Team Snow 14: RILEY COOPER, INVENTOR, MG Contemporary

Title: RILEY COOPER, INVENTOR: EMOTIONS AND LASERS

Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary

Word Count: 47,000

 My Main Character would use sun or snow to battle their biggest obstacle:

Riley would use snow, not just for his heat-seeking snowball launcher, but also as his own nature-made personal freezer to cool his lasers. And that means he wouldn’t hold his breath when mom reached for the mysterious container in the back of the refrigerator. And his parents wouldn’t ask the dreaded question heard throughout the neighborhood (they never used their inside voices) “Riley, what have you done now?” He needed a secret snow freezer because he couldn’t tell them the box contained an emotion-changing laser he invented to save their marriage. 

Team Snow 15: #MoMoLives, MG Contemporary

Title: #MoMoLives

Genre: MG Contemporary

Word Count: 53,000

My Main Character would use sun or snow to battler their biggest obstacle:

My main character, Tim Ellis, would find snow the most helpful. It’s great for making fake Sasquatch footprints. On the other hand, it also makes it harder for the person faking the prints to hide their own. Hot, dry weather isn’t as good, the ground gets too hard and dusty for the plywood cutouts to sink into the dirt deeply enough to make a lasting print. Snow would also make it easier to spot a brown-furred Sasquatch sneaking up on him, unless it’s got snow caked all over it from making snow angels. Don’t laugh, it could happen. 

Team Snow 16: SIXTH GRADE SECRET SERVICE, MG Humor, Mystery

Title: SIXTH GRADE SECRET SERVICE

Genre: MG, humor, mystery, adventure

Word Count: 49,000

My Main Character would use snow to battle their biggest obstacle: 

Abraham Truman, leader of the team who rescued the sixth grade class president from her captors, would once again call on Arlington Adams, who loyally served as Tech Officer during the mission. As the son of a janitor in Washington D.C., Arlington has access to the Lost and Found, a cache of misplaced spy gadgets his father recovered while cleaning various federal buildings. One such gadget, code-named The Snow-Baller, can produce 100 snowballs per second. Arlington would use these non-lethal, frozen projectiles to neutralize threats to school cabinet or ensure victory during playground snowball fights.

Contest Goodreads Lists

More and more books are being published for entries that were once in one of my many contests. There's the adorable MG from last year's Sun vs Snow, Karma Khullar's Mustache. I just heard of a two book deal for an entry from last summer's Query Kombat. That one isn't even announced yet. It's getting hard to keep track. Isn't that wonderful!

So I made a handy-dandy list! If you were in Query Kombat, New Agent, Sun versus Snow, Nightmare on Query Street or Picture Book Party and now have a publishing deal for that book, please add your book to the Goodreads' list!

From Contest to Contract

You didn't have to get your agent from the contest. Maybe your agent came afterward from a query. But once a part of the family, always a part of the family! You also don't need to have been picked by me. If any of the other hosts picked your entry--this is for you also.

Please spread the word to your friends. I'm sure you have better memories than I do. I don't want to miss anyone!

And honor our former contestants by picking up copies of their books!

Bonus for the mentors and judges:

The mentors and judges work so hard to help out with the contests. They deserve a list too! If you were a judge or mentor for any of my contests, please add your books to this list. And you know what I'm asking next--help out the writers who give back by buying their books!

Writers Who Help Writers 

So don't be shy, add your books to our lists if you qualify! And join the contest fun so you might be the next person on the list!

UPDATE: I guess authors can't add their own books to lists anymore. Nudge me on twitter and I'll add your books. 

Getting the Call with Diana Connors

Can I just say that Yes, I've played Pokemon. I want to live in a place of pajamas. And thumbs up to characters suffering more. Congrats, Diana! You deserve this!

Just when you’re thinking about shelving a book (or: You never know when that YES might come)

Back in 2010, when I was young(er), I wrote my first book. In my naïveté, I thought it was the absolute best thing ever written (ok, maybe not so, but the concept was pretty neat). I googled about subbing my super shiny novel to publishers, and imagine my surprise when *gasp* I found out you were pretty much required an agent to sub to traditional publishers abroad.

Now, I’m Portuguese. Agents aren’t a thing here (there is a single agency operating in Portugal, though I’d only find out about it in 2013). Moreover, getting published here is extremely hard unless you have a) money (Vanities are a thing here, and people actually believe it’s the way to go if you’re unknown) or b) connections. I had neither, and it’s one of the big reasons I don’t write in my native tongue. Another is that it’s much easier to find CPs when you write in English, but I digress.

So, there I was, a fresh young thing who didn’t have a clue about querying. I did my research. I wrote a crap query letter. I sent it out. Of course, I got mostly rejections, but among those, a few requests came. One actually led me to become friends with a great agent (who incidentally reps my favorite authors of all time), who’s actually been a godsend and helped me so much throughout the following years. Bless you, Russell, and the patience you had towards a girl you don’t rep.

Needless to say, I wrote another book. Then another. I found out about twitter contests and Pitch Wars through my partner in crime, BFF, Alaskan Snowflake and all-around amazing person, Dana. I never got into any of them, but I met the greatest (my Walruses, Renée, Dakota, and so many others!) people through those contests. Back then, I was playing with a NA Fantasy, and those who read it said, “Diana, bb, I’m sorry to inform you, but you got the main character wrong. You should write about Zéphyrine.”

To which I said, “Nah, you’re wrong. I KNOW BEST!” And then I flipped my table and buried myself in my cocoon of writerly depression.

Spoiler alert: I didn’t know best, and they weren’t wrong.

Once I saw that, I wrote a book for Zéph. I entered contests (didn’t get into any). I entered PitchWars again and this time around I actually got requests! I got my hopes up, and then got crushed (absolutely crushed) when I wasn’t picked.

I can’t complain about the mentors. They were all extremely nice to me. One (hiiii Laura!) even wrote me an e-mail that had me ugly-crying (good tears, though), while another (who wasn’t even on the age group I subbed to) critiqued my query (hiiii Jami!). Max Wirestone (oh, awesome Max, may your life be filled with hot dudes and magic sprinkles) gave me a referral to his agent. So, after I’d licked my wounds, I went out querying.

I got requests. I actually got into a contest (Nightmare on Query Street), and got more requests. Amidst all these, I sent a query to Natalie Lakosil, at Bradford Lit. Two months later, she asked for the full.

I sat down and waited. I started working on Sightless (remember that first novel I mentioned? It’s a revamp, with the same concept, but different everything else), and I LOVED it. I was actually beginning to say, “Screw A Trace of Madness, that’s not going anywhere. THIS, THIS IS IT!”

(except I didn’t say “Screw”, but a far nastier word, which I won’t replicate, so as not to tarnish Michelle’s blog with my colorful swearing)

Again, I was wrong. SO WRONG.

Fast-forward to mid-January. I get an e-mail from Natalie saying “Reading it, and loving. Will get back to you this week!”

Cue panic attack.

“WHAT DO I SAY TO THIS?” I asked in our Facebook group for Neurotic Writers. A lot of them left comments along the vein, “Diana, calm your pants down, and reply politely, saying you’re happy she let you know.”

So, that’s what I did. Then I waited. Until the next day, when I get an e-mail from Natalie with a header that said, “OFFER OF REPRESENTATION”. Yup, all caps. She asked if we could talk the next day, and we set a time.

Cue me screaming at the office (I was working). “EDGAR, ZÉ, I GOT AN OFFER OF REP FOR MY NOVEL!” while I typed a DM to my aforementioned partner in crime, BFF, Alaskan Snowflake and all-around amazing person, Dana, and called my dad on the phone. Then my boyfriend.

As you can imagine, by then I’d morphed into the Energizer Bunny. I was electric. My cats stared at me funny when I got home, and my bearded dragon gave me the stink-eye because I kept taking him out of the terrarium so we could do a dragon-dance, which, in turn, only increased my speed and attack, stats I didn’t need to be raised at the moment. (if you play Pokémon, you’ll get this, and I apologize. If you don’t, it begs the question of WHY AREN’T YOU PLAYING POKÉMON?)

Then, the time came. I was curled up in my pajamas (it was already evening for me, and my house is a place of pajamas), waiting. Then Natalie added me on Skype, and we talked. Or rather, I mumbled and she talked.

Natalie had great comments on my book, and an awesome vision. She told me the strengths, asked me if I was OK with some changes (which I was), and then the time came to nudge everyone. I got some “Congratulations! I don’t have time to read it right now, but best of luck!” and some rejections, but even before I send my nudges, I was pretty sure I was going to sign with Natalie. When she said she wanted my characters to suffer more, it felt like a match made in heaven.

And that was how I ended up represented by Natalie Lakosil of Bradford Lit AND became agency sisters with one of my Walrus CPs!

-------------------

Diana was born in Lisbon, Portugal, but lived in Estremoz for the next eighteen years. She moved to Lisbon in 2007 to study Computer Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico and stayed there ever since. In her free time, she writes, paints, and  games. Otherwise, you can find her in my day job, where she works as a designer and tester of serious games. Keeping her company are two awesome kitties, Sushi and Jubas, and a bearded dragon named Norbert!

Her portfolio can be found at http://pinguicha.deviantart.com or http://pingusportfolio.tumblr.com. Together with three colleagues, she made Sightless, the runner-up for the 2014 Innovation Awards. Since then, she’s been creating new game concepts that can be tied into her novels, thus giving them a wider reach.

Making the Peril Real

My favorite authors in fantasy and science fiction are the ones who can convince me the characters are in true peril. I need to feel that the characters have a very real shot of dying--not every moment of course, but when the action heats up. That always makes the book feel so much more real and closer to me. Readers need that sense of true danger and possibility of the ultimate failure to make us care.

Somehow, the best authors can overcome the thinking in a reader's head that a main character or primary characters won't die. (Especially a true worry if there are sequels coming.) With a few exceptions, a main character is too important to the plot and to the author to be killed off willy-nilly. We simply need them too much. But to really connect readers need to believe that there is a chance it could be the end.

I tried to accomplish that in Grudging and hope I succeeded. 

So how do the good authors manage to make readers suspend that safe main character mentality and fear for the character. Writers have a couple of tricks.

Show the Danger- A well-crafted book will find a redshirt. The author will show the danger is real by killing off some secondary characters, like they do in StarTrek. Send in the unknown actor in the red shirt to die and prove the situation is serious. There instantly becomes a sense of real threat, especially if the secondary character is well-liked and innocent. If it's cleverly managed, a reader won't even notice the trick.

Injuries Matter- Jim Butcher does this so well in his Dresden Series. The main character suffers a variety of real and debilitating injures. He/She bleeds, gets shot, gets beat up. Suffers physically. Another good example is the early Die Hard movies. Poor John McClane is a member of the walking wounded by the end of the movie. 

This can be hard to do for an author as we love our characters so much. Authors might want a character to suffer emotionally, but physical suffering seems to be harder to do. Unfortunately, you have to let them bleed to make it real.

Ixnay on the Healay- Don't use magic to fix a character. When a character can magically heal and does so over and over, all sense of true danger goes out the window. Sure, you can really take your characters to the brink, but one problem--no one will care anymore. The fear is gone. So if you're going to using magic healing in your book, make sure there are limits to it and use it sparingly.

No bluffing- Don't have a villain that bluffs and never follows through. Let your antagonist do actual "bad" things and have real motivation for the acts he/she commits. The more hated and fearful they are, the more believable the peril will be. 

Do the Deed- Some authors actually do the deed. They kill off the main character. This necessitates another character stepping up to take their place and runs the risk of reader backlash. Some readers will lose all interest in the story and stop reading. This is what happened to me and Game of Thrones. I backed away. But it can work beautifully if there are other loved characters, such as in Brandon Sanderson's SPOILER SPOILER LOOK AWAY IF YOU PLAN TO READ HIS BOOKS----


----

---
---



----

---

--- 








Mistborn series. How can you doubt anyone could perish when your favorite character and star of the show just bit the dust? It's the ultimate in peril.

So there are a couple of ways to make the danger real. 

Let me know your favorite book with a real sense of peril. And if you know of other methods, please share them!   

To Scrivener or Not to Scrivener

There's been a lot of talk in my writing groups and on twitter recently on whether it's better to ditch Word and use a software tool meant for writers. I'm not here to give an opinion either way. What works for one is not necessary the right tool for someone else. Use what works best for you.

Instead I want to hear what you think and become informed on the choices. Which software do you like?

So many writers swear by Scrivener, saying it changed their life and made writing so much easier. From what I can see it allows users to move scenes more easily, split up chapters, and make notes about anything you want--like what feels incomplete about a chapter and what you need to come back and add. It lets you convert easily to Word or epub documents. It seems to have many benefits, including outlining. It's got bright and shiny gadgets.

My reasons against switching from Word comes purely from my own writing style. I don't outline. I don't need to convert my manuscripts to publish-ready formats. I rarely move scenes around because I write in a linear fashion. And I keep notes in my head or in another Word document that I just keep open.

Sometimes I go even lower tech and keep notes on paper. Here's the notebook where I list the POV used in each chapter for Faithful. It lets me find each character easily and doesn't cost a dime. When I got my new laptop, I had to pay to install Word again. I need convincing to pay more for another software package.

So opinions? Which software do you use? What functions of Scrivener make it worth the extra money?

Marketing Your Novel: Promo Tips from a Newish Author

Hi everyone – so I’m a newish author with a YA dystopian book (published by a small press) that’s been out in the market for six months now (has it really been that long already—wow!). Anyway, all I have to say after six months is that if you think writing is hard…well, promo is at least TWICE as hard (at least it has been for me so far).

Now, this post isn’t a “how you should market your book” post. Far from it, actually. I admit it, as much as I’ve delved whole-heartedly into the whole promo thing, I’m still learning the ropes, even after six months. After all, it’s a gigantic topic with an overwhelming abundance of info you can find all over the Internet—it can be exhausting just to try to research and sift through it all.

So…rather than go through an incredibly long list of alllllll the types of marketing/promo you can do for your book (in fact, I’ll list a few of the absolute necessities right now that I’ve heard countless times on industry sites and blogs: have a website, create business cards with your book on it, find the social media applications your readers use the most and interact with them, etc.), I thought it would be fun to list a few things that I know for a fact have led to at least a few sales and/or have expanded my book’s presence in the marketplace.

1. Find Facebook reading promo groups that deal specifically with your book’s genre and post in them about your book (be sure to include the buy link). There are TONS of reading groups on Facebook, but after posting in a lot of them, I found that hardly any sales resulted (very sad, I know). The only exception was when I posted in the very few groups that deal specifically with my genre. Not only did my posting in those groups result in sales, the readers were the only ones who even reacted to my post at all—and they were EXCITED to hear about/read my book. Interestingly, it was the groups that deal with the dystopian genre that got the most response, rather than the age category of young adult (at least for my book, anyway).

2. Locate (or establish if it’s not already) your book on Goodreads, and then start adding it to groups that deal with your genre in the listopia function. If you’re not familiar with listopia, it’s comprised of a bunch of lists of books that anyone can create and that anyone can add books to. Just make sure you read the guidelines of each group before you add your book. Some group creators don’t want outside people (i.e., not them) adding to them, or outline specific things that may not apply to your book (i.e., they want only standalone dystopian novels to be listed versus series, and you have a series). I haven’t been able to tell for sure if this has resulted in actual sales, but it has definitely resulted in people adding my book to their “to-be-read” lists, and thus has resulted in some ratings and a review so far for my book, so I imagine at least some people have bought the book via the listopia function. If not, my book is definitely more visible in the marketplace.

3. Participate in other authors’ Facebook release parties (I would also recommend having a release party for your own book when it comes out). This can admittedly sometimes be hit-or-miss, as it depends on how many readers are attending the party, and that, of course, depends on how popular the author is or how much advertising the author has done for the party, but it can be a great opportunity to do a giveaway of your own book and interact with readers on Facebook. Plus, it’s just good karma—us authors need to help each other out, after all! I’ve participated in a few release parties so far, typically giving away a free e-book copy of my book to a randomly selected reader, and it has always been a fun time at the very least.

4. Making your book free or putting it on sale for 99 cents for a limited amount of time. My publisher told me that 99 cents usually garners the best response from the market, and I have to say it has led to a few sales for me. Of course, you still need to get word of the sale out into the world, but who can argue with getting a book for free or for under a buck? SPEAKING of which, my book is STILL on sale (OK, OK, so this is the shameless plug part of the post; you can find my on-sale-book here: Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/z474hq9 ) for only 99 cents now until February 14.

Anyway, funnily enough, these four things are the only ones that I know for a fact have translated into actual sales, or have expanded my book’s spot in the market at the very least. I still have a long way to go in terms of learning the way of promoting and building a platform, but I’m sure I’ll be employing these four things again down the line—with this book and others down the line. If anybody here knows of any awesome marketing tactics that have worked for them, feel free to drop them in the comments below! Again, us authors need to help each other out! :-)

In the future, no adults exist. Ever since the plague swept the world 100 years ago, no one has lived past seventeen.

Sixteen-year-old Gorin, a collector of curious artifacts left over from the pre-plague civilization, is on the verge of perishing from that deadly epidemic. And his last wish is to find a way to visit the rulers’ reputedly magnificent, off-limits mansion.

Up against the clock, he and his friend Stausha steal into the mansion and discover a secret more horrifying than they ever could’ve imagined—a secret that holds the key to the survival of the whole human race.

Buy Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble 

Chris von Halle has had many different lives in many different worlds—the near and distant future Earth, other planets, and even other dimensions—and his books recreate his childhood memories of such outlandish locations. In thisworld and life, he lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and enjoys such extraordinary activities as playing videogames, tennis, and basketball, and writing the occasional comic strip.

Website: chrisvonhalle.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.v.halle?fref=browse_search
Blog: http://chrisvonhalle.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @ChrisvonHalle

Reading In Your Genre

On twitter, I've talked about the advice to read newly released books in your genre, but I never really did a blog post about it. In fact, I never knew the importance of that advice until I wrote my fifth manuscript.

You see I got an agent with my fourth manuscript. It was a humorous middle grade, and it never sold on submission. I'm pretty sure now that was because I hadn't read enough middle grade books before I wrote it. I usually read in adult fantasy with the occasional middle grade thrown in.  

Then while my MG was out on submission, I did this thing called sign up for NetGalley. NetGalley provides free advance copy ebooks in exchange for honest reviews of those books. It's one of the main sites used by book bloggers. I'm not a book blogger per se, but I love reading. And there's never enough money to buy all the books I can read. So NetGalley provided me free books and all I had to do was write a review on Goodreads.

Actually, I was getting so much more.

By reading books that were newly released, I learned so much. I'm not talking about plot trends. These books were purchased by the publishers a year ago or longer, so trends of plot have passed by the time the public gets to read them. 

No, I mean writing style and pacing and timing and so many other important things. Such as, how long you should wait before an inciting incident? How to space out your action chapters for your genre? What sort of pace is too slow? How much world building should you do? What sort of prologues work? How unlikable can you make your characters and still have people tolerate them? All sorts of information comes from reading lots and lots of recent books.

I find that I've developed an inner rhythm to writing now. My manuscripts fall right into the sweet spot for word count without my having to try. I know how much description works and what sorts makes a reader bored.

My gut tells me it's time to add some action or to slow things down. I sense when the characters need a building relationship scene so they can bond. I believe I know when the story needs new elements added to bring up the interest. At least, I hope I've gotten pretty good at judging these things now. The reviews for Grudging so far have been pretty strong. (And I'd appreciate your support!) 

Regardless of what genre you enjoy, there's a lot to be said for spending a day on the couch just reading. Consider it research!

Book Birthday for DARK CONFESSIONS

About DARK CONFESSIONS

For Sherrif's Deputy Elizabeth Caine, seeing is believing. But in the past few months, she's witnessed an otherworldy realm of ancient magic and ghostly spirits that defies explanation. When a friend connected to that world of witchcraft is taken captive by a ruthless criminal, Bess will risk anything to find her, even if it means enlisting the help of a former lover she can no longer trust.

Ferdinand Lafitte can't tell Bess the truth about his feelings for her, not while a powerful spell binds him. But he can guide her through the lush bayou in search of Mala LaCroix, whose fate means as much to him as it does to Bess. Yet as their search reveals the darkest kinds of sorcery, they find themselves drawn together more passionately than ever before . . . 

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Confessions-Angie-Sandro-ebook/dp/B01AGR87FG

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-confessions-angie-sandro/1123242151?ean=9781455537662

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/dark-confessions

https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Angie+Sandro

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-confessions/id1073661680?mt=11

Excerpt:

“Does that include working with me?” Ferdinand asks.

With a gasp, I turn. He lounges against the doorframe, and I’m caught in his trap again, mesmerized by sheer perfection. He reminds me of a priceless Egyptian statue, painstakingly carved from ebony by a master craftsman. A real piece of work, this man. More beautiful than anything I saw in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and more cunning than a grifter running a long con.

I blink to dispel the haze clouding my eyes. “I don’t like the idea, but it seems I don’t have a choice.”

Ferdinand shakes his head. “You have free will. It’s a gift, which shouldn’t be taken for granted.”

I refrain from snorting. It’s not at all lady-like. “Well, if I did, then I’d still have you in handcuffs.”

Ferdinand’s dark eyebrows rise. “Is that so?” His gaze travels leisurely down my body, leaving a trail of heat that pools between my thighs. “Your wish is my command, Chérie doux.” His accent thickens. “Any time. All I require is for you to say the magic word. Merci.”

My breath catches. It feels like I’ve got a stray piece of apple pie lodged in my throat, and no matter how much I swallow, I can’t clear the block. “I need some water,” I choke out, eyeing the door. Why won’t he move?

“I’ll go with you.” He turns sideways, waving his arm for me to precede him. As if I want him hovering behind where I can’t see his hands. Oh God. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

Five quick steps take me to the door. My skin puckers as I brush past him. Every inch of me feels jittery, on edge, like I’m about to leap out of my skin. His long fingers skim the small of my back beneath the edge of my bulletproof vest, and a spark arcs between us. The resulting burst of liquid heat causes my overly sensitive nerves to tingle. My bound breasts ache from being confined.

The bathroom is only a few paces away, but I can’t reach it fast enough. Ferdinand almost walks on my heels. He’s so close that the space between our bodies hums with electricity.  Does he plan on waiting for me to come out? That won’t do.

I throw open the door to the single stall bathroom and flip on the light. Ferdinand rocks forward on his toes, head close to brushing the top of the doorframe. My hand whips out, and I grab the waistband of his jeans and yank him into the room. The door slams shut behind us.

Confusion and hunger war within his dark eyes. The heady combination threatens to bring me to my knees. His long eyelashes fan down, then up. “Lieutenant Caine?”

“Shut up. Not another word.” I thumb the door lock. Neither of us can escape now. “I can’t…not one more second.”

His hand lifts, but I wrap my fingers around his wrist and shove it down. “Don’t touch me.” I can’t take it anymore. So why be miserable and keep fighting?

Rising onto my tiptoes, I grab his collar and drag him toward me. His lips part. Perfect. My mouth slams against his—hard and rough. I steal his kiss. The one owed to me. He’s been taunting me with the possibility for hours—holding this moment over my head while playing on my emotions. No more. It’s my reward for being so damn patient. 

About Angie Sandro

Angie Sandro was born at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Within six weeks, she began the first of eleven relocations throughout the United States, Spain, and Guam before the age of eighteen.

Friends were left behind. The only constants in her life were her family and the books she shipped wherever she went. Traveling the world inspired her imagination and allowed her to create her own imaginary friends. Visits to her father's family in Louisiana inspired this story.

Angie now lives in Northern California with her husband, two children, and an overweight Labrador.

https://www.facebook.com/Angie-Sandro-253044268078356/

https://twitter.com/AngieSandro

http://anjeasandro.blogspot.com/

Getting the Call with Josh Hlibichuk

A timely reminder that contests aren't the only way to finding your agent. Thanks for sharing your journey with us, Josh! 

I had been writing for years, but the first project I ever queried was a YA fantasy. In retrospect, I have no idea what I was thinking. I queried across thirty or so agents, all of whom realized what I should have at the time: it wasn’t ready. The whole manuscript was one giant darling. The death knell came months later when I got accepted into PitchWars 2013 with a different manuscript, a YA steampunk. I put away the old and got excited about the new.

I was beyond thrilled to be in PitchWars. I’d heard the stories about other writers getting a bajillion requests and offers from their PitchWars projects, and I was certain this was going to be my debut. My mentor and I busted our butts to get ready; I cut something like fifteen thousand words. I chopped a beloved character. I cleaned up the beginning. I wrote a query letter I didn’t hate!

When the agent round came, the entries around mine collected request after request. By the time the dust settled, I had gotten only one request--a partial--and it was quickly rejected. Undaunted, I queried widely. This one caught more eyes, got more partials and even a couple fulls, but in the end none of the agents wanted to go in on it. This continued for several months until I decided it was time put this one away too.

I was frustrated, and I was disappointed, but I wasn’t done writing. I began writing a new story that had been rattling around in my brain for a while: a fantasy heist novel. I love heist and con stories, be they books (Scott Lynch) or movies (Ocean’s Eleven) or television (Leverage). This was something I could do.

Over the course of the next year I wrote The Violets of Tavarem in fits and spurts. I eventually finished the first draft in August of 2014 after powering through the final 30,000 words in about three weeks. I revised, I sent it out to crit partners, and we made it even better.

I began querying in July 2015, and my query garnered only a nibble or two. More revision, more querying. My community of writer friends rallied with me and helped shine my query to sparkling, and then the nibbles turned into bites. I entered PitchWars 2015 to hopefully boost my chances (even going so far as to write a dreaded synopsis), but I was not selected.

The PitchWars rejection was a huge blow to morale. I had already gotten in once, two years ago. What did it say about this project, if I couldn’t get picked this time? Was I delusional, or was this simply a matter of taste?

(You’ve probably already guessed, in this industry so much is a matter of taste. Don’t let a contest rejection keep you from pressing onward!)

After I recovered, I entered PitchSlam and was selected for entry. This time, I got six requests; three of them were fulls. I was ecstatic, despite the rejections that still trickled in--even the rejections were encouraging. Partials turned into fulls.  I was finally on track, and this train was moving.

Fast forward to November. I first met Caitie Flum on a Reddit writing community (shout out to /r/yawriters!). Caitie was a smart new agent who had a lot of great industry experience, but she did not rep my genre (YA Fantasy). Imagine my pleasant surprise when she announced that she was now going to accept scifi and fantasy queries for YA, having opened doors that were previously closed.

Meanwhile, another agent at her agency already had my partial. I let her know as much. She offered to look at the query and the partial anyway, even to give feedback if it wasn’t for her. (Caitie is huge on helping writers--one of the many things I love about her.)

A few emails later, Caitie had gotten her hands on my query, and I sent her my partial. Less than a week later, she wanted to see the full. Twelve days after that, on a Friday, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize.

Now, I live in Iowa during a heated election season. Most of the phone numbers I don’t recognize are robocalls or other pollsters. I usually let everything go to voicemail and come back later. So, I ignored it. And then I got an email from Caitie: “I just finished and would love to talk to you about this. Do you have time for a call today?”

Proceed to freak out. I replied that yes, I did, and in a few minutes the very same phone number from earlier came back on my phone.

I had ignored a phone call from an agent!

Caitie was a great sport about it, and we talked for a bit. She offered representation. From Reddit and following her online, I knew so much about her--two of my writer-friends were already clients--that I didn’t have as many questions as I might have had for another agent. I researched further to get a sense for Caitie and for Liza Dawson Associates, but I had queried the agency in the past and already knew that this agent and agency were perfect for me.

I gave the other agents a week to read partials and fulls, but I knew in my heart they would need to make strong cases to change my mind. In the end I picked Caitie to champion my work. As we continue through a revision ahead of going on submission, I still couldn’t be more thrilled at the opportunity to work with her.

--

Josh Hlibichuk writes YA fantasy and dabbles in contemporary. He works as a web developer in the Midwest where he lives with his wife and kids who tolerate his flights of fancy and occasional outbursts of song. When he’s not writing or powering the Internet, Josh enjoys board games, amateur photography, and tweeting at other writers.

Website: http://www.caffeinatedpages.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/qrevolution

Team Snow Picks for 2016

It's that time! And when better to announce the news then on Super Sunday!

I hope everyone had a good time and learned something. Contests are for fun and meeting new friends after all!

As I said on twitter there were a ton of great entries, but I only had room for sixteen. With 200 entries that means a lot left behind. Be sure to check the Team Sun picks over at Amy's blog, and remember that contests aren't the only means to get in front of agents. 

I never made it in to any large contests, so I know exactly how you feel. I got my agent from a query. And everyone's journey is different. Keep on keeping on!


The following entries will be on Team Snow:

Middle Grade:

#Momolives- Contemporary
The Princess of Tangled Days- Fantasy
Sixth Grade Secret Service- Humor, Adventure
Riley Cooper, Inventor- Contemporary


Young Adult:

Down and Across- Contemporary
Ophelia- Gothic
The First Idol- Fantasy
The Wish Stone- Contemporary Fantasy
The Curious Will of John Glenarm- Contemporary
Mongrels- Science Fiction
The Green Well- Fantasy
Ballad of a Teenage Cannibal- Humor, Fantasy
Swimming Lessons- Contemporary


New Adult:

If You're Ever in Town- Contemporary Romance


Adult:

Here and Open- Women's Fiction
Spy Act- Espionage Thriller


Mentors should be contacting you soon, but give them until Monday afternoon.  

Get your revised entry back to me no later than Thursday, February 18 at 3:00 pm EST. That’s so I have time to format the entries and have them ready to post for the agent round on Monday, February 22. Mail your revised entry to the contest email Sunversussnow (at) yahoo (dot) com. Please use the exact same format and don't forget the Sun versus Snow question.

And do find me on twitter (@Michelle4Laughs) so I can add you to my list before the agent round! I hope everyone sticks around to party and see if Sun or Snow gets the most requests. 

Team Snow will be ready to kick it to the sun!

Getting the Call with Peggy Rothschild

It seems appropriate to share a success story from previous contests this week. It's not necessary the requests from a contest that are the most important part. The advice is priceless. Thanks for sharing, Peggy. 

I entered Query Kombat in 2014 and received so much helpful feedback that I decided to enter the June 2015 contest with a new manuscript. (You might remember it was called Guilt by Association.) Once again, the critiques were enormously helpful. Using that feedback, I polished my query between each round. Although I’d sent out queries in the past, I hadn’t actually queried my contest manuscript. In late June, as the dust was settling from the competition, the wonderful Melissa Jeglinski of the Knight Agency requested the first 50 pages of my manuscript. I sent them off, then turned my attention to a different manuscript. Three months later, I received a request for the full. After giving it a quick polish, I sent it off. Then in November, I received an email giving me some feedback. Melissa also wanted to set up a time when we could talk.

I didn’t immediately realize that this was "The Call". I was anticipating feedback and a possible revise and resubmit, but not an offer of representation. Maybe it was because I wasn’t expecting an offer, or maybe it’s because Melissa is genuinely warm and easy to talk to, or maybe it was the fun of chatting with a fellow cat-lover, but I was relaxed and had a great time getting to know her. The offer was the unexpected icing on top of that cake!

--------------------------------------------------

Peggy Rothschild grew up in Los Angeles. Always a mystery-lover, she embraced the tales of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys before graduating to the adult section of the library. An English major in high school, she switched to art her – other passion – in college. Peggy has authored two adult mysteries, CLEMENTINE’S SHADOW and ERASING RAMONA. PUNISHMENT SUMMER is her first young adult book.

At present, Peggy lives in the beach community of Ventura with her husband and their cats. In her spare time she focuses on transforming their yard into a drought-tolerant paradise and creating art pieces.

Website - www.peggyrothschild.net

Punishment Summer - http://amzn.to/1VIgnLu

@pegrothschild

https://www.facebook.com/peggyrothschildauthor

amazon.com/author/peggyrothschild