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.

Agent 2 for A Stab In The Dark!

It’s been a minute or two since we’ve hosted an agent contest here, hasn’t it? Well at least this should be fun one. There will be teams this time. That’s right, all three of us rejects are going to stalk you guys and carve a pretty little target on each of your backs. The reject who end with the most tortured and mutilated victim will win bragging rights for the rest of the year—though why N~ and Liz want to subject their selves to such a humiliating defeat is beyond me. 

And it won’t be easy for the agents to slice and stab at their intended victims either. Because if the entry they want to make a request on has already received a slice (a 10 page request), any other agent will need to either stab (50 page request) at them or go for the out right kill shot! So shuffle about guys. Make these agents work for their meals.

So, who’s the next agent? It’s Danielle Smith of Forward Literary Agency!

Danielle Smith began her agent career at Foreword Literary Agents in 2013 where she represents picture books and middle grade authors and illustrators. Her enthusiasm for children’s literature began as a young child, but grew exponentially when her own two children were born and shortly thereafter she began reviewing books at her top rated children’s book review site There’s A Book. For more than five years she’s been involved professionally with books through print and online publications such as Women’s World and Parenting Magazine, as a member of the judging panel for The Cybils awards for fiction picture books, as well as locally by serving on the board of The Central Coast Writer’s Conference. 

Danielle is also a writer, represented by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg for her middle grade novel The Protectorate. She’s a member of SCBWI and can frequently be found on Twitter talking about anything from children’s books to the BBC’s Sherlock to her own parenting woes & joys. 

A few of Danielle’s recent favorite children’s books include CREEPY CARROTS by Aaron Reynolds, RABBIT AND ROBOT: THE SLEEPOVER by Cece Bell, IN A GLASS GRIMMLY by Adam Gidwitz and anything Jon Klassen has had his hands in. 

Danielle is currently looking for picture books, early readers and chapter books with characters that embody the true essence of what it means to be a child. She’s not afraid to represent all that this encompasses whether it be vibrant joyous stories to darker and harder to tackle subjects such as bullying, loss and death. She would also love to find a great new MG novel and/or graphic novel author/illustrator with a flair for great humor that doesn’t involve devaluing others in order to be funny. More than anything she would love to represent authors who are passionate about getting children to love reading and are able to execute that in a way that both children and parents can love.

            Auzy

A Stab in the Dark: A New Contest!!

-So. You guys, we are having an exciting new contest. And it starts TODAY!!!! Here's how it works.
We're taking subs all week. To enter, email your entry to writerlyrejects@gmail.com

****Important!: submissions have been extended to WEDNESDAY! Get them in guys!*********

FORMAT EXACTLY LIKE THIS:
Name:
Title:
Gener:

75 word pitch:


First 500 words:


From there, we--the three rejects--will pick teams of 10. Next Monday, those entries will go live on the blog. Our three agents will go through the entries, and make bids--these will come in the form of slice (10 page partials) stabs (50 page partial) and kills (full request). The agent with the highest bid at the end of the agent round, wins the manuscript. IF you get more than one agent bidding, you can submit to the other agents after a 2 week period.

So--sounds fun, right? Now to introduce the first agent!!

Pooja Menon of Kimberly Cameron Associates.

Here's a bit about Pooja:

Pooja Menon joined Kimberley Cameron & Associates as an intern in the fall of 2011, with the aim of immersing herself in the elusive world of books and publishing. She soon realized that being an agent was what she was most drawn to as the job was varied and challenging. She represents both fiction and non-fiction for Adult and YA markets.
Her passion for reading inspired her to acquire a BA in Literature and Media from England. Her love for writing then took her to Los Angeles where she pursued an M.F.A in Fiction from the Otis School of Art and Design.
As a new agent, Pooja is looking to build her client list and is eager for submissions by debut novelists and veteran writers. She's looking for writing that has an easy flow and a timely pacing, along with a unique perspective and a strong voice.
In fiction, she is interested in literary, historical, commercial, and high-end women's fiction. However, she's most drawn to stories with an international flavor, vibrant characters, multi-cultural themes, and lush settings.
In fantasy, she's looking for original, layered plots with worlds as real and alive as the ones that were created by J.K Rowling and Tolkien.
In non-fiction, she's looking for adventure & travel memoirs, journalism & human-interest stories, and self-help books addressing relationships and the human psychology from a fresh perspective.
In YA, she's looking for stories that deal with the prevalent issues that face teenagers today. She is also interested in fantasy, magical-realism, and historical fiction.

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

Guest Post: Laura Elliott

Laura is the author of the brand new adult thriller, The Storytellers. She's here to today to tell us about why she chose to self-pub.

Confessions of a technogeek or why I self-pub

 

Why do I self-pub? There are a lot of reasons. I’ve always been an early adapter of technology. I was working in the dot-com world during the Internet boom of the 90s, programming and designing for a company that came up with proprietary software for online banking for credit unions. The company got taken over by Oracle and is still in business today. Then I fell in love with multimedia and animation in the entertainment and news industries. I took my passion for technology and taught animation software at UCSB (Univ. of CA at Santa Barbara) and trained staff at corporations on how to animate features for the web in a world called new media. There’s just something really cool about technology. It intrigues me. I love the way it can be used to tell stories. I guess I’ve been telling digital stories for a dozen years or so.

 

I published my first short story for the kindle, The Kindergarten Ghost, in 2008. I had no idea what I was doing. But it was really cool when I could read it on my kindle. Then I just sort of forgot about being self-pubbed. I kept submitting. I kept writing. And the industry all the while was changing. The story that I loved and felt compelled to write at the time was WINEMUCCA, a small-town fairy tale. It is literary. It is magical realism. It is not a commercial book. I knew this. So I thought it would be perfect to self-pub because IMHO it would be nearly impossible for me to traditionally publish a literary, magical realism book in the changing publishing climate. Once I published WINNEMUCCA, I fell in love with the process. I love designing book covers and producing book trailers. These were all things I had been doing in the news and entertainment world for companies, now I was doing them for myself and my stories.

 

The classic design problem of articulating a story through a single image fascinates me. That’s why I love designing book covers. I also enjoy engaging my other senses through music and video in ways that put me in touch with the story in deeper ways. I always learn a lot about what I’ve written when I produce a book trailer. The process seems to open up more interpretations and meaning behind my books.

 

Because I have so much fun re-imagining the story at the end of the process in these multimedia ways, I sometimes think I should reverse my creative process. Start with the trailer and the cover. Then write the synopsis, followed by the book. It might be fun to try one day.

 

 

Synopsis:

 

 

Four storytellers
One ancient demon
No way out…
Four women who call themselves The Storytellers have gathered one hot August evening to tell tales, as they have for years. But on this night, they unknowingly evoke the powers of an ancient Mayan idol that breathes real life into their stories. The Mayan idol isn’t the only ancient being awakened. A power-hungry demon is determined to see the women fail and become enslaved to him forever.
Now the women’s lives depend on surviving each other’s stories, defeating the demon and solving a centuries-old mystery.
If they survive until The End untold wealth is theirs. But some stories have a life of their own…

This Reject Has Got Herself a Job!

Well it's official boys and girls.

I'm no longer a writer/student. Well, based on my graduation post a few months back, you guys knew that.

But I'm officially joining the ranks of writers with a day job! Or if my future bosses are reading this...Writers with a career path! (Day job just has a better ring to it amongst my literary peers). At the moment I'm going to consider this a total "YAY, I'm a big girl!" moment. Some writers will probably say that they can't wait to quit their day job and spend all day writing.

BUT (and who knows, this disillusioned idea could totally backfire in my face down the road--after a few years of the daily grind)

I'd be pretty bored sitting at home writing all day, especially since life is what truly gets the juices flowing to write. I like to think work and daily life in general are ripe with potential. Like for example, that girl you work with, you know, the one managing to bend over in front of the male boss at the most opportune (or inopportune moments), she'd make an interesting character. Or how 'bout the guy that seems to stand guard beside the snack machine. No matter who goes up there, he always makes friendly conversation. But it's like he's trying to make sure no one else gets the Cheez-its.

Sometimes the daily and the mundane can surprise you. Ideas can strike at any moment. (The shower is my personal favorite).

All I'm saying is I'm super excited to be starting my new job! YAY! And you never know, I could come up with a great story idea because of it. Being out and about, a part of the world outside school will bring me in contact with unique people, people I may not have encountered before...perfect character fodder.

And I'm feeling quite blessed and lucky today.

Have a Happy Thursday lovelies! <3

~Liz