So. We here at OA are hosting our monthly Mystery Agent contest this Wednesday, February 1st.
*dances all over the place*
In order to get y'all prepped for the contest, I thought I'd give you our Mystery Agent's genre preferences a little earlier. That way, you'll know if our MA will jump at the chance to read your manuscript!
These are the genres our MA is dying to see in ze slush pile:
Picture books
Middle grade fiction
YA fiction
Historical fiction
Literary women's fiction
Smart/funny/snarky literary fiction (think Christopher Moore Chuck Palahniuk)
Narrative nonfiction--heavy on the narrative
And these are the genres our MA *doesn't* want to see:
Paranormal romance
Straight romance:
- Not interested in contemporary romance unless it's very literary and quirky. No modern-Harlequin titles, like the whole P.I.-falls-in-love-with-the-woman-who-hired-him angle.
- Our Mystery Agent loves historical fiction and would consider a romance with an interesting historical setting.
Genre sci-fi
Genre mystery
High fantasy
There you have it!!! Make sure to stop by this Wednesday so you can have a shot at a full request!!
Happy Monday!
I can't wait! :D
ReplyDelete*runs off to tweak logline*
Awesome! What are the rules if we've entered a Mystery Agent contest before (but not won)?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know this too!
DeleteSounds great! PB texts, too! YAY. Thanks for hosting this!
ReplyDeleteMartina
So excited MA is back! I am ready with a new query.
ReplyDeleteIs the contest for a 1 sentence (25 word) logline?
ReplyDeleteMany thanks!
@Rosalyn--The official rules will be posted on Wednesday, but if you participated in a past contest, you can totally participate again! :)
ReplyDelete@Anon--Yep. It's a one-sentence pitch. There's no word count limit, but the more to-the-point your pitch is, the better! You can check out our past contests to see what the Mystery Agents have preferred when it comes to pitching.
Is young adult genre fiction okay to submit?
ReplyDelete@Stephanie--Yes! Our Mystery Agent loves everything YA :)
ReplyDeleteWhat time does the contest start (PST? EST?) Trying to make sure I'm around to submit! Thank you!
ReplyDelete@Anon--I'll post it in the morning, but I can't guarantee you a specific hour because I'm not on US time. Stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteYay and drat! I'm so glad I found you OA but I'm not ready to pitch just yet... drat it all! But you are now on my blog-roll so I can stalk you and I'm a new follower.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to participating in a few weeks - you'll have another MA then won't you? Pretty please? :)
Thanks for this! Looking forward to taking part, I must say!
ReplyDelete@Jade--We usually have a Mystery Agent contest on the first of every month. Stay tuned! :) And thanks for the follow!!
ReplyDeleteThis one's not for me, but good luck to everyone else! :D
ReplyDeleteBy straight romance, do you mean ALL romance? I saw that paranormal was singled out as a "no" but I wasn't sure if straight meant contemporary and other subgenres were okay or if straight meant "don't query any romance here."
ReplyDeleteI have a historical romance and wanted to know if I could throw my hat in.
Thanks for hosting this!
@Marnee--I've sent our Mystery Agent an email to clarify. Will let you know as soon as I can! :)
ReplyDelete@Marnee--I've added a much clearer definition of "straight romance" to the post! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification!
ReplyDeleteIs Young Adult Science Fiction allowed?
ReplyDelete