We Have A Winner!!!

Month9Books editor, Courtney Koschel, has picked a winner! Woo-hoo! To celebrate, and keep you in suspense just a tad longer (yes, I am evil), here are some balloons.

And now... 

The winner is...

Joan He

YA light scifi: INGENICIDE
65k

In the year 2089, education has been reinvented; prodigies run rampant in every imaginable work field. Before the "Genocide," a violent movement designed by Normals to topple the meritocracy, sparked in the US, 16 year old Sibyl Kenschild only wanted to be a Space Manipulator and design rooms that evoked the deepest stirrings of human emotion. But when the the bullets go off at the post-graduation dance, she realizes that it'll take not a Space Manipulator, nor a prodigy, but a traitor to survive.

Please send the query, first 50 pages, and a one page synopsis (ending included) to Courtney Koschel with the words "Three, Two, One, Pitch Contest Winner" in the subject of the email.

CONGRATULATIONS!

And thank you to all that participated! I am always impressed with the quality of work we get here when we run these contests. You guys are awesome. Really.

Winner of the Three Two One Pitch Contest

Our fantastic judging agent was lightning fast getting her choice for a winner back to me. Here's what she had to say:

***

Thanks for the chance to take part in the pitch fest. It was fun! There were some strong entries to choose from, and I went back and forth between a few pitches before making the final decision.

Winner is:

Deborah Kreiser 
THREE WISHES
YA fantasy
71,000 words

On the day she turns 17-1/2, Eugénie Lowry ("Genie" to her friends) is suddenly transformed from lanky to curvy, and discovers she's an honest-to-God, real, live genie, with exactly 6 months to find a master. She wishes more than anything to fall in love and live happily ever after, but is that even possible when a genie is supposed to serve her master? No one's done it before, but Genie's determined to succeed--without losing herself in the process.

Honorable mention goes to these two entries, which both hooked me.

Jen Veldhuyzen (Petre Pan)

Issue 339
YA Offbeat
80,000 words

Comic-book superhero Skye takes on awful plot twists every day, but when his parents die in a nasty cliche, he's had it. He shoots his author. But the cop investigating the murder is Skye's best friend's father--and when the publishing company hires a new writer, Skye must decide whether one more murder will save his world, or damn his soul.

Cardyn Brooks
Dodging Eros
Upmarket Women's Twisted Fiction
57k

Sometimes love's like eating forgotten leftover Halloween candy in February, and sometimes it's like consuming a gift box of freshly handmade luxe chocolates in one sitting. Either way, the consequences of indulging are impossible to escape, while the immediate pleasures seem worth the future complications--at least initially. Moving from past to present, Dodging Eros serves up complicated adults trying to protect themselves from their choices in love and in life.

I'd be happy to review the query & full ms for THREE WISHES.

***

Congratulations, Deborah Kreiser! Please send your full ms in an attachment to myrsini@carolmannagency.com with the subject "Requested Material: Three Wishes".
Put your query in the body of the email, and please
 mention that her request came from this contest.

We'll be crossing our fingers for you!

To the honorable mentions and everyone else who took part in the contest,
feel free to query Myrsini in the usual manner.
Honorable mentions can mention the contest as well.

To all, stay tuned this spring for the next pitch contest!

Winner of the Three Two One Pitch Contest

And we have a winner!

First of all, I'd like to thank literary agent Marie Lamba of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency for participating in November's Three Two One Pitch contest. Marie is purely delightful, and it was fun having her involved. I'd also like to thank everyone who participated. It was fun reading all the interesting pitches, and I truly hope some of those stories make it to the book shelves one day.

So without further ado, the winner of the pitch contest is:

Donea Lee Weaver!

Here's Donea's pitch:

The Graves
MG: Paranormal Mystery
60K

Three sentence pitch: 12-year-old, Charlie Graves, stumbles across a dead girl while playing hide and seek with his best friend in the cemetery behind his house. He’s surprised when her ghost appears to him and asks his help in finding her killer – not so surprised when he finds out that his grave-robbing father is the prime suspect. When his dad is convicted of the crime, but the ghost still lingers, Charlie races against time to find the real killer or risks becoming the next victim.

Congratulations, Donea! Please email Marie at marie.jdlit [at] gmail.com and submit your full manuscript as an attachment, along with a brief synopsis and bio. Please mention this contest in the email and put "Requested Material: Pitch Contest Winner" in the subject line. And good luck!

Keep following the blog, everyone. We'll be having another pitch contest early next year. :)

Winner of the Three Two One Pitch

We have a winner! Let's take a look at what judging agent Rebecca Podos had to say about this month's contest:

I've read through all of the entries several times, and it was harder than I expected to pick a winner! I’m not one to linger over pitches, but a few of them really caught my eye. I wish I could learn more about them.

In the end, the winning pitch really stopped me when I came to it the first time, and I kept returning to it:


Name: Tristina Wright
Email: tristina[at]tristinawright[dot]com
Title: CHILDREN OF THE GODS
Genre: YA Steampunk/Mythology (Mythpunk)
Word Count: 75,000

Pitch:
I met her at a masquerade.
I kissed her at a carnival.
I fell in love with her at an execution.

It was definitely a risky pitch, because it didn’t give much of the plot away at all. But I know the book involves intrigue, romance, and danger, and I’m curious to see how that combines with steampunk and mythology. I liked the author’s instincts – I read an awful lot of pitches, and anything out of the ordinary that catches my eye, I try to pay attention to.

Congratulations, Tristina! Please send your manuscript to rebecca@reesagency.com as an attachment and put "Pitch Winner" in the subject line. Make sure you mention in the email that you won from this site, just in case Rebecca has participated in other pitch contests.

And to all other participants, feel free to query Rebecca via normal routes. Who knows, she may request your manuscript as well!

In the meantime, I'm trying to set up the next pitch contest. I'll be sure to let you know when it is, so be sure you're following me here and on Twitter. :)

Winner of the Three-Two-One Pitch Contest!

Yes, it's time to announce the winner of this month's Three-Two-One Pitch contest.

Our judging agent, Bree Ogden, seemed really impressed with the entries. In fact, she said, "Wow, those were some amazing pitches! So hard to choose one." So without further ado, here's our winning entry:

•Megan Orsini 



•Fall of a Sparrow



•YA contemporary



•60,000



•Set within the confines of a traveling freak show, in this modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic tragedy Hamlet, Ben McPherson, son of the proprietor of McPherson's Traveling Carnival of Wonders, must avenge his father's untimely death. Narrated by Ben's best friend Liam, Fall of a Sparrow explores the monsters and madness that hide in the shadows and the secrets that can eventually become our downfalls.

Congrats, Megan! Bree would like to see your full manuscript and, as a bonus, would like to critique your query! How cool is that! (Please send your full in an attachment, the query in the body of the email, use the subject line "Requested Material: FALL OF SPARROW" and mention this contest as a reminder of where she found you, to bree@d4eo.com - and good luck!)

Thanks to everyone who participated, especially our awesome agent judge. You rock, Bree!

Keep writing and polishing, everyone. Our next pitch contest takes place September 21st and 22nd! Details to come.