Thursday, June 28, 2012

It's coming! July Mystery Agent

Sunday, July 1, is our June Mystery Agent Contest, and this one is a bit different -- a first line contest!

Our Mystery Agent for July is looking for middle grade and YA novels, especially contemporary, historical, fantasy, and reinvented fairy tale.


Reminders:

  • Entries should be for completed manuscripts only.
  • You can enter one entry for one novel -- if you make a mistake, just delete your entry and repost.
  • Yes, you are eligible to enter even if you've won MA contests in the past.
  • The first 50 qualifying entries will be accepted -- don't pay attention to the comment numbers. We will close the contest when we've reached our limit.
  • If the rules are not followed, your pitch will be disqualified. Please carefully read the guidelines and follow them
  • Entries should include:
Author
Title
Genre
First Sentence

Anyone can enter as long as your novel falls under the genres our MA is looking for. If this particular MA doesn't rep your genre, no worries -- we hold these contests often and try to find agents with diverse tastes so there will be a contest in the future for your particular genre.

The contest will go live Sunday, July 1 at 10 am ET / 9 CT / 8 MT / 7 PT

Come back July 1 to enter! And good luck!

(And for those who wait, the winners of the June Mystery Agent contest will be posted soon.)

Update: The July Mystery Agent contest is closed. Please don't enter the July Mystery Agent contest via this post. Our M.A contests can be entered via a post that goes live the day of the contest (1st of each month). Thank you.

24 comments:

Gabe (Ava Jae) said...

Sounds fantastic! Can't wait to see more details and see the June MA reveal. :)

Karen Baldwin said...

I don't write YA, but I'll pass along your post.

Unknown said...

So, just to be clear, we only give the first line of our manuscript, not of the query, right?

Kell Andrews said...

Yes, it's the first line of your book -- something a little different to mix it up!

Andrea said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andrea said...

Hi! I'd like to enter the contest but my first three sentences are all one word sentences. Can we enter the number of words in our manuscript that would make up a normal sentence? Or am I being high maintenance? Sorry!

Rachel said...

I'm excited for this contest! :-)

Ari said...

I have a question similar to Andrea's---my first line is two short sentences that technically could be one sentence if they were punctuated differently. Am I only allowed to submit the first sentence (8 words)? Or can I submit the entire first line (13 words)? Thanks!

Amanda Foody said...

Sounds awesome! I'm excited to enter! Thanks for hosting it!

Kell Andrews said...

Andrea and Ari, I think we need to stick to the first sentence thing because otherwise the rules are too confusing! You could use a variant to the version in your manuscript to fit the contest -- you might even like it better!

Anonymous said...

Author: Katherine Locke
Title: The Possibilities of Keeping a City
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
First Sentence: The first thing you need to know is that if you hear anyone calling me a hero, I’m not a hero because heroes aren’t usually kids with magic, tattoos, and talking cats.

Anonymous said...

I swear it's 10am EST when I sent this?

Amanda Foody said...

Author: Amanda Foody
Title: RELIC
Genre: YA Fantasy
First Line: I've died this way before.

Unknown said...

Kelly Allan; Fade Into You; Contemporary; Blood thumped in my veins as I fled.

John Lucas Hargis said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Author: Mindy Alyse Weiss
Title: Mom Wars
Genre: MG, contemporary
First Sentence: Hope bubbles float around me as I wait to hear Mom’s surprise.

Mindy Alyse Weiss said...

Oops...just realized that there's another thread for this. It looks like I just made it there on time! I hope everyone else here jumps over to this thread: http://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/2012/07/july-mystery-agent-contest.html

Amanda Foody said...

REALLY? I got up early to get in this, posted at 10:01, and I DIDN"T GET IN THE CONTEST???
Epic sadness....... :(

Kell Andrews said...

Oh, Amanda and Writingwithcats, I'm so sorry. We always put up a separate post. I'll check with my fellow judges about including these...

Anonymous said...

Dale S. Rogers
The Caribbean Code
Contemporary MG
Dee Robinson tried to grip the van’s cushions, since there was no seat belt or anything to hold onto.

katie said...

Please consider including it. I snuck on at work to do this and was here in time. Not fair if the entry post isn't up in time.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Katie = WritingWithCats. I was on my phone earlier.

Original post didn't mention there'd be another post and this is my first MA. Please consider including it.

Kell Andrews said...

Hi Amanda and Katie. You can email me at kellyandrews92 / yahoo -- I tried to find contact for you but I couldn't!

Anonymous said...

:) Emailed