Yup, we're back for another round of this crazy game!
Follow along with the silliness and discussion under #sonofapitch on Twitter. This time our theme is Star Wars!! Our hosts will be decorating their blogs using the force within them! So join the Rebels or the Republic and join the battle.
It's a month until the first round, so although it's short notice, I hope you jump in. Below are all the details, my little padawans.
This comp is for Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult manuscripts of all genres.
Week 1 starts February 13, 2017:A chance to refine your query and first 250 words. Post your query and 250 words on your blog then leave a direct link in the comments of a post I will put up on my blog the week of Feb 13. Please leave feedback on the author's bog, and for a minimum of three other queries and first 250. All feedback left in the comments of the post for links will be deleted.
***You don't have to participate in Round 1 to join Round 2. It is highly recommended to get that extra polish before the voting round.***
Week 2 starts February 20, 2017:
This week, published authors will give you feedback. This time there are a huge group of authors joining in this round to help you. They write a wide range of genres, so don't miss this opportunity. The Son of a Pitch team, who are all published, will post your emailed in queries and 250 words on their blogs. Please use the formatting below and email to:
sonofapitchcomp@yahoo.com.au
Subject line: Son of a Pitch! (Category and Genre of your manuscript)
Formatting:
Title: (Name of Manuscript)
Category and Genre: (YA/NA/Adult then Genre)
Word Count: (to the nearest thousand)
Query:
Insert query here. No bio or comparisons please.
First 250 Words:
First 250 Words:
I don't care if this is from a prologue or chapter one. That's up to you.
Incorrectly formatted emails will be returned.
The team will vote for their favorites from the fifty who make it through to go onto the final round. They will cast five votes each, anywhere they want, and the top 20 will go onto the next round. Feel free to coax judges your direction however you want! But please, only you and the judges can comment on your entry, or the comments can get confusing for tallying votes at the end. Votes will close on Thursday 11:59 p.m. MST.
The first fifty entries will go into this round. So get your clickers ready to email at precisely 10 a.m. Mountain Time on Friday February 17th.
But don't be discouraged! You will get good feedback to help you even if you don't make the top twenty. So please go and query elsewhere afterward, and let us know your success story so it can be shared on the blog.
Week 3 starts February 27, 2017:We have a fantastic line up of editors and publishers. They'll swing by the final contestants to try to bribe you into subbing to them. The final Twenty will post right here on this blog, where editors will come and make requests for you. If you make the top twenty, you will be emailed on Friday 24th, and all updated entries sent to the email address by Saturday 25th 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. If you don't make the deadline, the next highest voted entry will be emailed, and will have 24 hrs to get the entry into the inbox.
Feel free to email any requests made whenever you feel like it, but note that the editors are allowed to give feedback on your entry. Also, make sure to include that your query to them is from the comp by putting Son of a Pitch Request in the title.
EXTRA FEEDBACK! This time, one of our round 2 blog hosts will be hosting a twitter pitch critique session to help you prepare for the Twitter Pitch Party. The host will set up a blog post at the same time as round 3, and you leave your twitter pitch in the comments. To critique, just hit reply to the comment in the post! Not only will your peers be patrolling, but the published authors will swing by to leave feedback during this time as well.
Twitter Pitch: March 6, 2017:
And finally, we'll have a free-for-all twitter pitching opp under the hashtag #sonofapitch
Rules: Makes sure to include #sonofapitch and your genre/age category with the tweet. You can tweet any number of manuscripts, but only once every hour each.
It will open all day, but since I'm in Arizona, I won't be monitoring the earlier stages since that's like 5 in the morning here.
Rules: Makes sure to include #sonofapitch and your genre/age category with the tweet. You can tweet any number of manuscripts, but only once every hour each.
It will open all day, but since I'm in Arizona, I won't be monitoring the earlier stages since that's like 5 in the morning here.
So there you have it! Come back on Monday to meet the hosts and published authors who will be leaving feedback.
Hello, Katie! I'm sorry to bug you about persnickety details, but I don't quite understand the blog posting in Week 1. Do you want us to copy this page and post it to our own blogs? (Even if that blog may or may not be neglected as of late?) What's an aspiring participant to do if s/he doesn't have a blog? Perhaps I am reading this wrong, but I'm confused. :(
ReplyDeleteI just reworded it to make it clearer :) No, it's so you can get peer feedback on your query/250 words. You don't have to do the first round to enter round two, but it's highly recommended to refine your work as much as possible.
DeleteThank you very much!
ReplyDeleteHi, Katie. I have a few questions and comments for you.
ReplyDeleteWeek 1: A query is different from a blurb in that it tells the agent much more about the story, even how it all gets resolved. For this reason, I wouldn't want to post my query on MY blog for my potential readers to see. Is there any other way to participate in week 1?
Week 2: Do I understand correctly that each unique judge's comment on a post of my query equals one vote?
Thank you!
Greta
Yes, a query is different from a blurb, but it should never give away the ending. It's supposed to tease and entice. A synopsis will tell the ending and explain the story in detail. So I wouldn't worry about posting a query on your blog. Queries don't give out spoilers.
DeleteWeek 2. The authors will critique all over the place. Some even critique every single one. But they are each given five votes. They usually hold onto them until the end of the week, then they'll post a YOU HAVE MY VOTE comment. I'll count them all from there.
According to this site... "The first fifty entries will go into this round. So get your clickers ready to email at precisely 10 a.m. Mountain Time on Friday February 17th." According to a graphic that @writevent did, the email round begins on February. 20th.
ReplyDeleteFor clarification, which is it?
Could you explain what you mean by "Feel free to coax judges your direction however you want"?
ReplyDeleteThanks again for hosting this!
Hey Katie, do the authors vote on their faves at the end of round 2?
ReplyDeleteYup! Entrants can tweet me a link to their favorite entry, aside from their own, and the winner gets a 3 chapter critique!
DeleteAm I too late?
ReplyDeleteThere is a twitter pitch critique going on this week, and a twitter pitch party on Mar 6th
DeleteWhere will the publishers and such be from that are participating in your Twitter pitch party?
ReplyDeleteWhen you say the twitter pitch will be open all day, when does that mean exactly--midnight to midnight in which time zone? Thanks!! :)
ReplyDeleteThat was my question too! What agents/publishers is this activity advertised to, and how many generally participate? I want to make sure this isn't just authors tweeting at other authors.
ReplyDelete