Agents Revealed!

This week, Ms. Snark revealed the agents for her annual Baker's Dozen Auction. And what a list it is! If you have a finished MS, you must get involved with this. It's an opportunity akin to a writer's conference without the travel and expense. I can't wait!!

The 2nd Annual Baker's Dozen All-Star Line-up!

Posted: 03 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT

Our list is official, and I'm pleased to announce this year's sparkling array of agents.

The 2011 Baker's Dozen Agent Auction participating agents:

1. Jenny Bent (Bent Agency)
2. Laura Bradford (Bradford Literary)
3. Danielle Chiotti (Upstart Crow)
4. Sarah Davies (Greenhouse Literary)
5. Josh Getzler (Hannigan Salky Getzler)
6. Weronika Janczuk (Franklin and Siegal)
7. Melissa Jeglinski (Knight Agency)
8. Sarah LaPolla (Curtis Brown)
9. Jennifer Laughran (Andrea Brown)
10. Lauren MacLeod (Strothman Agency)
11. Victoria Marini (Gelfman Schneider)
12. Ammi-Joan Paquette (Erin Murphy)
13. Tamar Rydzinski (Laura Dail)
14. Kari Stuart (ICM Talent)
15. Danielle Svetcov (Levine Greenberg)
16. Michelle Wolfson (Wolfson Literary)

In addition to being on the auction block, all 60 entries will receive critique from an editor and a published author.

The Editors:

Gabrielle Harbowy of Dragon Moon Press, adult

Sarah Shumway of Katherine Tegen Books (Harper Collins), YA/MG

The Authors:

Nancy Bilyeau, author of THE CROWN, a historical thriller set in Tudor England, to be published by Simon and Schuster's Touchstone in January 2012, and six foreign countries. adult


Amanda Sun, author of INK WASH, the first in a YA paranormal series set in Japan, debuting in late 2012 by Harlequin Teen. YA/MG

And of course all the entries will also be open to critique by our entire blog community as well.

Let's have a huge round applause for this magnificent collection of talent and energy!


Next week is October break, which means a house full of kids and a sky full of autumn. Yes, we do have autumn here in Phoenix. It's that special time of year marked by the changing of colors of licence plates. So, stay tuned for something completely different.

¡Buen Provecho!

Logline Love

Writing is hard work, but to quote a friend, of the two, it's often more work than hard.

And nothing's harder than condensing 80,000+ words down to 100 words that include all the where's, what's, why's, who's, and how's: the logline. Except maybe the query, but that's another post for another time.

A logline is a one~two sentence description of your book, something you should be able to pitch while riding in an elevator with your dream agent. It could happen. Hey, we're writers - we dream big. The logline must have character, conflict, stakes, and a good hook to work. To see my latest attempt, take a look at the logline/elevator pitch tab at the top of my blog. Be gentle.

This week started the call for logline submissions over at Miss Snark's for critique. Don't worry if you missed it - there are two more rounds. But get over there and give a little logline love. Because the best way to improve editing your own work, is to edit someone else's:

Logline Critique, Round 1 I submitted mine to Ms. Snark's, but was not randomly chosen and posted for critique. But I will try again next week. Or even the week after that. Getting critiqued makes my tummy hurt. Writing hurts. But what great endevors don't? Good luck to all who enter and good eats! ¡Buen Provecho!

Submit for Crit: Ms. Snark's

This is only a (beta) test :)

If you're looking for feedback on your work, here's a call for some of your more dialogue heavy words (250 to be exact) courtesy of the fabulous Ms. Snark's First Victim. If you haven't checked out her blog, get over there now. Many a writer has been picked up by an agent here, so polish up your WIP. Submission open tomorrow (9/7) at 9am EST. Here's the skinny:

Call For Submissions: Beta Testing Round

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 05:55 AM PDT

Okay, this is going to be fun!  (No, I promise!)

Michael Extraordinaire wants to be sure that everything's running smoothly by the time the Baker's Dozen submissions open (next month!).  So we're running a live test right here on the blog.

Best part?  It's still going to be a real critique!  So please only enter work on which you would like to receive feedback.

FUN THING NUMBER ONE:  This round is going to be a LOTTERY!  That is, everyone who submits will receive a lottery number.  Once the submissions close, the bot will randomly choose the winners.  These winners are the ones whose entries will be included in the crit round.

FUN THING NUMBER TWO:  Our submission web form is ALIVE AND WELL! So for this round, you will have the option of using email or the web form, whichever works best for you.  (We need to test widely, so please don't feel compelled to only use the web form.)

FUN THING NUMBER THREE:  Plain text in emails is no longer necessary!  When you receive your lottery number, you will also receive a link to preview your entry.  So you'll get to see exactly what it will look like BEFORE it goes live.  (If your entry is chosen, naturally.)

FUN THING NUMBER FOUR:  Italics will work in the web form!  Instructions are included in the form.

SUBMISSION ADDRESSES:

Email:  authoress.submissions(at)gmail.com (same as always)
Web form: msfv.thoughtbin.org

With me so far?  Yay!!

Here are the submission guidelines:

1.  Submissions will open tomorrow at 9:00 am EDT and will close at 3:00 pm EDT.  All entries will receive a lottery number.
2.  At the close of the submission window, the bot will choose 10 winning entries.  All winning entries will receive email notification.  Winning numbers will also be posted on the blog.
3.  The crit:  Talking Heads!  Please submit a 250-word excerpt from your novel (completed or in progress) that is heavy on the dialogue.  Please include a BRIEF lead-in sentence to help drop us into the scene.  (You will be allowed 30 extra words for this.)

The format:

EMAIL:

SCREEN NAME: (type it here)
TITLE: (type it here)
GENRE: (type it here)

(type your lead-in here IN ITALICS)

(type your 250-word excerpt here)

WEB FORM:

Follow the instructions on the web page.

So there it is. Go for it - you have nothing to lose and lots to gain. We'll talk more about the importance of critiquing, both giving and recieiving, another time. Until then...



¡Buen Provecho!