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!

Christmas in July: AGENTS REVEALED!

 If you're stumbling around wondering what's going on because you googled 'Fondant Fancies' and ended up here, then I'm sorry, but this isn't for you. Also, are you just one person who really likes Fondant Fancies and has short-term memory loss, or are there lots of you? The stats page of my blog tells me you're out there, Fondant Fancy googler, but who are you? I must know!

K, enough of that. If you really are wondering what's going on, the first post about this contest is here and the second is here.

So now that you know...


It's time to reveal the agents!

Adriann Ranta of Wolf Literary Services

Julia Churchill of The Greenhouse Literary Agency

Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst & Associates

Judith Engracia of Liza Dawson Associates Literary Agency

Carly Watters of P.S. Literary Agency

Stephen Barr of Writers House

Becky Vinter of Fine Print Literary Management

Melissa Sarver of The Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency
                                     
Molly Jaffa of Folio Literary Management

Lucy Carson of The Friedrich Literary Agency


                                                      LOOK AT THAT LINE-UP!


A quick post telling you how to format your entry will go up when the submission window opens, and then you are free to flood our inbox with all kinds of wonderful. Good luck!

Exciting super cool news!!

So you all know that Michelle Krys is my critique partner and general internet bff, and that she signed with Adriann Ranta recently? These are excellent things and good reasons why you should follow her blog, but on top of that, there's this from Publisher's Marketplace:

Michelle Krys's THE WITCH HUNTER'S BIBLE, in which a snarky sixteen-year-old cheerleader is forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers only to uncover the first of many dark truths about her life, to Wendy Loggia at Delacorte, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, by Adriann Ranta at Wolf Literary Services (World).

News like this calls for this:

I'm pretty certain Michelle won't mind if you visit her blog post about it. Or if you send large expensive gifts. Either is fine : D

New mini-series: The How I Got My Agent stories. This week's guest post by Michelle Krys.

Everybody loves a How-I-Got-My-Agent story - at least I assume they do, because I know I do. I'm thrilled that the first guest post in this mini-series is by my lovely crit partner and all-round internet bff, Michelle Krys!

So, you want to know how I got my agent?

Short answer: The old-fashioned way. Via the slush pile. 

Long answer: I’d like to take you all back to January 8^th, 1985. I was born naked and helpless…okay, maybe let’s skip a few years. In January 2010, I had a baby (a wonderful, magnificent, sweet baby named Ben). He slept through the night from under 3 months old, in addition to napping 3-plus hours in the day. Being on maternity leave, I had an AWFUL lot of free time on my hands that I was COMPLETELY not used to having (a year—I live in Canada). So naturally, instead of relaxing, I decided to write a book—something I’ve always wanted to do, but had been too intimidated to try. 

In 3 months time, I wrote a book.  I joined a website, Writersbeat.com, where I met my internet bestie/crit partner, whom you all know as Ruth Lauren Steven. After an initial major bitch moment from me (which we shall not discuss!), Ruth and I began exchanging critiques and became fast friends. We moved on to another website, Scribophile.com, where I met a ton of amazing friends who were, in addition to Ruth, completely invaluable in honing my writing. This book needed the rest of the year to edit, as it was sucky. Boring and sucky and will never see the light of day. But I learned a lot.

After this book I began another, which I gave up after a whopping 26,000 words because I had AN IDEA. An idea for a YA Urban Fantasy that I couldn’t ignore. I needed to write it—now. So I did—3 months later, my 81,000-word book was complete. And it needed less than a week of editing until I felt ready to start querying. I felt confident! I loved the book and my query letter felt strong. I knew this was going to be IT. Then the rejections started rolling in. After the first 15, I was starting to feel pretty dejected. I know 15 is not that much in the bigger picture, but 15 in a row after I’d felt so confident? Well let’s just say my confidence waned. But then I got a partial. From a major agent. The next day, another partial from a major agent. A few weeks later, the first partial-requester wanted the full. I almost died! That meant she read the first 50 pages plus synopsis and liked it. My book??!! A huge happy moment for me. But it wasn’t the first. Over the next few weeks, the full requests started rolling in. Six in total (Nine if you count the 3 requests I got after I’d already landed my agent!)

Then came the holidays, when all of the literary world shuts down from December 23^rd to January 3^rd. This was a dark time. There was a lot of internet stalking involved, which I’m not proud of. Then came January 11^th. I got a reply from one of those agents. She’d just finished reading the book…and completely loved it! She wanted to set up a time to talk on the phone. AHHHHHHH!! She called the next day and offered me representation (in addition to giving me a HUGE ego boost with all her compliments about the book). My initial reaction was to say “YES! WHERE DO I SIGN? MWUHAHAHAH I’VE GOT YOU NOW!” But there were other agents who had my full. In order to be professional, I needed to give them the courtesy of replying to my manuscript.  I alerted the other agents, and holy crap, several of them were interested, too! But in the end, it was the first agent’s major enthusiasm and extreme likability that sold me. So now I’m repped by Adriann Ranta at Wolf Literary. Woohoo!!

Hey, it's me, Ruth, again. Isn't that a cool story? But never mind the amazing sleeping baby (not jealous of that. No, not at all) or the fact that said first book was neither boring nor sucky; no, let's dwell on the little moment that we shouldn't discuss, just briefly. In fact, oh, what's this I have here? A blog post on it, you say? Well, if you insist : D Post in which I recount the nature of Michelle and Ruth's first encounter

Right, now that Michelle may never forgive me, who needs a crit partner?? I kid : D 

I couldn't be happier that you're all going to get to read Michelle's books, and I can confirm that she likes a stalker almost as much as I do, so here's her blog and right here is twitter

Thanks for sharing that with us Michelle!