Monday 9 July 2012

THE SUBMISSION WINDOW IS OPEN!

 THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!


If you're late to the party, here are posts one, two and three on #XmasinJuly.

The submission window is open 6am to 3pm EST and you'll receive an auto response to let you know we received your entry. If you don't get one, leave a comment and I'll fish it out of the spam : )

The email address is lottiehumphries14(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

Format it as if you're sending to an agent: Query and then first 500 words in the body of the email. Put your name, the name of the ms, and the genre in the subject line please. It should look like this:

Ruth Lauren Steven: THE CRACKS IN EVERYTHING (YA contemporary)

You can address your query 'Dear Agents' - as long as you promise to NEVER, EVER do this in an actual query to an agent!

You won't be ignored/disqualified/paraded through the streets in shame if you were at work or something and didn't see this post. If you get the auto response, we have your entry and we promise to read it.

Another thing you need to know is that if you're one of our 30 and Judith Engracia makes a request for your work PLEASE SEND IT STRAIGHT AWAY! (I know, that's going to be tough, right?) She's coming over to London on the 20th and wants her Kindle loaded up with the material beforehand. (On a related note HOW COOL IS THAT?!)

Good luck all. See you on the other side of the slushpile!


64 comments:

  1. If I have 2 manuscripts (a picture book and a YA contemporary novel), can I enter twice, or should I choose one?

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    1. Choose one please - some people might have ten different mss and my eyes will die if everyone gets more than one chance :)

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    2. That's what I thought. I just had to ask :)

      Thanks so much for hosting this!!

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  2. Prepare to be inundated, lol!

    Thanks for the opportunity, and good luck to everyone who enters!

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  3. I presume rounding up to the end of the sentence is okay?

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  4. How much contact info should we put in? I'm guessing email, twitter handle and website, but not address or phone. Thank you!!!

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  5. Thank you, thank you. This is such a wonderful opportunity. Can't wait to read the top entries in a few days (and hoping mine is one of them). I always love seeing the great ideas and stellar writing, then watching agents come by and scoop them up. So fun.

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    1. Great! Just realized I have a huge typo in the second sentence of my query. That's what I get for changes at the last minute. Ugh! *squirms* *hangs head in shame*

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    2. Don't worry. We can clean it up if you're one of the 30. It happens :)

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  6. What a fantastic opportunity! I'm so glad I saw this on Twitter. Just a quick question: if I'm submitting a picture book manuscript and the total length is 634, does the strict 500 word limit still apply? I hope that's not too cheeky a question. Thanks so much.

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    Replies
    1. Take it to the nearest full sentence :)

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    2. Thanks. I'll submit in a bit. I hope the crux of the story fits into 500 words.

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  7. Good morning! I'm not sure how "instant" the auto responder should be, but I may have landed in the trash bin. :) My entry went out about 30 minutes ago. My name is Kelsey Macke. Thanks so much for hosting!

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  8. Morning! Thanks for hosting this! I didn't get the auto response either, so I might have landed in the trash bin too. I'm not sure how *instant* it's supposed to be, but I just barely submitted a few minutes ago. My name is Cortney Pearson. Should I resend? :)

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  9. Thanks for hosting this contest.

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  10. Great contest, great agents, and great hosts, what more could we ask for? Thanks again!

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  11. Thank you for hosting this wonderful contest! I've been looking forward to it for about a month now!

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  12. Okay, silly question about the query's format. Normally one would address a query to a specific agent but... since there are 10 of them, how do we handle that?

    Also, thanks for hosting this contest. It gave me a reason to write my query in the first place, aside from an opportunity to get it in front of an agent.

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    1. Oops, never mind. Just answered my own question.

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  13. Thank you so much for hosting this contest! I'm so excited to read the chosen entries!

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  14. Best contest ever! Thanks for hosting this!!!

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  15. Hi there, I didn't get the auto response yet. Angi Black - Love In Real Life. Should I resend? And thanks for hosting! I'm excited!

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  16. I entered and got the auto response. AHHHH! Scary but exciting! *Kermit flails*

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  17. I was so excited to submit, that I forgot to include my blog and twitter links. If we make it to the next round, can we add those in?

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  18. I hope address and tel number on the query letter doesn't disqualify you, mine is...

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  19. I didn't get the auto-response either. It's Lisa Rosenman -Outside In. Would you mind checking on it for me? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. I can't find that one at all. Resend please :)

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    2. Sent it again and got the auto-response. Thanks for checking!

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  20. This is so exciting! I got my auto-response! Now to sit here and wait for five days. :P

    Thanks so much for hosting this! :D

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  21. I didn't get an auto-response either. :) Just making sure you got it. Sorry to bug you! I'm sure you've gotten a million today! :) And thanks SO much for hosting! It's Chantele Sedgwick -Embrace.

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  22. OK, sorry to bug you as well, I never got an auto-response either. Do you mind checking? (as if you don't have enough to do already.;)) Katie Dodge-When The Mockingbird Sings. Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. I can't find you Katie - please resend :)

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    2. OK- I just sent again. Keeping my fingers crossed you get it this time. ;)

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  23. Thank you for this amazing opportunity! I just sent in my entry. :)

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  24. Hi and thanks for the great contest.

    I sent an entry 30 min ago and don't have an auto-resonse. The subject line was Bonnar Spring: Disappeared (suspense).

    Did you receive it?

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  25. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  26. Yay! I gathered the courage and hit the send key, and I got the auto response. I'm so excited. Thanks a million for this wonderful contest. I hope I will be able to continue working on my next WIP with my fingers crossed.

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  27. Thank you, Ruth. You and this contest rock the house.

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  28. I sent mine in but didn't get an auto-response. Could you check for Rebecca Buss: ECHO (YA suspense)? Thanks!

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  29. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HOSTING THIS CONTEST RUTH!!! And thanks to everyone else involved too :)

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  30. I can't wait to see who you pick for your top 30. Apart from getting paranoid at your tweets (the passes and accepts) I am still excited. Thanks again for this opportunity :-)

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  31. I am in a completely different timezone and I just saw this! I just emailed you my query and got an automated response letting me the submission is now closed.

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    1. Sorry you missed out :( We had the largest submission window we thought we could cope with and advertised the contest three weeks in advance. But we do hope to do more contests in the future.

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  32. I fear you'll read some duplicitous intent into my comment here, but really, honestly, this is just so freakin' fun. In or out or winner's circle, I'm very grateful that you organized this. You rock.

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  33. Christmas always was my favorite holiday! Thanks for hosting this fun contest!

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  34. Thanks for rounding up great agents and for hosting. I noticed that all of the agents/agencies are currently accepting submissions...is the advantage of the contest that a writer just wouldn't need to query each individually?

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    1. Yes, that's one of them. Plus we'll be editing the 30 'winners' work with them. There may be lurking agents other than the ten. You might get a faster response than waiting in the individual slushpiles of the agents. You might meet some nice people here on the blog or over on twitter. You might just do this for fun.

      :)

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  35. I guess I'm an idiot. I'm subscribed to your site so that I'd be right on top of this when it was time to submit. And your post from yesterday didn't hit my inbox until this morning. I got the announcement -- so exciting! But then read "now closed" on the top of it. Not your fault obviously, but I'm mad at Blogger for delaying subscription emails 24 hours!!!

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  36. That sounds good - there may be other lurking agents other than the ten :-)

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Please prove you are a robot. I'll be disappointed if you aren't.