Thursday, January 8, 2015

Formatting for Sun versus Snow 2015

To help everyone prepare, here is the information you'll need to enter Sun versus Snow. The submission for Sun versus Snow will be January 26th at 4 pm Eastern time. Act fast. We will only be taking the first 200 entries. In Nightmare on Query Street, the entry window closed in just a few hours. Please do not enter early or your entry will be deleted. You can resend at the proper time if this happens accidentally. 

Confirmation emails will be sent. If you don't receive one, don't resend. We don't want duplicate entries. Please check with us on twitter first to confirm your entry did or did not arrive, then you may resend. 

There is only ONE, yes that's right, ONE entry per person allowed. Any attempt to cheat will result in entries being thrown out. 

This contest is only for finished and polished stories. 


Amy and I have decided not to accept picture books for this contests. Though we love picture books, contests just don't seem to be the best place to get them requests. We do accept all MG, YA, NA and Adult genres, excluding erotica. 

To enter you must be followers of our blogs. Click the 'join this site' button on my blog. You can find Amy's blog here. 



The Format:

Send submission to Sunversussnow (at) yahoo (dot) com. Only one submission per person is allowed. It doesn't matter if you write under different names or are submitting different manuscripts. You are still one person and get one entry. 

Here's how it should be formatted (yes, include the bolded!) Please use Times New Roman (or equivalent), 12 pt font, and put spaces between paragraphs. No indents or tabs are needed. No worries if your gmail doesn't have Times New Roman. No worries if the email messes up your format. Yes, we will still read it! :-) 

(Here's a trick to keep your paragraph spacing: copy and paste your entry into your email and then put in the line spaces. They seem to get lost when you copy and paste. It may look right but sending scrambles the spacing.)

Subject Line: SVS: TITLE, Age Category + Genre 
(example: SVS: PYGMY HAZARDS, MG Fantasy)

In The Email:

Title: MY FANTASTIC BOOK (yes, caps!)
Genre: YA dystopian (Age category and genre. YA/MG is not a genre.)
Word Count: XX,XXX (round to the nearest thousand)

My Main Character would prefer to live in: 

Would your main character prefer to live in heat or cold. And why? Tell us which weather would make your MC the most comfortable or happy. 

Example: As a hamster, Tom doesn't dig all this white stuff falling from the sky. It's some kind of freaky trick pulled by the crazy pygmies at the asylum they call school. He only knows it makes him curl up and snooze. Where's the fun in that? (Can be in your MC's POV, but doesn't have to be. 100 words or less.)

Query:

Query goes here! Include greeting and main paragraphs. Please leave out bio, closing, and word count + genre sentence. You may include comps if you'd like. There is no word count limit on the query but please aim for 250 - 300 words.

First 250 words:

Here are the first 250 words of my manuscript, and I will not end in the middle of a sentence. But I will not go over 257 words. Be reasonable and don't make us count. Don't forget to space between paragraphs!



That's it for now. Get those entries ready for January 26th and leave any questions in the comments or ask on twitter.

Mentors for a lightning fast mentor round will be posted soon. As will the names of our fabulous fourteen agents!

We can't wait to get started!

Look for news about Free Passes from Amy and myself on Monday!  

34 comments:

  1. ... and my comment just at itself. Drat it all!

    Trying this again!

    I am super excited for this - I've never done a query contest like this before, only some of the twitter pitch contests. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes!

    (Also, I tried to join the blog through the "Join this Site" button but have had multiple errors so far. I went ahead and signed up for the email newsletter - will that count for the contest requirements of following the blog?)

    Thanks again for hosting this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's fine C.L. You have to have a Google account to follow a blog. That may be the problem.

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    2. What's weird is I commented with my Google account. No clues - sometimes technology just hates me LOL

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    3. Or apparently a blogger account I didn't know I had? Weird. I give up. *headdesk*

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  2. Hi Michelle
    I have a wordpress blog and not a google account. I have put an RSS feed of your blog on my blog at www.jryates.ca Does that count as a follow ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Michelle,
    I do have a Google account but I'm not using it in relation to my book as I'm using a pen-name and therefore use a different account as I couldn't get the one I wanted on Google. I do follow you on Twitter though and have signed up to receive your newsletters. Does that count?
    Thank you for your help.
    Tanja

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you can't follow the blog, twitter and the newsletter works. No worries.

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  4. If we've already queried any of the agents and been rejected, can we still participate?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. And you can participate if you have requests out. Just notify Amy or I if you get an offer.

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  5. Is there somewhere to look at that explains age classification to better understand where my book fits? Also, what's the best way to submit if two writers on the project and with pen names?

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you are co-authors submit one entry. Under the word count line, you can include both your names. Doesn't matter if those are your real names or pen names as long as we can contact you through the email address you've entered with.

      As for age categories, my best guess is middle grade is for 8 to 12 year olds, YA is for 13 to 18 year olds, NA fits 19 - 23 or 24, and adult is for those older. There will be overlap with those ages. Adults read YA and other categories for example. A middle grader might read up to YA.

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    2. Thank you! Also does it have to be one MC or can it be a dual MC story line and then just answer the question for both?

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    3. You can answer with both MC if you prefer or just one. Just don't go over the word limit.

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  6. I wont be ready in time for this round, but I'm looking forward to stopping back for future query contests! I'm glad DL Blitzed you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't even see a "join this site" button but I have signed up for your newsletter :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I couldn't find the "Join this site" button either, but then I did spot it! You need to be on the full site (not the mobile site). It's on the left sidebar under the heading "Followers."

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Michelle,

    I've got some questions that are a bit long for twitter. Just so I'm 100% clear on what goes in and what gets left out, could you clarify what you mean by the query's "greeting" and "closing"? To me, "greeting" means "Dear [Agent Name]" but if I include that, how should I address it? To you and Amy? And my "closing" includes some important info like publication history and the fact that one agent is currently considering the full MS.

    Thanks so much to you and Amy for putting this together!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can help you out with that. The greeting is the Dear Agent part. You can use anything you like, for instance Dear Queens of Sun and Snow. Dear Contest Wonders. Dear Agent. Dear Goddess of Truth and Light. Dear Michelle and Amy! Have fun with it.

      You can include your closing in the entry but it will get cut if you make the agent round.

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    2. Is telling what point of view the MS is in considered part of the closing?

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    3. The closing is the thanks and your signature. You're welcome to add your story is a dual POV or whatever.

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  10. Can we still participate, even if we've been in another contest recently (like Baker's Dozen)?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amy and I discussed this and ask for a three month hold. So if you were in an AGENT round in January, December, or November, please refrain from entering. If you were in an agent round before November, you may enter Sun versus Snow. For instance if you were in Pitchslam, you may enter.

      It would depend when the Baker's Dozen took place.

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    2. What about a different MS than was entered before?

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    3. A different MS than was in the contest is fine. :-)

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  11. Thanks for running the contest! Would Women's Fiction with erotic elements be okay?

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am so blog-illiterate. I figured out how to follow your blog without issues. For Amy's, does subscribing to the newsletter and following via twitter suffice? If not, I think I might need a neon sign to find what I'm supposed to click.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think so. Amy does have a place to enter to receive email updates.

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    2. Thank you! I did find that. Looking forward to tomorrow. Thank you so much for putting this together!

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  13. for the spacing, when it says space between paragraphs does that mean that the story excerpt is formatted like that body of the query??? i.e. should I A. single space everything but add an extra space between paragraphs... or B. treat it like other excerpts and double space it all

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Everything is singled spaced with an extra space between paragraphs.

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