Monday, October 30, 2017

Nightmare on Query Street Agent Round 2017




Time for the shivers, shrieks and screams to begin!

Following this post, are the fourteen Minions. Just click on the posts you'd like to read more about. 




 art & design minions despicable me minion the minions GIF




Agents, you can head over to Mike's blog and Laura's blog as well to make more requests. (But don't worry, Minions will take no prisoners!) 



 guitar minions despicable me guitar smash GIF



No commenting, cheerleading, etc. Only agents will be able to comment. 


IMPORTANT NOTE: Opera and Safari Browsers may NOT allow you to comment. Using another browser is HIGHLY recommended. Agents can email NightmareonQueryStreet@yahoo.com if they have trouble or let us know on twitter.

We're going to be under the hashtag #NoQS, shouting out agent appearances. So vent, be nervous, cheer each other on, and hold hands over Twitter. One of the best parts of contests is seeing how the writer's community gathers and supports each other.

For the next two days, agents will have fun ways to request in the contest.

They can SCREAM for a full request.
They can SHRIEK for a 50 page request.
They can SHIVER for a 10 page request.

And agents can make as many requests as they want! So go wild! We have some awesome talent for you to read.

I want to say a quick thanks to the mentors who all did such a wonderful job helping with revisions.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! Hope you all get a ton of frighteningly amazing requests!
 

And remember: Minions Rule!


 summer beach yellow minions drinks GIF

NoQS Minion 1: Flight of the Monarchs, Adult Literary Ownvoices

Title: FLIGHT OF THE MONARCHS
Genre: Adult Literary, #ownvoices
Word Count: 100,000




NoQS Minion 2: Pale Path, Adult Science Fiction

Title: PALE PATH
Genre: Adult Science Fiction
Word Count: 118,000

NoQS Minion 3: All-Overish, Adult Historical w/ Romance

Title: ALL-OVERISH
Genre: Adult historical with strong romantic elements
Word count: 85,000

NoQS Minion 4: Finder's Genesis, Adult Contemporary Fantasy

Title: FINDER'S GENESIS
Genre: Adult Contemporary Fantasy
Word Count: 98,000

NoQS Minion 5: If Darkness Should Take Us, Women's Fiction w/ Speculative

Title: IF DARKNESS SHOULD TAKE US
Genre: Women’s Fiction w/Speculative Elements
Word Count: 122,000



NoQS Minion 6: The Season of the Plough, Adult Literary High Fantasy Ownvoices

Title: THE SEASON OF THE PLOUGH
Genre: Adult Literary High Fantasy (#OwnVoices: LGBTQIA)
Word Count: 85,000


NoQS Minion 7: The Grim Readers, MG Contemporary

Title: THE GRIM READERS
Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary
Word Count: 30,000


NoQS Minion 8: Brian Bradley: Olympics (or Bust), MG Contemporary, Humor

Title: BRIAN BRADLEY: OLYMPICS (or BUST)
Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary; Humor
Word Count: 37,000

NoQS Minion 9: Emily in my Head, MG Paranormal

Title: EMILY IN MY HEAD
Genre: Middle Grade Paranormal
Word Count: 55,000

NoQS Minion 10: Camp Freakazoid, YA Contemporary Ownvoices

Title: CAMP FREAKAZOID
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Ownvoices
Word Count: 54,200

NoQS Minion 11: Lies We Tell, YA Contemporary Mystery Ownvoices

Title: LIES WE TELL
Genre: #Ownvoices YA Contemporary Mystery
Word Count: 83,219

NoQS Minion 12: Into the Pale, YA Fantasy

Title: INTO THE PALE
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy 
Word Count: 80,000

NoQS Minion 13: Cloud One, YA Science Fiction Ownvoices

Title: CLOUD ONE
Genre: YA Sci-Fi, Own Voices
Word Count: 75,000

NoQS Minion 14: Two Tails of Amaya, YA Contemporary Dark Fantasy Ownvoices

Title: TWO TAILS OF AMAYA
Genre: YA Contemporary Dark Fantasy #ownvoices
Word Count: 69,000

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Cover Art for DEAR RACHEL MADDOW





Today Adrienne Kisner and Rockstar Book Tours are revealing the cover and an exclusive excerpt for DEAR RACHEL MADDOW, which releases June 5, 2018! Check out the gorgeous cover and enter to win an ARC!

On to the reveal! 



Title: DEAR RACHEL MADDOW
Author: Adrienne Kisner
Pub. Date: June 5, 2018
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 400
Find it: AmazonB&NTBDGoodreads

Sixteen-year-old Brynn Harper’s life has one steadying force—Rachel Maddow. She watches her daily, and after writing to Rachel for a school project—and actually getting a response—Brynn starts
drafting emails to Rachel but never sending them. It’s an outlet; Brynn tells Rachel about breaking up with Sarah, her first serious girlfriend, about her beloved brother Nick’s death, her passive mother and even worse stepfather, about how she’s stuck in remedial courses at school and is considering dropping out. 


But then Brynn is confronted with a moral dilemma. She learns that one student representative will be allowed to have a voice among teachers and administrators in the selection of a new school superintendent. Sarah, along with Brynn’s arch-nemesis John, believe only honors students worthy of the selection committee seat. Brynn knows they are more interested in power and perks. Brynn feels all students deserve a voice. When she runs for the position the knives are out and her brother’s memory and her new crush Michaela are shamed. Brynn asks herself: What would Rachel Maddow do? 


Exclusive Excerpt!
Folder:  Sent
To: egrimm@westing.pa.edu
Date:  September 10
Subject:  School
Assignment

Dear Rachel Maddow,
I am writing to you because of a school assignment.  It’s a totally lame reason to be writing, but I don’t think you’ll actually read it anyway.  This kind of thing is so sixth grade.  I am a junior in high school and I’ve been forced to write to a “celebrity hero” by the Applied Language Arts teacher.  (Hey Mr. Grimm!  How’s it hanging, buddy?)  I wasn’t going to do it, because my ex-girlfriend worships you and, hello, school assignment.  But I turned on your show and Mom totally freaked out to see me watching you. 
Apparently your liberal and leftist views don’t sit well with her.  Mom spat out the words like she was talking about my dad, so I knew she meant it. That made you my celebrity hero.You were talking about some guys running for congress. 
But then you said one of them was “freaking amazing.”  I don’t think news people are supposed to say things like that.  And isn’t that biased?  News people aren’t supposed to be biased.  I know this because Mr. Grimm made us watch this video about newswriting. 
Though no one else knows this about me, Rachel Maddow, I have a near photographic memory for stuff people say. 
Their words just stick in my brain.
So I remember what a reporter is supposed to do. 
Anyway, thanks for pissing off my Mom.
Sincerely,
Brynn Harper

Folder:  Sent
From: Egrimm@westing.pa.edu
Date:  September 11
Subject:  RE: School
Assignment

Dear Rachel Maddow,
I am writing to
you because of a school assignment.  It’s a totally lame reason to be writing, but I don’t think you actually read them anyway.  This kind of thing is so sixth grade.  [Brynn, this is good, honest writing. Can you try to put a positive spin on it?]  I am a junior in high school and I’ve been forced [asked] to write to a “celebrity hero” by the Applied Language Arts teacher.  (Hey Mr. Grimm!  How’s it hanging, buddy?)  [I’m doing well, thanks. But you can take this out.] I wasn’t going to do it, because my ex-girlfriend worships you and, hello, school assignment. And Mom totally freaked out to see me watching you. 
Apparently your liberal and leftist views still don’t sit well with her.  Mom spat out the words like she was talking about my Dad, so I knew she meant it. 
So that made you my celebrity hero. [Again, great personal touch.  But maybe too intimate for this correspondence?]
You were talking about the people running for congress. 
But then you said one of them was “freaking amazing.”  And I don’t think news people are supposed to say things like that.  And isn’t that biased?  News people aren’t supposed to be biased.  I know this because Mr. Grimm, my English teacher, made us watch this video about newswriting.  Though no one else knows this about me, Rachel Maddow, I have a photographic memory for stuff
people say.  Their words just stick in my brain.  So I remember what a reporter is supposed to be. [You are right, Brynn!  I didn’t know that about you.  Shouldn’t you remember your
assignments, then?]
Anyway, thanks for pissing off my Mom. [There is a list of questions I asked you to include.  Maybe you could end with that instead.]
Sincerely,
Brynn Harper
Folder:  Sent
Date:  September 12
Subject:  School
Assignment Again

Dear Rachel Maddow,
                I learned an important lesson about rough drafts. If you really want to send someone a letter, you should just send it.  Do not turn it in to your English teacher first.  But Mr. Grimm (said English teacher) is the only person I know who doesn’t think I’m hopeless, so I am trying this again
for his sake.  Though I’m sending it to you too, to avoid further editing. 
                My name is Brynn Harper and I am sixteen years old.  I live with my mother and stepfather in Westing, Pennsylvania.  I have a brother, too.  Or, I had one, anyway.
                I first watched your show a couple of times in high school because my best friend
(well, okay, my girlfriend) loved you, so she kind of dragged me along with her.  She’s not my girlfriend anymore.  And she said she didn’t have time to watch television anymore either, even for you.  So she dumped us both.  That gives us something in common.
                I had a list of questions that I was supposed to ask you, but I got most of the answers online already.  Mr. Grimm suggested I think of new ones.  So here you go:
1.      When you look at the papers on your desk and circle something, are you really reading from them?  Don’t you read from a teleprompter?  When you go to commercial, you shuffle those papers, too. Seriously, is there anything even written on them?
2.      How much does a person have to know to be considered a “wonk?” 
3.      At least one person laughs in the background while you are talking.  Is this on purpose?  Who is that? 
4.      Why don’t you run for political office?
5.      Is there ever a staff meeting when you think to yourself, “Huh, there really isn’t a lot going on in the news today.”
6.      How many pairs of shoes do you actually own?

About Adrienne: 


I have lived my entire “adult” life in a college dormitory working in both Residence Life and college chaplaincy.  I like the term "dormitory" better than "residence hall."  I went to school for a long time so that now I get to swoop around in a fancy robe and silly hat (like at Hogwarts).  I have an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts (a place like Hogwarts).  I play both the viola and tennis with more heart than skill. I love my current home in Boston but will always be a Pennsylvanian at heart. 



Website | Twitter
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Facebook
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Goodreads



Giveaway Details:


2 winners will receive an ARC of DEAR RACHEL MADDOW, US Only.




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, October 20, 2017

Michelle's Minions for 2017



Taking on the slush pile is a daunting task. It's such a hard task to limit ourselves to thirteen with so much wonderful available. I know the last word anyone wants to hear is 'subjective', but that's truly the best word to describe how we have to approach slush with so many contenders.


Happily, we decided thirteen picks was an unlucky number and we boosted it up to one entry for luck! We each took fourteen entries! 

With that happy news, it's time to reveal the Minions of Nightmare on Query Street 2017!








In category order:

MG:

Emily in My Head
The Grim Readers
Brian Bradley: Future Olympian

YA:

Two Tails of Amaya
Camp Freakazoid
Lies We Tell
Into the Pale
Cloud One


Adult:

Flight of the Monarchs
Pale Path
All-Overish
Finder's Genesis
If Darkness Should Take Us

Alternative now a pick!: The Season of the Plough- YA


We are off to rough up the competition and get all the requests!






Thank you everyone and be sure to check Michael's Blog and Laura's blog for their picks.



Keep an eye on your inbox. Mentors will be contacting you through the email you used to enter the contest. If that's not your actual email because a friend mailed yours in, you'd better let us know. Each entry will get one mentor assigned to them. 

Please return your revised entry using the same format to the contest email by 11:59 PM Eastern time on October 26th. We need that time to swat down unruly formatting and create the posts before the agent round. Please do not be late. We will go live without you.

The agent round will start on October 30th! Come to see the agents Shriek, Scream, and Shiver. 





Friday, October 13, 2017

Nightmare on Query Street Submission Day!




The submission window opens at 4:00 pm (EST) on October 13th. Don't send too soon or your entry will be deleted. You may resend when the window opens. There will be email confirmation. After the window opens, please don't resend an entry unless you check with us. Sometimes the confirmation process gets overwhelmed. The window will close when we receive 250 entries or in two hours, whichever is first.

Michelle and Mike and Laura will make thirteen picks each, and those picks will go up on our blogs on October 31. Before this, there will be a mentor round to whip that entry into shape. We've already got amazing mentors lined up, so know that your entries will be polished for the agents.

We are accepting all age categories and genres, excluding picture books and erotica. The story does not have to be scary. But be sure to check our list of agents when it goes live to see if they represent your book's genre.

If you plan on participating in the contest, you have to be following all our blogs (Michelle, Mike, Laura). If you can't get the blog follow to work, just follow on twitter. You'll want to be on twitter for the party anyway.



Send your submission to nightmareonquerystreet (at) yahoo (dot) com. Only one submission per email address AND person is allowed.

Here's how it should be formatted (yes, include the bolded and everything!). Please use Times New Roman (or equivalent), 12 pt font, and put spaces between paragraphs. No indents or tabs - they mess up our formatting.

Subject Line: NoQS: TITLE, Age Category + Genre
(example: NoQS: GRUDGING, Adult Epic Fantasy)

INSIDE THE EMAIL:

Name: Laura Heffernan
Twitter Handle: @LH_Writes (optional)
Title:AMERICA'S NEXT REALITY STAR
Genre:Adult Romantic Comedy (Age category and genre. List Ownvoices here.)
Word Count:XX,XXX


My MC and MA (main antagonist) are dressed as:

Jen's dressed as a great pun, something like Ruth Vader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice with a light saber. She'll make the entire thing herself. Ariana's looking to get noticed, so she'll dress to impress: Sexy Supreme Court justice, anyone?

Query:

Here is my fantastic query! DO NOT INCLUDE BIO OR COMPS PARAGRAPH. Try to stay in the 250-300 word range. Please put spaces between paragraphs and don't indent. You may include a greeting.

Please remember this is a query letter and NOT a pitch. Don't send pitches.


First 250 words:

Here are the first 250 words of my manuscript, and I will not end in the middle of a sentence, even if I hit 255 words. Do not abuse and send 256. Keep it fair for all. Use Open Office/Word to determine your official word count.


Entries will be disqualified at our discretion for rule violation.

And that's it! Send in that email during the submission window and you're ready to go. There will be a confirmation email.



Topics for the twitter party are as follows:

October 13: All day, shout out the genre and age category you're sending. After 4:00 shout out if you got in.

October 14: Share a scary line from your manuscript. It can be from any chapter.

October 15: What costume would your MC character wear for Halloween?

October 16: What's the most fearsome thing about querying?

October 17: What's your favorite candy to gorge while writing and what kind would you toss back to give out to the neighborhood kids?

October 18: What's your favorite scary, or not so scary, Halloween movie?

October 19: What's your main character's greatest fear?

October 20: Picks released. Tell us how you deal with stress as a writer. What helps while you wait on query letters?


Best of luck to everyone submitting today. Competition will be fierce.

Monday, October 9, 2017

The Agents of Nightmare on Query Street 2017

Time to unveil the agents! Or should I say unmask? We have 24 agents joining us this year. Some are new. Some are established. All are looking to make requests. To everyone entering this year, best of luck! The Slush Pile is going to be SUPER competitive.

Only a third of the list is here. You can find the rest of the agents listed on Mike's and Laura's blogs. 

If you need a refresher on the submission guidelines, click here.  See you on Friday the 13th!










Jennifer Azantian



Founder Jennifer Azantian graduated with a B.S. in clinical and developmental psychology from the University of California, San Diego where she was an executive editor for the Trition Psychology Report. In 2011, she began her agenting career, first as an intern and then as an assistant and associate, at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. In 2014, while working with senior agent and entertainment lawyer Paul Levine, Jennifer opened her own agency specializing in speculative fiction.

Jennifer is particularly interested in stories that explore meaningful human interactions against fantastic backdrops, underrepresented voices, literary science fiction, historical fantasy, creepy stories for young readers, humorous space operas, well-crafted and hopeful futures, internally consistent epic fantasy, obscure retold fairy tales, modernized mythologies, and eccentric protagonists.






Lauren Galit


Being a literary agent is my dream job (but then again, I was a literary geek at Harvard): I get to work with writers all day long, helping them craft their book ideas and editing their proposals. And then, once the proposal is complete, I get to connect with editors to sell them on something I have passionately committed myself to for the past few months. And I get to chat — a lot (but hopefully not too much). With writers, with editors, with Caitlen. All good.
I started my agenting career in 2002 at John Boswell Associates, a literary agency and book packager that’s most noted for creating 365 Ways To Cook Chicken, as well as countless other best sellers. Because Boswell was a packager as well as an agent, he taught me how to do more than just craft a proposal and sell it; he showed me how to create a book from scratch, working with designers and production people along the way. It is that attention to detail that I bring to my current projects, even if we aren’t packaging them. I help my authors envision what their books could be.
Before becoming an agent, I was a magazine editor for 10 years, starting at GQ (Gentleman’s Quarterly) and ending at GH (Good Housekeeping). That’s where I learned to edit and copy edit, to read and reread until an article or caption or pull quote was just so. It is a skill I bring to every proposal I work on with a writer. It won’t go out until it is just so, because the proposal should beautifully and accurately represent the idea an author is dying to bring to the world.


Christa Heschke

CHRISTA HESCHKE graduated from Binghamton University with a major in English and a minor in Anthropology. She started in publishing as an intern at both Writers House and Sterling Lord Literistic, where she fell in love with the agency side of publishing. Christa has been at McIntosh and Otis, Inc. in the Children's Literature Department since 2009 where she is actively acquiring for all age groups in children’s.
For YA, she is especially interested in contemporary, thriller/mystery, fantasy and horror. She looks for a compelling voice and a strong hook that will set a YA novel apart in the flooded market. She is open to all types of middle grade and especially enjoys adventure, mystery, and magical realism. For both YA and MG, she is interested in unique settings and cultural influences, interesting structure, complicated romances, diverse characters, sister or friendship-centric stories, and stories that feature artists of any kind. In picture books she is drawn to cute, funny stories (as opposed to sweet and quiet) that will grab kids as well as the occasional nonfiction biography on a subject whose story has yet to be told.

Christa is not looking for any Adult fiction or non-fiction, paranormal or dystopian at this time.




Andrea Somberg
A literary agent for over fifteen years, Andrea represents a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, including projects for adult, young adult and middle grade audiences. Her clients’ books have been NYTimes and USABestsellers, as well as nominated for The Governor General’s Award, the Lambda Award, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and have been chosen for ABA’s Indies Introduce Program. 
Andrea also teaches courses for MediaBistro and Writers Digest on topics such as nonfiction, memoir, mystery and thrillers, fantasy and sf. Her client list is quite full, however she is always actively looking to take on new authors who write in the following categories: Fiction: literary, commercial, book club fiction, romance, thrillers, mystery, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, young adult, new adult, middle grade. Nonfiction: memoir, narrative, popular science, pop-culture, humor, how-to, parenting, self-help, lifestyle, travel, interior design, crafts, cookbooks, business, sports, diet, health & fitness.



Jess Dallow

Having grown up with the same name as her favorite Sweet Valley High twin, Jess has always had a love for books, especially those that feature well developed, strong female characters. She is fascinated with complex characters and a world that she can fall in love with, stories that make her want to sob and laugh within minutes of each other, and a book that she can’t put down no matter what time it is or what rerun of SVU is on. She has a BFA in Writing for Film and Television from the University of the Arts and worked in entertainment for eight years before returning to her home state of NY where she worked at a literary agency for two years before joining Brower Literary & Management.

 Jess Dallow is looking for YA and adult commercial fiction. She loves family stories (in the vein of This is Where I Leave You), thrillers (give her all the serial killers you have), mysteries, and women’s fiction, especially one that features ladies supporting ladies. She’s looking for strong, complex female characters and a book she can’t put down no matter what time it is. And as much as she loves romance, she’d be interested in seeing it more as a B plot, then a straight forward romance.









Steven Salpeter


Steven Salpeter is a literary agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd. A graduate of the University of Florida, Steven edited Tea and founded the Palmetto Prize for Fiction. He began his publishing career at Writers House and Brandt & Hochman before moving to Curtis Brown to assist Mitchell Waters and help Timothy Knowlton manage many of the agency’s venerable estate clients, including W. H. Auden, Stanley Ellin, John Knowles, Alfred Lansing, and Ayn Rand, among other bestsellers and literary award winners. He is now actively building his list, seeking literary fiction, fantasy, graphic novels, historical fiction, mysteries, thrillers, young adult, and authors who can blend elements of these genres. Steven is also interested in narrative nonfiction, gift books, history, humor, and popular science. He lives in New York City.


Website|Twitter










Natascha Morris

Natascha spent most of her childhood in a leather chair with her nose in a book. Formerly an editorial assistant at Simon & Schuster, her passion for books across genres and her desire to finding amazing talent drove her to make the transition from editorial to literary agent.

Her editorial philosophy stems from the idea that all books should be well written and entertaining.  Some of her favorite authors include Molly Idle, Sherwood Smith, Ann Rinaldi, Sabaa Tahir, and Meg Cabot. Check out her Pinterest for a quick look at her favorite books. https://www.pinterest.com/nataschamorris/

A Texas native, Natascha can often be found hunting for the best Tex-Mex in New York. Outside of reading, she is interested in urban farming and cooking.

Natascha is primarily looking for picture book, middle grade and young adult manuscripts across most genres, including contemporary, mysteries, thrillers, fantasy, historical fiction, and narrative non-fiction. She is also looking for artists that speak to her creatively.

She is not a good fit for adult literary fiction, horror, true crime, or serious nonfiction.






Jocquelle Caiby


Jocquelle S. Caiby is a Junior Agent and Literary Assistant at Serendipity Literary Agency, the largest African American owned literary agency in the U.S. With degrees in both English literature and sociology, her specialties are project management and editorial development. 

Jocquelle is primarily interested in young adult fiction, gravitating mostly towards the subgenres of fantasy, sci-fi, magical realism, and horror, as well as young adult works of any genre that explore diverse experiences. 

She is also looking for select adult fiction and nonfiction. Her favorite stories are those that take her on an adventure with vividly imagined and well-developed characters, and she is particularly struck by stories that surprise her with shocking plot twists and gasp-inducing revelations.