Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Sad News Concerning Contests

Hi everyone,

As you know I've hosted contests for three years with my co-hosts SC and Mike. We always worked well together and complimented each other wonderfully. We had each other's back, even when we playfully teased each other on who would find the best entries and get the most agent requests. After long and heartbreaking consideration and conversations, Mike and I have asked SC to step down as a co-host of Nightmare on Query Street and Query Kombat.

SC has found a new passion in his Write Inclusively campaign. He's been very outspoken about it on his blog and on social media. It's a wonderful thing that SC has found a cause that speaks to him. It occupies much of his free time.


This is not why we asked him to step down. Ghere for a detailed explanation of our decision.

Mike and I want to continue our main goal of helping ALL writers, not just those who feature the subjects of diversity or racism. Our goal is still to help writers connect with agents and have some fun in the process. Mike and I are no longer sure our objective and SC's are compatible anymore. Nor do we agree with all of SC's methods and rigid stance on bringing attention to this important problem in our society.

While it's true that Mike created Query Kombat and SC did invite me to the team when we were starting out, I think all three of us have now built our own platform that focuses on helping writers in our own ways. I'm sure SC will continue to do just that and I wish him all the luck in the world.

I ask that you support all three of us as we go through this change in our status.Thank you!

Nightmare on Query Street will continue as before with two blogs instead of three in October. Mike and I will seek a new co-host for Query Kombat next year.


We will continue to look for the best entries for our contests and welcome everyone. Diverse writers and manuscripts will always be sought after!

6 comments:

  1. This is very sad, and I’m sure both you and Mike are heartbroken. I completely understand and respect your decision. This could actually be a good thing. Now, querying writers will have more avenues to make their dreams a reality. I will continue to support you, Mike, SC and any author/writer whose interest is helping others to succeed. You are all very important to the community, and I’m truly sorry that this rift had to affect the three of you.

    Sincerely,
    Jamie

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  2. It's truly unfortunate, and I'm sorry for the stress all of you must be going through. And I thank you for what you do to get other writers recognized. But I really hope your new cohost is a POC. Good writing has to come first, OBVIOUSLY, but different perspectives from our own must always be encouraged.

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    1. Mike is a POC, though it's certainly fine to have two POCs.

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    2. Thanks Lanette. I think it's been overlooked that we were the most diverse group of contest hosts. And we always looked for diverse entries in our contests. Among other reasons, we want to find what's on the agent's wishlists which certainly includes diversity.

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  3. Hey Michelle,

    Sorry about this, but I want to push back on something. "There were also other factors, private factors, such as time commitment and availability."

    Not one of these issues were expressed to me in the email you sent or any other form of communication whatsoever. I had no idea of these issues, if they existed at all, and they were not used to communicate to me about why I could not be a host.

    Please take this as a learning opportunity, to learn, apologize, and grow.

    Best, and your friend,

    SC

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    Replies
    1. I'm happy to speak about this privately, SC. This forum or twitter is not the place.

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