Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Writer's Voice--More Details!


So The Writer's Voice starts TOMORROW!!! I can't believe it! I'm even getting nervous! Haha!

For those of you who might be wondering what in the world I'm talking about, let me explain:
“The Writer’s Voice” is a multi-blog, multi-agent contest hosted by Cupid of Cupid’s Literary Connection, BrendaDrake of Brenda Drake Writes, Krista Van Dolzer ofMother. Write. (Repeat.). and me (of Love YA, of course!). We’re basing it on NBC’s singing reality show The Voice, so the four of us will serve as coaches and select projects for our teams based on their queries and first pages.

Here’s the timeline:

May 3
Everyone submits their entries
May 3-10
We select our team members from “The Writer’s Voice” Blogfest
May 10-17
We coach our team members, helping them polish their entries
May 17
We post our team members’ entries on our blogs
May 21
Agents vote for their favorites

Since submissions will open tomorrow, here are a few more details as to how that will work:

The Genres

To enter “The Writer’s Voice,” your manuscript must meet two conditions: First, it must be COMPLETE, POLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the following genres:

Adult Fantasy
Adult Science Fiction
Adult Romance
YA fiction (all subgenres)
MG fiction (all subgenres)

Submission Windows

We’ll accept entries in two time slots. The first submission window will open at 9:00 a.m. EDT on Thursday, May 3, and will close once we receive 75 entries. The second submission window will open at 9:00 p.m. EDT on the same day and will close once we receive another 75 entries.

The Widget

We’ll accept submissions via one of Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets, which we’ll post on all four of our blogs on May 3. The widget will appear on our blogs at the same time and will sync with the other copies that appear on the other three blogs. So if Bobbie Sue goes to Cupid’s blog and signs up for the number five slot over there, she’ll show up in the number five slot on Brenda’s, Monica’s, and Krista’s blogs, too. In other words, it doesn’t matter which blog you use to sign up; the widget that appears on one of them is the same widget that appears on all of them.

Please note that WE’RE ONLY ACCEPTING 75 ENTRIES IN THE FIRST SUBMISSION WINDOW even though we’re programming the widget to accept 150 entries total, so if more than 75 people sign up tomorrow morning, WE WILL DELETE THE ADDITIONAL ENTRIES and ask those people to try again in the second submission window.

Posting Your Entry and Sending It to Us

Securing a slot in the widget is your confirmation that you’re in the contest. Once you’ve secured that slot (or in other words, once you’ve signed up for the blogfest), you’ll post THE PLOT SUMMARY FROM YOUR QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript on your blog. Then you’ll send your query, first 250 words, and A LINK TO YOUR BLOG POST in the body of an e-mail to TheWritersVoiceContest(at)gmail(dot)com, with your blogfest number, title, and genre in the subject line.

In summary, you must follow these three steps to enter:

1. Sign up for the blogfest/secure a slot in the widget during one of the submission windows listed above.
2. Post the plot summary from your query and the first 250 words of your manuscript on your blog.
3. Send your plot summary, first 250 words, and a link to your blog post to TheWritersVoiceContest(at)gmail(dot)com, with your blogfest number, title, and genre in the subject line.

If you make it into the blogfest, please post your entry and send it to our e-mail address as quickly as possible. We just want to have plenty of time to review all the entries. Also, the e-mail address will send you an automated response to let you know we received your entry, so keep an eye out for that.

We think that about covers it. If you have any questions about the rest of the process, please refer to our last postabout the contest. And if you have any last-minute questions about tomorrow’s submissions, feel free to ask them in the comments below.

<3
Mónica

24 comments:

  1. I'm so excited for this! Sounds great. You ladies are wonderfully generous.

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  2. This sounds great Monica! Good luck to everybody who enters :D

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  3. This sounds fantastic! You are beyond awesome for hosting this. You do so much for writers Monica, we love you! Best of luck to everyone participating!

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  4. Wow.
    I think it's awesome how much WORK you put into helping people find agents. Seriously. You're awesome.

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  5. I'll bet your adrenaline level is off the charts right now on the eve of The Writer's Voice. Love the sense of fun in this contest. Happy hosting.

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  6. Okay that is so totally awesome that I wish I could participate. I'll go tweet.

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  7. Deep sigh. I really must must must get that manuscript finished and polished. This is to die for! Hope it is a fantastic success. I'll tweet it for you.

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  8. I'm disappointed that I can't do this. I'm still two months from being finished my ms. Can't wait to see all the excitement. It's more fun getting to watch than participate. Or at least less stressful.

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  9. I love it! Kind of reminds me of my rl situation - drastically outnumbered by the better sex! I am in my element... (well, if not my element at least I'm used to it). I trust all you ladies don't mind a little competition from a man?

    hmmm, which brings a strange thought to mind - why is it so often women that organize these sorts of events? Never mind, I already answered that in my second sentence.

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  10. Ok, at the risk of sounding stupid, what exactly will Mr. Linky's widget ask us? Just name and email address?

    (PS. In my head I've been calling it Mr. Winky's Widget. Um ...)

    Thanks!

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    1. LOL, I call it Mr. Winky sometimes too! Haha!
      You'll just have to put your name and URL. That's it! :D

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  11. This is a great concept you gals came up with! Can't wait to read the posts:)

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    1. YAY! I'm glad I'll see you lurking around!! :D

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  12. Super excited, thanks so much!!! :D

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  13. is it appropriate to enter a manuscript currently being considered by an editor?

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  14. I had to make sure I was following all the blogs. Nice to meet you, Monica!

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  15. This is a great idea. Thank you for putting it together.

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