Agent Pitch At Musetracks Coming up SOON!

Want a opportunity to pitch your ms to an agent? On Sunday Feb. 7th.at 10:00 a.m. E.S.T. you'll have your chance, and you won't even have to leave your house!

Once a month Musetracks blog hosts an "Agent Shop" where the first 30 people to submit their pitch will have the opportunity to get their ms in front of an agent. This month (February) Stan Soper from the Soper Literary Agency will be the featured agent.

Pitches accepted in: Romance – All genres, subgenres, elements and Women’s fiction. (At this time we are not offering any other areas of writing, but you can always check back. If more agents become interested – we might expand.)

The following is from the site:

Agent Shop will only be ‘open’ one day, per month, and I’m only taking the first thirty pitches that I receive. But don’t worry, if you don’t get in the top thirty this time, you can try again the next month. Hopefully, enough great pitches come in to keep these agents coming back for more.

After the pitches go up, the agent(s) have one week to read and decide. They will then contact me and I will forward on information to the author(s) who received requests. I will also be posting results after the week is up. Just the total number of requests made – no specifics or names.

 Sounds awesome, doesn't it? For rules, guidelines and more info, visit  MUSETRACKS.

MUSETRACKS 
Soper Literary Agency

Nathan Bransford YA Writing Prompt Contest

In celebration of Jennifer Hubbard's YA debut novel,THE SECRET YEAR, Nathan Bransford is having a writing prompt contest.  To enter, write the most compelling (fictional) teen diary entry. It may be a diary entry or an unsent letter, but it should be in a teen's voice.

Prizes:
The GRAND PRIZE ULTIMATE WINNER of the THE SECRET YEAR Teen Diary Writing Contest Extravaganza will win:

- A signed copy of THE SECRET YEAR (pending winner's proximity to the US of A)

- Their choice of a query critique, partial critique, or 10 minute phone conversation/consultation/dish session

- The pride of knowing OMG you are like the greatest writer for teens ever.

Runners up will receive a signed THE SECRET YEAR bookmark (pending finalists' proximity to USA), plus a query critique and/or other agreed-upon prize.

The contest deadline is 4:00 PM Pacific Time on Wednesday January 6th.

Visit Nathan's Blog for rules & guldelines.

Good Luck!

Secret Agent Contest For Middle Grade and YA

Every so often (I think every month) over at the Miss Snark blog, there is a Secret Agent Contest for certain genres. This month's contest is for:

Middle Grade fiction, all genres

Young Adult fiction, all genres

Submissions will open on Monday, January 11 at 12:00 PM EST

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

• Submissions will be open for 24 hours or until 50 eligible entries have been received, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST.
• Submissions received before the contest opens will be disqualified.
• Submissions are for COMPLETED MANUSCRIPTS ONLY. If you wouldn't want an agent to read the entire thing, DON'T SEND IT. If an "entire thing" doesn't exist, you shouldn't even be reading these rules.
• Manuscripts THAT HAVE BEEN IN A SECRET AGENT CONTEST DURING THE PAST SIX MONTHS (June-November) will not be accepted.
• You may submit A DIFFERENT MANUSCRIPT if you've participated in any of the 2009 Secret Agent contests.
• Only ONE ENTRY per person per contest. If you send more than one, your subsequent entry(ies) will be deleted. 
• If you are PAST WINNER, please DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST. (Unless it's a different manuscript.)
• Submissions are for THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. Please do not stop in the middle of a

Your submission for this contest should be formatted as follows:

SCREEN NAME

TITLE
GENRE

(Followed by the excerpt here.)

•  No "chapter one," chapter titles, etc.
• You will receive a confirmation email with your post number. I don't always get through quickly. Don't resend.
• Submissions go to facelesswords(at)gmail.com. They DO NOT GO to my authoressmail address. Those of you who are subscribed to this blog via email will note the latter address as the "from." If you use this address for the contest, I WILL NOT SEE YOUR SUBMISSION.

For more information, visit Miss Snark Blog

FREE Query Letter Critique

I received the info below today and thought I'd pass it on.
~Carol

FREE Query Letter Critique

At Romance University, CJ Redwine picks one reader's query letter each month for a detailed critique that she then posts on our site for educational purposes. If you've ever taken CJ's query letter critique class, you'll understand how valuable her recommendations are.

 We're seeking more query letters for 2010. This is a FREE service. CJ can block out any personal identification information at your request.

If interested, please send your query letter in the body of an email to: QueryWriting101@RomanceUniversity.org. Query critiques are posted on the first Monday of each month.

Romance University