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Thursday, 15 November 2012

Official Entry Post for the Three Two One Pitch Contest

This contest is now closed. Thank you for all your entries. I will announce the winner as soon as literary agent Marie Lamba makes her decision. Stay tuned!

So you think you can pitch? It's time for aspiring writers everywhere to pitch to awesome literary agent Marie Lamba of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. The contest starts today, November 15th, and closes at midnight on the 16th. Just a reminder to those who haven't participated before, a Three-Two-One pitch contest goes like this:

THREE - Pitch your story in only three sentences. No run-ons!

TWO - Two days to enter: November 15th and 16th.

ONE - One agent, Marie Lamba, will judge and pick a winner.

This contest is open to unagented, completed and polished manuscripts in the genres of:
  • YA
  • MG
  • Contemporary Fiction
  • Women's Fiction
  • Some memoir
Books that are moving and/or hilarious are especially welcome. NO picture books, science fiction, or high fantasy (though paranormal elements are acceptable), category romance (though romantic elements are welcome), non-fiction, or books that feature graphic violence.

Each contestant is allowed two entries.

To be eligible, you must:
  • Follow this blog - go ahead and click "Join this Site" on the right if you haven't already
  • Follow me on Twitter
  • Spread the word! Tweet, Blog, or mention on Facebook about the contest linking back to this post
Not necessary, but in the spirit of paying it forward:
Entries should be formulated in the following manner, right here in the comments section:
  • Your name
  • Your email
  • Title of your manuscript
  • Genre
  • Word count
  • Three-sentence pitch

So, don't forget: Three sentences, two days to enter, one agent will judge. Good luck, everyone. Can't wait to read all your pitches. On your mark, get set, GO!

29 comments:

  1. • Kate Larkindale
    • katelarkindale@gmail.com
    • The Sidewalk’s Regrets
    • YA contemporary
    • 87 000 words

    Seventeen-year-old Sacha McLeod is too focused on her violin to pay attention to rock music, but when she hears Dylan play guitar, the energy, violence and unpredictability thrills her and she falls hard for his wild, inventive sound.

    A failed audition shatters her plans for the summer - and her self confidence - so she throws everything aside to spend time with Dylan. When she finds herself playing second fiddle to his newly acquired drug habit, she realizes that despite what all the songs say, sometimes love isn't all you need.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Name: Tamara Felsinger
    Email: t(dot)m_bailey(at)hotmail(dot)com
    Title: PECKS ON THE BEACH
    Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
    Word count: 55,000

    Pitch: To escape her abusive father, eighteen-year-old Heather runs to a coastal town with her best friend Melody. But instead of enjoying the sun, sand, and surf, she discovers Melody’s hidden life as a Siren, where singing is a weapon, kissing is deadly, the schmexiest guys are genetically engineered, and an invasion from the sea is inevitable unless they find a way to stop it. Life's a beach sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tracey Joseph
    tracey_joseph(at)msn(dot)com
    GONE BY THE END OF JULY
    YA Contemporary
    50,000

    Sixteen-year-old Mary filed a missing persons report exactly two days after July 23rd—the day her father left for work and never came home. Now she waits, replaying memories of him over and over again in her head, until the day she learns the truth. He didn't just leave them, and people don’t disappear without a good reason.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Susmita Bhattacharya
    susmita.bhattacharya@gmail.com
    Crossing Borders
    Contemporary Fiction
    100,000
    After Dipali’s husband is killed in a terrorist attack in Mumbai, she retreats into herself until she meets Gandharv, sexy photographer/artist who seduces her, but her family will not accept another man in her life. Moushumi is finding it difficult to live a double life as a lesbian and a ‘normal’ citizen of India; her search for true love seems futile and full of mistakes. The two women meet and connect with each other instantly and together they fight society’s prejudices to get love, respect and happiness back into their lives.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tiffani Burnett-Velez
    tburnettvelez@gmail.com
    A Berlin Story
    Women's Fiction (novella)
    16,000 words

    Annalise must navigate the ravaged remains of 1945 Berlin to find her way back to the West and, ultimately, America before it is completely split in two and she is locked behind the walls of communism. She cannot shake the memory of the Soviet officer who helped her escape the brutality of his own soldiers after they held her captive for two weeks. The darkness of night allows her the only solace and chance for travel, but she gets lost in the Eastern Sector just as America seems almost close enough to touch.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Linda C. Wisniewski
    lindawis@comcast.net
    Memoirs of the Queen of Poland
    Women's Fiction
    83,000 words

    Regina, a nineteenth century Polish peasant woman accidentally time travels into the present day world of Kat, a lonely disillusioned feminist. With the help of a medieval queen posing as their translator, the two women attempt to bring Regina home. in the process, both must come to terms with the best and worst of their times and themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lori A. Goldstein (@_lagold)15 November 2012 at 16:17

    Lori A. Goldstein
    lorigold(at)hotmail(dot)com
    Jumping Ants
    Upmarket Commercial Fiction
    100,000

    With a talent for self sabotage, the charming but aimless Max gets himself hired, fired, and evicted in quick succession. After the twenty-nine-year-old is carjacked at gunpoint at a fast-food drive-thru, he’s forced on a weekend-long journey with the peculiar stranger, an older, rounder, more desperate version of himself. Max walks away with a black eye, a crush on a feisty bartender, and the truth that the unfazed grin he’s been honing hasn’t been fooling anyone, least of all himself.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Laurie Litwin
    hagergirl@yahoo.com
    GRIPPED
    YA Contemporary
    60,000

    Seventeen-year old Taylor is supposed to be the homecoming queen, not the girl who shows up drunk at school and barfs on the vice principal. Drunk and pissed off, she gets behind the wheel of a car and slams into a tree – and the truth. She’s doesn’t know how to survive without alcohol and she'd rather die than give it up.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Laurie Litwin
    hagergirl@yahoo.com
    Lilly Washington’s Presidential Adventure
    MG Contemporary
    37,000

    When twelve-year-old Lilly Washington finds a mysterious diary with entries from the 1870s, she goes against the wishes of the school principal and embarks on a wild adventure to find an undiscovered time capsule mentioned within its pages. What she finds could uncover long lost secrets from the Civil War. That is, if she isn’t expelled first.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Name: Athina Dakourou
    Email: dathina@gmail.com
    Title: Dazed
    Genre: mystery/crime
    Word count: 101,000

    Natalie Hartt is just a simple student who was raised without knowing anything about her mother. When suddenly everything seems to fail her, Natalie decides to learn about her and her nightmare begins. What will she do when the story is out and she decides that…some things are better to stay hidden?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Samantha Farkas
    sambfarkas@gmail.com
    The Lost Figurehead
    Middle grade adventure
    55,000 words

    Finn Rackham is tired of hearing that his hot temper is bound to land him behind bars, but when he falls in with a band of pirates, even he starts to think it won't be long before he's in juvie--or dead. After twelve years in the rough-and-tough slums of Brooklyn, Finn figures he knows how to deal with pirates, but the men and women who sail under Captain Kelsey Dash are not the sword-swinging, pistol-wielding, treasure-hunting rapscallions he expects. They're time travelers, and they just commandeered a ferry in New York Harbor.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gail Nall
    gailecn(at)gmail(dot)com
    EX-DRAMA QUEEN
    Upper MG Contemporary
    51,000 words

    Rather than be doomed to a life of mediocrity when she loses the lead in the school musical to her best friend, thirteen-year-old Casey makes a list of ways to reinvent herself. Poker player, karate champion, figure skater, ...and accidental boyfriend stealer? So much for ex-drama queen.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Jill Van Den Eng
    fromthekeyboard@gmail.com
    WHAT GOES UP, MUST FALL DOWN
    MG - contemporary
    30,000 words

    Max Mavel, age 10, is used to life’s ups and downs living with a mother who has bipolar disorder. Then his problem gets literal, sending Max flying in the air or anchored the ground depending on his mother’s current mood swing. Max needs to find a way to come to grips with his anomaly and find stability before someone gets hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Amanda Foody
    akfoody@gmail.com
    ACE OF SHADES
    YA Steampunk Fantasy
    82,000 words

    Seventeen-year-old Enne Alfero goes to the shadow world searching for her lost mother and fleeing from the city's politicians who want her dead. Her only ally is Levi Glaisyer, a hot street lord and a card dealer at a casino. When Enne becomes embroiled in a plot to assassinate a mafia prince, both Enne and Levi must play the politicians in a deadly game for their lives.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your name: Ellie M
    Your email: EllieMoreton at gmail dot com
    Title of your manuscript: Northern
    Genre YA: Fantasy
    Word count: 85K
    Three-sentence pitch:
    When Kochie is double crossed on a mission to capture Liko, he ends up the captive himself. Bound to each other by magic that isn’t suppose to exist anymore, Liko and Kochie set off on an adventure they’re not suppose to know about. But what starts off as a simple quest, turns into a dangerous game of hide and seek when Kochie’s old team mates try to hunt them down.


    ReplyDelete
  16. Your name: Anne Marie
    Your email: annemariewrites [at] gmail [dot] com
    Title of your manuscript: The Serpent's Covenant
    Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
    Word count: 80,000
    Three-sentence pitch:
    Based on American Indian folklore, The Serpent's Covenant follows Cori Anders, a cursed girl who hears disembodied voices. When the Winter Chief kidnaps Cori's brother instead of her, a mysterious stranger materializes and leads her to a concealed side of Denver. She must battle cannibal dwarves and a giant winged serpent to save her brother's life.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Valia Lind
    valialind@gmail.com
    Pieces of Revenge
    YA Thriller/Adventure
    71,000
    Anastasia is a trained killer. Armed with combat skills and an eidetic memory, she’s come to bring revenge on those responsible for her parents death. Nothing will stand in her way, and as the stakes get higher, she realizes, it's not just her future on the line, it's the worlds'.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Donea Lee Weaver
    The Glass Prince
    YA: Contemporary Fantasy
    72K

    Three-sentence pitch: 17-year-old Clara’s attempt to escape social suck-fest at home lands her in the middle of a 500-year-old family curse, with the Ice Queen (aka “Grandma”) and an obnoxious Prince as her guides. A glass prince figurine is one key to breaking the curse, allowing her to transport to the past to see how it all started. But, an unexpected enemy stands in her way and failure means she’ll suffer the same fate that killed her father when Clara was only one.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Donea Lee Weaver
    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.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Stacy Stokes
    stacyastokes(at)gmail(dot)com
    WHERE THE STAIRCASE ENDS
    Ya Supernatural Mystery
    62,000

    After an accident, high school student Taylor Anderson must climb a seemingly endless staircase into the sky. Her journey unravels the mystery behind her best friend's betrayal and the life she thought she wanted to leave behind. What she learns changes her forever.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Beth Pond
    bethpond90(at)aol(dot)com
    PODIUM FINISH
    YA Contemporary
    70,000 words

    Best friends and Olympic hopefuls Harper Kavanaugh and Alex Abrams are living the life they've always dreamed of: residing at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, well on their way to making the Olympic team. However, after Harper suffers a devastating knee injury at hockey practice and Alex's skating partner continues to keep secrets about his past, the two girls need each other more than ever if they want to make the podium.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jessica Harvey
    harveyjek (at) my (dot) ccsu (dot) edu
    CHRISTINE VENOM
    YA Urban Fantasy
    51,000 Words

    Wracked with survivor’s guilt after a demon murders her entire demon-hunting team, all seventeen-year-old Christine can focus on is graduating high school. And then Veynix, the demon, returns, leaving a new trail of innocents poisoned with his trademark platypus venom along the way. But when his next target is once again too close to home—another friend—Christine must face down Veynix once and for all, or die trying.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Lindsey Duga
    lscribe14(at)gmail(dot)com
    Scribe of the Stars
    MG Urban Fantasy
    78,000 words

    Constellations are running rampant. The exiled Zodiac sign returns with a vengeance. And one thirteen-year-old girl is the key to saving the heavens and earth from complete pandemonium.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Name: Racheal McGillivary
    E-mail: rachealmcgillivary@gmail.com
    Title: JUST FOR KICKS
    Genre: YA/ MG Superhero
    Word Count: 65,000

    When fourteen-year-old Meri is pulled into the world of superheroes, she discovers her destiny is to save the world, but the snarky orphan isn’t exactly the hero-type. With help from her fellow superheroes, she must figure out how her power to see spirits, will help her defeat a man who plans to suck out the souls of the living. However, there are secrets that have been hidden from her that will turn everything around and make her question: just who is the real villain?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Elizabeth Ender
    ender052@d.umn.edu
    Hope Sprang Up
    YA
    70,000

    The Enchantress was raised by Kestral's mortal enemy, and now she’s here to destroy both him and his kingdom. But then he becomes the first person to ever look past her eyes, and what he sees will haunt him forever. No one else believes it possible, but can Kestral save his people... by saving the Enchantress - from herself?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Elodie Nowodazkij
    commutinggirl AT gmail DOT com
    ONE TWO THREE
    YA contemporary
    75,000 words

    Wrecked with guilt over her dad´s suicide and desperate after an injury shatters her dream of becoming a prima ballerina, seventeen-year-old Natalja Pushkaya´s refuses to let anyone get close to her. But hiding her tears from infuriating soccer player Antonio is harder than mastering a proper arabesque, and when Natalja discovers her dad´s death was more complicated than she thought, she needs to turn to Antonio for support…instead of tequila. If she can´t, she might destroy more than just a dream—she might destroy herself.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Elizabeth Fisher
    tbfisherATknologyDOTnet
    CURSE ME NOT
    Woman's Lit with paranomal slant
    98,800 words

    Southern unsophisticate Elzetta Swan was recently gifted – along with premature menopause! – the rare but lucrative ability to clean revenge curses from people’s auras. She loves the trendy new lifestyle that has come with the gift, but when a routine cleansing takes an ominous turn, she finds herself facing more than she bargained for: a rich bitch’s serial hunger for revenge and, hell’s bells, a hallelujah hankering for the unlikeliest of urban white knights. Together the challenges could leave Elzetta with a vengeful rage all her own.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Tif Johnson
    Tif.johnson (@) gmail (.) com
    STITCHES OF TRUTH
    YA Contemporary Romance
    67,000 words

    Seventeen-year-old Dena Krester is living three separate lives, though she didn't mean for it to get so complicated. But after her sixth move, she finds herself being doted upon by her best friend, crushing on a sculptor from art camp, and dating the big man on campus at her newest school.  Fearing loneliness, she doesn't want to chose, but when the boys find out, she is left with just scraps of these relationships she must somehow mend. 

    ReplyDelete
  29. Keely Dunn
    keely at me dot com
    The Only One
    YA Contemporary
    100,000 words

    Fourteen-year-old Shae Mackenna loses her mother, her school, her friends and her ice hockey team in one summer. When Shae moves to a small town to live with her distant father and struggles to fit in and make new friends, she seeks out the one thing that has always given her solace -- hockey. But Shae discovers her only chance to play is on an all-boys' team and must decide whether she will give in to the pressure to blend in to the crowd or take on all the doubters and fight for a place in the game she loves.

    ReplyDelete