Monday, July 20, 2015

The New Agent Chosen Picks

This was an amazing turnout for a mini-contest. You surpassed the number of entries received for Query Combat and Sun versus Snow. We had very close to 300 entries. It's good to know so many people appreciate my contests! (Make sure you read to the end for the surprise.)

That's the plus side. On the downside, that makes for a smaller percentage being taken and a larger group of disappointed writers. Please remember that each Expert Captain only got 4 picks. Then they had to win their fellow captains approval on more of their favorites for the Group picks. It was very subjective, and unlike for agents, they were limited to a certain number where agents can take as many as interest them.

I know the disappointment of not making contests. I was on the maybe list several times, but never chosen for a large contest. 

Yet, just because you might not be moving to the agent round doesn't mean that agents won't love your query and opening page. Most people get their agents from the query slush and not contests. The main thing is to add a little fun to the querying process and make some writer connections. Contests are great places to learn. Keep polishing and try Pitchwars in August!

I want to thank Natasha Raulerson, Laura Heffernan, Wade Albert White, Dan Koboldt, and Max Wirestone for giving so much of their valuable time to not only read so much and narrow down their choices (a very tough job), but also for agreeing to mentor six writers.  

So let's get to it. Visit the blogs of the Team Experts to see their picks and who they will be mentoring.

Max Wirestone
Dan Koboldt
Wade Albert White
Laura Heffernan
Natasha Raulerson




Now for the surprise!


Since I missed all the fun wrangling over group picks and shouting out  hints on twitter, I'm going to take two additional entries to the agent round as Host Saves!







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30 Days with Doctor Death
The Lying Division


You can expect to hear from me today with some notes on tweaking your entries. These are already so strong I'm not sure I can add anything, but I'll try. For the other agent round entries, also expect to hear from your mentor soon.

I'm going to suggest a deadline of Friday, July 24th at 9 pm Eastern for all agent round entries to be revised. 

Please send your entry to the contest email with the same formatting by that time. That will allow me two days to create 32 posts by Monday morning. If your entry isn't in by Saturday morning, I won't be happy. Don't make me a grumpy hostess-- send earlier if you can. 

 Good luck everyone! 

2 comments:

  1. Gratz to all who were picked. It sounds like there was tough competition out there.Confessions of an Ex-Ballerina

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  2. Awesome! And that's a great surprise! Good luck to everyone, Thanks to the Team Captains, and Thank you Michelle, for all your hard work!

    ReplyDelete