Wednesday, January 16, 2013

WriteOnCon: Pitch-Fest!


I was recently made aware of a very cool event coming up in February and March wherein aspiring middle grade and young adult writers will have the amazing opportunity to pitch their books to literary agents. There's a whole lot more to this event than that though, so I'm just going to let you have it straight from the fabulous people at WriteOnCon:

We here at WriteOnCon have decided that we sleep too much. To rectify that, we're organizing a mid-winter "Luck 'O the Irish" pitch-fest, where agents, book bloggers, and authors will team up to read and vote for the best pitches of 2013.

You read that right! A pitch-fest! At WriteOnCon!

But you won't need a pot 'o gold–or a lucky leprechaun–to participate, because our goal is to make sure you're well prepared. After all, we have bonafide literary agents coming to this thing! Yes, they will be reading the pitches, and yes, they are looking to sign clients. It could be you!

Not a writer? WE STILL NEED YOU! We're recruiting book bloggers and readers to spread the word and to vote for their favorites. Advocate for the books you want to see published–contact us at writeoncon@gmail.com to become an official WOC 2013 Pitch-Fest Blogger. You'll even get a special button (see above). Ooooo. Shiny buttons.

THE DETAILS:

•     Pitch-fest runs from March 18-22. Authors, book bloggers, readers, and our fabulous literary agents will be voting on the pitches. The favorites in each category will win prizes, including some great agent feedback or membership in the official WriteOnCon mentorship program!

•     There will only be a limited number of pitches accepted. That number is unknown at this time, because it depends on how many agents attend. We're still recruiting agents and will let you know the final numbers as soon as we do! Pitches will be selected randomly, so it doesn’t matter what time zone you live in.

•     The agents have selected their top three genres, and pitches will ONLY be accepted in those genres. Again, all genres are unknown at this time as we're still finalizing agents, but don't worry. We will make announcements about genres and numbers as things solidify (sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss a thing!). At this time, we are only focusing on the children's market, so you can know now that this pitch-fest will focus only on middle grade and young adult genres.

•     We're announcing this now, before all details are finalized, because we're running a "perfect your pitch" workshop in February. This will take place in the WriteOnCon forums, and will work much the same as the query critique boards do during the annual WOC. You will post your pitch, and your peers will critique it. We will have posts from industry professionals on writing pitches and genre classification.

We're doing this for a good reason. We want your pitch to be as perfect as possible once the submission window hits in March. We will only be accepting your entry for the pitch-fest one time. We will not change your genre or edit your pitch after it has been submitted. This workshop during February is the time for you to fine-tune your pitch and get feedback about which genre your novel really belongs in.

•     Only one pitch per person. Put forth your best work.

•     Pitches should be for polished and query-ready novels only. That means if you haven't finished your novel yet, you shouldn't pitch. Still revising? Don't pitch. The agents attending are looking for material, and when they request, you want to be ready to send out your novel. We're announcing early to give you time to finish!

DATES TO KNOW:

February 18-March 10 - Forum peer pitch critiques (Carolin has the forum boards built! Check them out HERE)

March 11-13 - Submission of final pitches (this will be done through a Google form, NOT in the forum--details to come!)

March 14-17 - We build the boards in the forum (they will be hidden until March 18)

March 18-22 - Voting and commenting by literary agents, mentor authors, and book bloggers

We can't wait to see you at the Luck o' the Irish Pitch-Fest! Watch the WOC newsletter and site for more updates as we get closer to liftoff. Yeah, that was totally a mixed metaphor.

25 comments:

  1. Thanks for letting me know about this! I do follow WriteOnCon, but I didn't know about this until I saw your post. Any chance you'll be submitting a pitch or an email re: which book you'd like to see published?

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    1. Yay! I'm glad I could put this event on your radar:) I have no plans to actually submit a pitch, but I would like to take part in the voting:)

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  2. Awesome! Will make sure some of my friends know about this :)

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  3. Are you going to do it? You're such an eloquent writer.

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    1. Thank you so much Juju! At this time though I have no ideas for a novel, so no pitch for me. I'm content writing my little four paragraph reviews and reading:)

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    2. I second Mama Whimsy about your writing...you must have an idea in there somewhere!!

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  4. WOW! Well, now, I don't know if I want to be a pitcher or an advocate for the pitchers...hum. Decisions, decisions. The gals behind WriteOnCon ROCK!!

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    1. Oooo are you writing a novel? I had no idea!

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  5. I hadn't heard of this! But let's see ... I'm a writer ... and I'm Irish ... Perhaps I should try this!

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  6. Wow this sounds great! I haven't seen this before but I can't wait to see how this all will look like :) Thanks for sharing :)

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  7. Jenny!! This sounds SO COOL!!! AHHH I must check this out! Thank you so much for the heads up! :)

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  8. Very interesting I am going to head over and sign up as if I need more books to read but this sounds too good to pass up!

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  9. This seems like a perfect way to discover some quality authors out there, and I can totally get behind that. Like Heidi, I'll probably sign up to, it seems like a great thing to be a part of.
    Thanks so much for the info, Jenny.

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  10. This sounds like an awesome opportunity for authors...now if only I were one! lol I'm definitely going to check it out...I'd love to see if I can participate in the voting:)

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  11. Hm... will have to check this out as a blogger. I wish I wrote well... I'd tell you I do, but I know you read my blog. LOL

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  12. This sounds awesome! I don't have any finished work so I won't be pitching, but I could sign up as a blogger for sure! Thanks for letting us know cause I think this is an awesome idea!

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  13. Ooh this definitely sounds good! I'll keep tabs on it to see how things progress. :) Also looking forward to voting!

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  14. Thanks for reminding me of this! Sounds like fun!

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  15. This sounds like a cool opportunity for writers who want to put there writing out there. Too bad I still have a lot to work on my manuscript.

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  16. Ooohh this sounds awesome :) I can't wait for the voting to begin! heheee

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  17. This sounds like fun! Too bad I don't have anything ready to pitch!

    Heather

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  18. I haven't heard this one before but it looks like a great idea.

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  19. I'm super excited about this dude!!!! I feel all awesome being an "official blogger" for WriteOnCon!!! Yeah... I'm a dork.

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