QueryTracker Blog

Helping Authors Find Literary Agents

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Agent- judged Contest Announced!



EVERYBODY WINS!

Agent Kathleen Ortiz of Lowenstein Associates will be judging our next contest. Here are the deets:

  • Opens Tuesday June 1, 2010 at 9:00 PM EST
  • Only 100 entries will be accepted
  • Genres: Young Adult and Middle Grade only (next month's contest will be adult only.)
  • You must be a follower of the QueryTracker blog, widget at right.


To enter the contest:

  1. You must have a free QueryTracker membership
  2. You must submit a one-sentence pitch (helpful links below) and your first chapter
  3. Your submission will be accepted on the submission form (won't be available until the contest opens) 
  4. DO NOT EMAIL YOUR SUBMISSION DIRECTLY TO THE AGENT. You will be disqualified if you do.

This contest is not for whiners! It is only open to those who are willing to receive honest feedback. Ms. Ortiz will:

  • Treat every entry as a partial submission (therefore you must only enter if you, in Ms. Ortiz's words "for the LOVE OF GODIVA," have a completed MS)
  • Read every entry TO THE POINT SHE WOULD NORMALLY STOP READING on a partial submission
  • She will tell you why she stopped reading
  • She will request more of the manuscript only if it is something she would normally request.

Helpful links on pitching at Elana Johnson's blog.
Literary agent Laura Rennert helps you build your pitch.
Literary agent Rachelle Gardner reveals the secrets of a great pitch.
Also, read  a word about pitches and what makes them work by last month's judge, Chris Richman.

Good luck! And let us know if you have any questions.

34 comments:

Angie said...

Sounds like a wonderful contest. Too bad it's not my genre. Next month, though! You guys are awesome.

Lisa K. said...

What a fabulous contest! That kind of feedback is priceless. Unfortunately I don't write MG or YA, so I'll be looking forward to next month!

Unknown said...

Awesome!

T.J. said...

No......!!!! That's the wrong day! Hmmm....how to adjust my schedule.

Patrick said...

This is the coolest contest idea I have ever heard of. Thank you Ms. Ortiz for doing this.

Buffy Andrews said...

Awesome. Thanks so much everyone for doing this. I've posted numerous places to help get the word out. Good luck to everyone!

Tara McClendon said...

I'll pass this along, too. Thanks for hosting such a cool contest.

Ann Marie Wraight said...

Amazing! These contests are fabulous!
I read about this on Buffy's blog - THANKS BUFFY!

Buffy Andrews said...

You're absolutely welcome Ann Marie. And thanks so much for following my blog. I love your comments. You're awesome girlfriend!

Ann Marie Wraight said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shannon O'Donnell said...

Wow! Too cool for words! :-)

Shelley Watters said...

My genre, Love her, but my manuscript isn't finished yet! Darn!!

Lydia Kang said...

Great contest! Excellent.

Jeff King said...

This sounds awesome... my WIP is not complete, one chapter left of first draft, or I would be all over this--sounds like a wonderful opportunity for the lucky writers.

Thx for giving writers a chance like this.

Kathleen Ortiz said...

In the words of Janet Reid, for the LOVE OF GODIVA PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure your MS is completed if you're entering this contest.

I would be quite disappointed (and irritated) if I enjoyed it, requested the full and then am told it's not done.

Thx! :)

~K

Unknown said...

EST? Or EDT?

Not to be a pesky stickler... I just don't want to miss the window!

Christina Farley said...

Wow! This is the coolest contest ever. Can't wait.

Patrick said...

Eastern Standard Time, Lisa.

Nicole Thomas said...

Pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but if we've queried a project already to KO, can we still pitch it? I'm thinking no.

I'll spread the word.

Martina Boone said...

This is an awesome opportunity! Now what if you have a short prologue and a short chapter 1? (Total of 8 pages)

Wendy Swore said...

Oh, I'm excited for this one! Thanks for setting this up!

Kathleen Ortiz said...

@Adventures: I'm not a fan of prologues - just leave it out for this contest. Otherwise, you may risk my stopping at the prologue.

@Nicki: if it's YA or MG and you received an R, then why not? It's a chance to see why I stopped reading.

Ann Marie Wraight said...

THANKS for the DIRECT ANSWER Ms. Ortiz!

I bet my question caused a
" For the LOVE OF GODZILLA!"
kind of reaction - but I was hoping that at some point a competition for the most promising WIP could be organised....?
I recently dismantled part of my project and am not sure if I can make the deadline....SO

BUFFY and
KidLit (Marissa and Martina)
I'll be on the sidelines CHEERING you GALS along wearing my best tutu - now that sight in itself is worth entering....I'll be hounding your blogs every day making sure you're all ship shape!

Thanks again everyone for organising these competitions!

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Suzette,
What an wonderful opportunity. The fact that Kathleen is going to tell you where and why she quit reading will be really helpful! Thank you Querytracker and Kathleen for hosting this contest.

Kirthi said...

Oh my gosh, this is amazing! Thank you so much for this awesome contest! I have a question, where do I submit my pitch and first chapter?

Thanks so much!

Nicole Thomas said...

Thanks for answering my question KO. I have a YA that got an R which I fully understand as it's . . . complicated ;) My second query is the MG, but I have not heard back yet - so I was just curious.

Tory said...

This contest sounds amazing! I really want to enter but my query is currently out w/ KO. Oh well, I'm marking my calendar for June 1st and working on my one-sentence pitch...NOW!!! Good luck, everyone! TMinus

Unknown said...

Whoa, what an amazing contest! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this! :)

kah said...

Sweet!

June 1st is my birthday. What a generous bday gift from KOrtizzle.

Stina said...

Will we have to copy and paste our first chapter in the entry form?

Patrick said...

Yes, Stina, there will be a place to paste in your chapter.

Stina said...

Thanks, Patrick. What about formatting? What works best? I know sometimes it goes wonky when you enter the MSFV secret agent contests. But that might have to do with the email.

Patrick said...

Stina, formatting is always a problem when going from Word to Web (I blame Word). Because of this, minor formatting errors won't be an issue. There is something you can do to prepare, though. Copy your chapter and paste it into NotePad (if you're using Apple, I don't know what you can use. Any simple text editor without formatting.) Once it is in NotePad, all formatting will be removed. Fix it in NotePad so it is just the way you want it, and then paste that into the web form. Once in the web form, you can add any italics or bold you may need.

Stina said...

Thanks, Patrick. :D