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Tuesday, June 16, 2015

AGENT-JUDGED contest announcement!! =D



So. YAY! Another contest. Guess that by now you already know how much I love these, huh? Anyway. I’m going to host a contest with agent Carrie Pestritto of the Prospect Agency on 7/7/15. 
Click here to read her interview.

This will be a VERY selective contest—not every manuscript can participate. Now Carrie is actively looking for Diverse YA and NA books. If your manuscript fits that description, then you can participate. If not, then stay tuned for other contests in the future. 

Rules:

1) As I said above, this contest is ONLY OPEN for #WNDB. (Only FINISHED manuscripts.)

2) This is for unagented writers only.

3) On July 7, you should post your query pitch (not the whole query) on the comment section of the contest post (not this post). The entry should read like this:
-Your Name
-Title of your book
-Genre (i.e. Magical Realism YA with diverse characters, OR Contemporary NA with diversity, etc...)
-Word-count of your manuscript
-Your email
-The pitch (just the meat of the query)
-The first 250-ish words (don’t stop in the middle of a sentence).

4) Please, help me spread the word. I’m not going to haunt you if you don’t, but it’d make me REALLY happy if lots of people came to participate.

5) The contest will open at 8:00 a.m. EST on July 7, and will be open for 24 hours. 

Carrie Pestritto will request the mss she’d like to read. 

ALSO, as a BONUS!! If you read NA fiction and are considering reading my debut FROSH (Oct 20, 2015), you can win a random query critique from Carrie.  
All you have to do is tweet saying why you'd like to read FROSH. 
Sample tweet: I'd love to read @Monica_BW 's FROSH because [ _reason + link to Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25154047-frosh] 
Then, copy/paste the link to your tweet at the bottom of your entry. And that's it! I'll choose a random winner and Carrie will critique your query for you! 

Let me know if you have questions on the comment section of this post. ;)
<3
Mónica

28 comments:

  1. This is so awesome! Carrie is my agent and AMAZING. Everyone considering this contest should totally try to enter!

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  2. "The pitch (just the meat of the query)"
    How many words should that have?

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    1. Hi! There's not maximum, but nice pitches always are around 180-220 words. Less than that and sometimes they aren't as fleshed out as needed, and more than that and they will read like they are too wordy. I say the best pitches are always around 200 words long. HTH! :D

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  3. So glad you're still doing these contests - they're so helpful. Carrie is my agent, and I found her thanks to one of your pitch contests! Thanks for all you do!

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    1. And thank you for stopping by! I've missed you! <3

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  4. My MS touches on diversity, but I can't really say that's the main component of the plot. Can I still enter? Will this contest be open to writers of color as well?

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    1. If it touches diversity, SURE! You can enter. And of course. Everyone can participate, as long as you're unagented and your MS is completely finished. =D

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    2. Yay! Thanks so much for doing this.

      I'm from Mexico, by the way. I see you're from Chile. That's great!!

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    3. Oh! The Mexican soccer team is in Chile now! And yes! I live in Chile, but was born in Peru. :) That's fun to a fellow Latina. xo

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    4. * I meant: to MEET a fellow Latina. LOL. I'm hungry today, apparently, eating words! :P #sheesh!

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    5. I think I can enter too, even though diversity isn't the main component of my plot either. My main character is Latina. Well her father is white, but her mother was Latina and was born and raised in Venezuela.

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    6. Sure! You can enter, too. :)

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  5. Oh! I'm Spanish!!! ¡Hola a todas!
    One of my MCs is Spanish, but I don't think that MS qualifies because it's Fantasy, not magical realism (although it has diverse characters.)
    However, I have a Cont. NA that takes place in a Spanish-speaking country with diverse characters. Maybe I'll enter that one :)

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  6. ¡Hola! Espero que estés bien. :) If the fantasy has diversity, you can enter that ms, no prob. Or the other one. You decide. Good luck! =D

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  7. Stupid question: What, exactly, does #WNDB mean? I just want to make sure that my ms is appropriate to enter (I think it is) before I enter it.

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    1. Not stupid at all! It's the hashtag on Twitter that stands for We Need Diverse Books. :)
      Good luck! :D

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  8. My novel is a zombie novel, but since the zombies were caused by a disease it's kind of scifi. Can I still enter it? I'm asking because I'm fairly sure the agency Carrie works for doesn't usually take scifi.

    Thank you!

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    1. You can enter if your book touches the subject of diversity somehow. If it doesn't, then it's not for this contest. Good luck!

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  9. Hi there! I hope this isn't beating a dead horse, but quick question! I have a novel where my main character is LGBTQ, but other than being who he is, it doesn't play a large role in the story. (aside from who he's into.) It's YA/UF, would that fall anywhere near Carrie's wheelhouse? I read the two interviews found through here, but I'm still unsure.

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Sure--if it's your main character, I would say it's a big part of the book. Good luck tomorrow!

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  10. While my story fits with WNDB, I don't think my genre fits this.

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  11. Love seeing this contest! My book can't enter (it's not kidlit or NA), but still glad to see it. Good luck everyone entering!!

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  12. Ooh! Interesting contest! Too bad my MS isn't ready yet. Will watch out for the next one. Good luck everyone!

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  13. I didn't see an entry link. How do we enter this contest?

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  14. Where is the entry link?

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  15. "On July 7, you should post your query pitch (not the whole query) on the comment section of the contest post (not this post)."

    And where exactly do we find the contest post, please?

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  16. Thank you so much for this contest.

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