A Bennett
The River Remembers by Jenny Kaczorowski

Congrats to our top twenty and thanks to everyone who entered!! We'll post Clair's winner as soon as we have it :)

Interview with Claire Anderson-Wheeler

Hi Claire,
 
We’re super excited to have you here! Now tell us, how did you become a literary agent? How long have you been one and have you always wanted to be a literary agent? Whew, that was a mouthful.

It's a pleasure, thanks for inviting me! As to how I started down this route: I realised a little late in the day - but happily not very late in the day - that I didn't want to be a lawyer after all. I began doing some work experience and small-time freelance stuff in publishing, in Dublin, where I was living at the time. Then I moved to the UK to do a Masters in creative writing. I met a lot of agents there, and it clicked: this agenting thing was the niche for me. I loved the idea of that particular, personal interaction with writers and their work. That was in 2007 and it's been a pretty straight trajectory since. I got a wonderful internship in London after graduating and things went from there. I moved to New York last Autumn.


What genres do you represent? What genres will you definitely NOT represent?

 It's flexible. I definitely will not represent the more academic or specialized fields in non-fiction, because I don't have the particular knowledge. Likewise with poetry, screenplays, picture books and the younger children's market: I'd leave these to people more specialised in the field. Straight subject-driven non-fiction typically doesn't excite me as much as narrative non-fiction - I love a story arc, no matter the genre - but if the right thing came along I would hope I would be open. In terms of the fiction side, there is little I would reject out of hand, but there are certainly some genres I am less likely to go for. Horror, for example, has never been my thing; nor has romance. (I would define the 'commercial women's fiction' category as something quite distinct from romance: it might be a light read, but there would be broader issues and themes going on than in a typical love story). I do like some fantasy, and some sci-fi. As with any other genre, though, the story has to feel original: I think in today's marketplace maybe it's easier to be derivative in the fantasy genre, and that is a shame. It gives fantasy a bad name. What I read most, however, is character-driven literary fiction, often the domestic microcosm rather than the grand epic kind - but again, that's not a rule.


What kind of books would you say would make up your ULTIMATE wish list?

Story is a must. Replicating a version of reality - even with brilliant detail and acuity, is not enough - or not enough for me, at any rate. I like to see people being taken apart, the putting back together is optional; books where there's a little bit of fatalism, and some really interesting characters. Josephine Hart's Damage is a prime example of the kind of book I love. Donna Tartt's The Secret History is another.

Do you have any client work coming out?

I haven't been here long enough for that, but watch this space.


Would you say you’re an editorial agent?

Certainly. It's the most important thing an agent can do. You can fight as hard as you like for an author, but if their book is not the best it can possibly be, it's never going to make it out there. Also, you earn a publisher's respect by only submitting things to them that are in good shape and that you can stand over. And then there's that other reason - I just love the process.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Read - and not just for pleasure, but forensically.
Read how-to books as well. They're often underrated. Robert McKee's 'Story' is one of my favourites.
Never kid yourself that someone else is not going to notice the flaws. Those bits you already know are not working? Fix them.

Be ambitious. If you have a big idea, write it. Don't write something that you think is just 'good enough to get published'. You need to give it your very best. If you're having too much fun, there's probably something wrong. It should feel good, maybe even great, but it should feel like hard work.
When you're ready to send out, be professional: nice, but brief. Don't write gimmicky cover letters; your writing will speak for itself. Try to read the guidelines; don't say 'Dear Sirs' when it's an office full of women (which it likely is).Also, almost no one wants material in the body of an email. Attachments are much preferred. For your own sake, keep track of where you've submitted. It's okay to send a courteous email follow up if it's been a couple of months, but please, take care with your tone. Remember that agents have full time jobs that have to get done before they make it to the slush pile. You are the thing that keeps them from leaving the house on weekends! So if you're going to nudge, nudge nicely. A courteous two-line enquiry is fine.

What are you biggest query pet peeves?

The biggest, I suppose, is arrogance, or just ignorance that reads as arrogance. "I have deiced to appoint you as my literary agent"; "Please tell me what qualifies you to represent me", etc.
Personally, it really bothers me when writers shroud their synopsis in mystery, as in "and then something happens that  upends everything Paul has ever known". If I'm going to assess the book, I'm going to need to know what "the thing" is. I need the full story: I need to know who dies at the end, and how many times! 

How can authors query you?

 I'm happiest getting email queries, with the first three chapters attached (as an attachment, not in the body of the work). Getting it by email saves paper and saves my back, and having the attachment gives me more to go on at an early stage. Sometimes I've read bad synopses, then dipped into the work and found it really good.

Favorite book?

Oh no! I hate this question! Probably either Anna Karenina, The Secret History, or The Magician's Nephew, depending on the day.

Favorite movie?

Again, I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow, but today I'm going with Hannah and her Sisters.

Favorite TV show?

I don't watch that much TV, mainly because the ads get to me. But recently some friends have got me into the original (Danish) version of The Killing. That is good TV.

Cookies or Cake?

Chocolate fondant cake, with a scoop of something wonderful on the side. (Are you offering?)

Well, if you like the lactose free variety then sure... ;)

Thanks so much for joining us and for offering the full manuscript page critique. Stay tuned everyone. Winners should be announced this Friday!

~Liz

Agent Contest Now Open

Please remember to format your entry correctly:

Title
Your Name
Genre

3-5 sentence pitch.


Good luck, everyone! We'll take submissions until midnight tomorrow. And come back Wednesday for a lovely interview with Clair! :)

N~

Agent Pitch Contest: Details.

SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION. The submission window is MONDAY JULY 9TH. My bad. N~


It's that time again! Time for another fabulous agent contest. Well, almost--it actually opens next Tuesday Monday, July 9th. But here are the lovely details before then. 

Claire Anderson-Wheeler is a new agent with Anderson Literary Management. Here's a bit more about her in her own words:

• I read across the gamut, commercial to literary, adult to YA (but no children's/middle grade). 
• There are no hard and fast rules, but I'm excited by 1. well-written literary fiction 2. anything with a well-constructed plot 
• I have a strong interest in "multi-cultural" or "world fiction", but also stories set closer to home, often focusing on the domestic sphere. 
• I enjoy historical and crime fiction 
• In non-fiction, my taste runs mainly toward narrative non-fiction and biography

Claire is pretty awesome, right? So now that you know WHO, here's the what.

This contest is open to 

Literary Fiction 

Crime 

Commercial Fiction 

Fantasy 

Women's Fiction 

Young Adult 

Multi-Cultural 

and in non-fiction:

Narrative 

Cultural/Social Issues

You MUST be a follower of this blog to enter. 

To submit, please send your entry to writerlyrejects@gmail.com and formatted as follows:

Title:

Your name:

Genre:

3-5 Sentence Pitch. 

(When I say sentence, don't write a paragraph without punctuation.Write a nice logical sentence. Write four or five of them. Make them make sense and send it off.)

We open to submissions at 9AM TUESDAY Monday JULY 9TH. We will close the submission window at midnight. 

The Writerly Rejects will select the top twenty pitches and forward them on to Claire. Her winner will receive a FULL MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE! 

So polish your pitches and get ready for next week! Oh, and spread the word!! Any questions, ask in the comments. 

The Winner of the Agent Contest with Pam of Larsen Pomada

First off, I would like to thank all those who participated in our agent contest. We got some really great entries and for our first contest the turnout was wonderful. So thanks again everyone. Also a shout out to Pam van Hylckama Vlieg for choosing the winner and offering a 30-page-critique. Thanks :)

So without further adieu the winner is:

Violent Delights by Rachel S.

Congratulations!!

Rachel please email us your 30 pages at writerlyrejects(at) gmail (dot) com.

Lotsa love,

The Writerly Rejects

Agent Contest! Top 10!

It’s today! Which mean we have NEWS!

Okay, for the good news: We had fewer entries than we anticipated, so EVERYONE who entered is getting a crit! If you wanted a 5page crit, please send your pages to writerlyrejects@gmail.com and include your number in the subject line.

Now, after a ton of deliberation—seriously, good work you guys—we’ve narrowed the pool down to the top ten for Pam to peruse. And those ten are:

1) Arkasia—Stephanie Sauvinet

10). Violent Delights—Rachel S

34) That Succs—Larissa Hardesty

35) The Unleashing—Amanda Burckhard

45) Shut Up and Kill Me—Sarah Nelson

17) The Girl With Porcelain Wings—Tristina Wright

25) Silver Pool of Light—Kristen Wixted 

29) Lovecraft—Karen Junker

8) A Legacy of Frost and Fire—Heather Davis

24) The Family Vygil—April Wall

Congrats, you guys! These will be going to Pam today and we will announce her winner sometime next week.

All other critiques will be sent out by next Friday.

You guys, thanks so much for joining us for this! I know there were some hiccups in the process (my fault) but hopefully we’ll smooth those out before our next contest. If you have any suggestions for us, please leave them in the comments! :)

AND! Next week we will concentrate on queries all week. There will be thoughts from us, and some really rough queries from our early days and logline pitch posts. It's gonna be fun! :) 

Agent Contest!!

You guys!! It's here, the very first Rejects agent contest! I am so excited for y'all to get in front of our guest agent, Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Larsen Pomada Literary.  She’s an active blogger and just announced her first sale as an agent, after less than two months! Here’s a little more about Pam:
Pam van Hylckama Vlieg joined Larsen Pomada as an Associate Literary Agent in 2012 to represent young adult and middle grade children's book authors. Over the past four years Pam has become one of the top YA book bloggers in the country at Bookalicious.org. She also works part time at Hicklebee's, a children's bookstore in San Jose, CA.

Pam writes fantastical YA and MG fiction and is represented by Laurie McLean, also of Larsen Pomada Literary Agents. She lives in the Bay Area of California with her Dutch husband, two children--a boy and a girl the perfect set--a Jack Russell terrier, a bull dog puppy, and a small guinea pig. It is her greatest dream to own a menagerie.

This contest is open to:

Picture books: Authors/Illustrators ONLY.

YA: Contemporary, fantasy, science fiction and urban fantasy.

MG/Tween: Contemporary, fantasy, action/adventure

Romance: historical, paranormal, urban fantasy

So, here's how this is gonna work. On May 22, send your entry to writerlyrejects@gmail.com. We'll take entries from 9am to 12midnight (EST). Each submission will receive a number and will go into a lotto.
The Rejects will narrow the initial pool of 60 entries down to 10, and Pam will pick a winner from these top ten.
What does the winner receive (yeah, that's why your still reading. I know). Pam is graciously offering a thirty page critique! How cool is that?!?
Wait a second, though. We think everyone should win *something* so here's the bonus: all sixty entries will receive a query critique OR critique of their first five pages, by one of the Rejects.

Not too bad, right?

Okay, so to submit, format your entry:
TITLE
Your Name
Genre

One sentence logline

Query.

 Your preference of query or 5 page crit.

Make sure your following the blog, and then send your entry to writerlyrejects@gmail.com between 9am-12midnight on TUESDAY MAY 22. Please place AGENT CONTEST in the subject line. THIS IS IMPORTANT: If you DON’T, you will NOT be entered.

You will receive confirmation that your entry was received, and later will receive a number for the lotto. 
The 60 entries chosen by the lotto will be emailed by Thursday, as well as being posted here. The Rejects will then narrow that pool down to 10 for Pam and she will pick her winner.

You guys, I'm super excited! I'm looking forward to reading y'all's entries!
 Good luck!!
N~

P.S. Don't forget the launch raffle that we're having until Friday! Check it out here.

Agent Contest Preview

This is a preview, not a call for submissions.

I wanted to let y’all have a few days to get ready for our first AGENT CONTEST!!!

So, the bare bones:

To enter this contest, you need to follow this blog. The genre’s it’s open to are:

Picture books: Authors/Illustrators ONLY.

YA: Contemporary, fantasy, science fiction and urban fantasy.

MG/Tween: Contemporary, fantasy, action/adventure

Romance: historical, paranormal, urban fantasy

On TUESDAY, May 22, send your QUERY and ONE SENTENCE LOGLINE to us at writerlyrejects at gmail dot com.  (Formatting will be announced Tuesday, please see that blog before sending submission)

Submission will be open from 9a.m.-midnight (EST). We will select 50 random entries, and they will be this month’s contestants. 

So, come back Tuesday for more info (including our AWESOME prize!) and to find out who our fabulous agent is. And polish up your queries and loglines!!  Any questions, ask in the comments. And remember to stop by the raffle for a chance to win some pretty cool prizes.

Cheers,

N~