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Monday, September 24, 2012

Get Your Pitch On!



Hello querying writers! Exciting news--there's a great new contest starting TODAY!

For Get Your Pitch On, Commissioning and Managing Editor of Hardie Grant Egmont, Marisa Pintado, will be taking pitches both on Down Under Wonderings and on the group blog YAtopia on October 15th. 

Marisa is looking for YA in any genre and is accepting submissions from anywhere in the world. This is your chance to skip the slush pile and put your pitch right under the nose of a fantastic editor. There's even better news - there is no limit on how many requests Marisa will make from the contest. 

THE CONTEST
Here are the rules:

  • Your manuscript must be complete, polished and ready to query - this means no first drafts or almost-finished manuscripts.
  • It must be YA.
  • Your entry detail needs to include a 50 - 70 word pitch.
  • You can enter more than once if you have more than one complete, polished, ready to query manuscript.
  • Entries MUST follow the formatting guidelines in the example below: 
Name: Sharon Johnston
Email: smjohnston [ @ ] live.com.au
Country of residence: Australia
Title: SLEEPER
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Word-count: 58,000

Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Mishca Richardson is a sleeper soldier with a weak heart. She has no idea that a life saving heart transplant has accidentally triggered her programming. In the search for answers, she discovers the truth and that her creator, Wirth, has classified her remaining “sisters” from her experiment group as defective, scheduling them for termination. Mishca sets out to save them before they’re eliminated.




THE WORKSHOPS

You might be wondering how this blog fits in. I (and a whole bunch of other blogs you can find here) am helping workshop your pitches to get them in the best shape they can be before October 15! Each entry submitted will get a pitch critique from a participating blog, plus have their pitch posted for other participants to comment on. These workshops start on October 1, but you can send your pitches now to secure your spot with a host blog.

There is no date deadline for the workshops. Each blog has allocated a set number of pitches that they can host and once those spots are full then no more submissions will be taken. 

Important Rule: If you want to participate in a workshop, you must be prepared to comment on at least one other pitch. For each critique you leave in the comments, you get an entry into the drawing to win one of eight 10-page critiques from our contest host Sharon Johnston and workshop hosts Larissa HardestyStephanie DiazCatherine ScullyJodie AndrefskiPaula SangareTalynn and Kaitlin Adams. Please use the exact same name for all of your critiques. The opportunity ends 10/14/2012.

How to submit: Email your draft pitch to pitchonws@gmail.com, and don't forget to put PitchOn WS and the name of your manuscript in the subject line of your email. Pitches must follow the formatting above.

Draft pitches will be evenly distributed between host blogs. 

What are you waiting for? Start sending your pitches! And also – make sure to use the #PitchOn hashtag on Twitter to follow all the news now and be part of the excitement during the contest.

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