Heads Up: Mystery Agent Contest Coming September 1st!

September has a Mystery Agent!!! And this is what our M.A. wants to see on Sunday (Sept. 1):

A 3-sentence pitch of your novel, maximum 75 words.

M.A. is looking for adult, young adult, and middle grade in the following genres:

• Fantasy (all types, incl folk & fairy tale re-tellings and magical realism)
• Adventure
• Historical Fiction
• Science Fiction
• Romance (YA only)
• Horror

(Dark comedy, original voices, and unique worlds a plus!)

If you've got a complete, polished novel that meets the above specifications, then ladies and gentlemen PREPARE YOUR PITCHES! The official contest post will be up the morning of September 1, 2013.

Since we've had some member changes recently, we've updated the blog schedule to include new members:

Click image to enlarge

You can also learn a little about our longtime and new members on the About Us page. 

As always, thank you for sharing your work and thoughts with us! We wouldn't be Operation Awesome without you.

May 2013 Mystery Agent Details

Let the countdown to May's Mystery Agent contest begin...

Five days from now...

On May 1st, we'll host a Mystery Agent contest here for the following genres:

Adult/YA (no MG) 

Horror

Mystery

Crime 

Suspense 

Fantasy 

Magical Realism

Science Fiction

Mainstream 

No romance or religious (category)

Especially looking for YA Horror and Mystery-- think creepy and dark.

This will be a one-sentence pitch contest. Winner gets a full manuscript request from the Mystery Agent. 

This contest will be open to veterans and newbies alike - so long as you have a complete and query-ready manuscript on your hands within the genres of interest, our guest agent would love to hear from you.

Contest will go live 9 AM central time on May 1st, and remain open until all entry spots are filled. The first 50 entries we receive will go on to our MA. Remember, this is a one-sentence pitch. Cheating with grammar doesn't count. Meaning that you can't have 3 sentences with commas between them. The sentence needs to work.

The official contest rules:
1) Entries must be one-line pitches. The length of the pitch is up to you, but remember, it's only one sentence.

2) Entries must be for completed manuscripts. No unfinished drafts, please!

3) Entries must be left in the comments section of the May 1st post, not this one (please don't email us your entries!). We'll close the contest once we've reached our limit.

4) You can only enter once this month (only one project). If you participated or won previous MA contests, you can enter this one as well!

5) The contest will close when we receive 50 entries.

6) The winner will receive a FULL manuscript request!

7) If the rules aren't followed, your entry will be disqualified.

So spend some time the next five days shining up your manuscripts and/or pitches! And enjoy your weekend.

Happy Friday!

Details on April's Mystery Agent Contest

In case anyone was wondering, yes, we're having a Mystery Agent Contest on April 1st! So get your one-sentence pitches polished and ready to go. And this time around, our Mystery Agent will be considering 75 pitches, so more people will get a chance at a full manuscript request!

This month our mystery agent is looking for all genres of:

YA (Young Adult) Fiction

MG (Middle Grade) Fiction

And would specifically like to see:

• Grounded YA, especially serious or darker or twisty contemporary YA
• YA or MG fiction that touches on what it means to be a member of the LGBTQ today
• Fantastic MG with heart and humor and fast pacing.
• Mystery Agent is especially keen on MG at the moment, and loves stories about complicated family dynamics

See you all back here at 9 AM Central on April 1st for the Mystery Agent fun! 

And if you'd like to see examples of one-line pitches that got some attention, go check out the entries in Brenda Drake's Pitch Madness, going on now! 

Heads Up #2 - Contest TOMORROW!

Since our contests having been filling up so quickly, I thought it might be nice to post the rules today just so everyone has a chance to read them in advance in order to be better prepared for tomorrow. But first let me state:

This is not the contest post. DO NOT post entries on this post. The actual contest will go live TOMORROW SEPTEMBER 1ST AT 10 ET/9 CT/8 MT/ 7 PT. 

This post is merely a head's up so everyone is well aware of the rules for tomorrow's contest. :)

Okay, now down to the basics. First of all, tomorrow's contest will be a little different in that our mystery guest is an editor who will be offering First 10 page or query critiques as prizes! We are really excited to be hosting our first mystery editor and giving our awesome readers the opportunity to win a critique from him/her.

And as stated before, this will be a tweet pitch contest. Which means 140 characters or less (and yes, we will be checking your pitches so don't go over!!)

The rules for tomorrow's contest:

1) Entries must be left in the comments section of TOMORROW'S post, which will go live TOMORROW SEPTEMBER 1ST AT 10 ET (sorry for the caps, I just want to make sure that is very clear :) And remember, please don't email us your entries! They must be entered in the comments section of tomorrow's post) - don't pay attention to the comment numbers. We'll close the contest when we've reached our limit.

2) Please only pitch completed manuscripts.

3) You can only pitch one project. If you participated in previous MA contests, you can enter this one as well.

4) Please include TITLE and GENRE along with your pitch. (This does not count as part of your 140 characters. So, Title, genre, then a 140 character tweet pitch). Genres = MG, YA, and adult fiction (with a special interest in romance).

5) Your pitch must be 140 characters or less. A Twitter Pitch. If it's too long to tweet, it's too long to enter. We will be checking this so please do not go over the 140 character limit! (Again, this does not include the genre and title. The character limit only applies to the actual pitch).

6) The contest will close when we receive 50 qualifying entries.

7) The winner(s) will receive a critique on the first 10 pages of his/her manuscript or a query critique!

8) If the rules aren't followed, your pitch will be disqualified. Please read the guidelines and follow them.

So get those tweet pitches ready and we'll see everyone tomorrow! Good luck!

March Mystery Agent Contest DETAILS :)

Note: to those of you who entered our February Mystery Agent Contest, don't fret! The results are on their way. I'll post them as soon as I get them :)

Now. March is right around the corner. Which means a brand new Mystery Agent!! *dances* Since the contest will go live this Thursday, I figured I'd let y'all know what our Mystery Agent is clamoring for in ze slush pile. 

Here are the genres our Mystery Agent is looking for:

YA contemporary/realistic fiction

YA sci-fi or light fantasy (nothing "epic")

Adult literary fiction

Magical realism (YA or adult)

Dark mystery (psychological or ghostly--nothing with an "amateur sleuth" or cozy mystery)

Literary horror (YA or adult)

And these are projects the Mystery Agent isn't looking for:

Paranormal romance

Picture books/children's books

Genre romance

Nonfiction

Anything not specified in the Not Looking For is fine, though. And remember: the prize is a full manuscript request, so yeah, I'd enter this baby if I were you. Make sure you come back on Thursday, March 1st for the contest!

If you have any questions, feel free to either leave them in the comments, or email us at OperationAwesome6@gmail.com!

Happy Monday!

February Mystery Agent DETAILS :)

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!

December Mystery Agent Contest!!

CONTEST CLOSED!!!
Good luck!

Welcome to 2011's last Mystery Agent Contest!!! 

This month our agent is taking ONE SENTENCE PITCHES. 

Genres Awesome Mystery Agent would like to see:

Fiction: all kinds of commercial fiction, especially:

• science fiction and fantasy (and all subgenres) 
• high-concept women’s fiction
• contemporary and historical romances 
• cozy mysteries
• young adult books, including sci-fi and fantasy

No MG or picture books.

Non-fiction: particularly interested in books on popular mathematics, popular science (especially anything about particle physics), and spirituality, especially church history and philosophy (but not for the Christian market).

We'll accept the first 50 entries (pay no attention to the number of comments you see - when we've reached 50 eligible entries we will close the contest).

The prizes will be: First Place - a FULL manuscript request; Second Place - a partial manuscript request; Third place - a query critique.

What a fun way to end our year!!

And now...Le Rules:

1) Entries must be left in the comment section of today's post. (Please do not email us your entry.)

2) You must have a completed manuscript and be ready to send it upon request.

3) You can only pitch once per contest. If you participated in any of our previous M.A. contests, no worries--you can submit your pitch today, too.

4) Please include TITLE and GENRE along with your pitch.

5) Pitches are to be one sentence and one sentence only. We spent a lot of time during the last contest trying to contact people whose entries weren't eligible so they could fix them. We aren't going to do that this time. Please be sure your pitch is only one sentence long or it will be disqualified.

Good luck everyone!!!

Details for the Upcoming Oct. 1st Mystery Agent Contest

First, I'd like to draw your attention to the tabs along the top of the screen. I spent some time updating them so we now have all our guest posts and interviews in one convenient place in the GUESTS tab. More epically, we've added THE MYSTERY AGENTS tab, where you can see every contest entry post, reveal post (with agent interviews), and success story - in order as they happened. We hope this will aid you in your agent research and, in the case of the success stories, inspire you.

September's M.A. contest results are coming VERY SOON, either Sunday or Monday.

NOW FOR THE DETAILS:


This Saturday, October 1st, the new Mystery Agent contest will launch, so if you're writing in any of the following genres, get ready! Our agent will choose one winner out of maximum 50 entries, and that person will get a 50-page partial request. THIS IS NOT A ONE-LINE PITCH CONTEST! Sorry for yelling. Just wanted to be sure I had your attention. Pitches can be 2-4 sentences long. Please make sure your manuscript is complete and ready to send before entering our contests. Thank you!


Single Title Romance
- all subgenres in the 100,000 word range
- no inspirational

Young Adult and Middle Grade
- all subgenres

Fantasy and Science Fiction
- all subgenres
- for Adult or Young Adult readers

Commercial Fiction
- including women's fiction, chick lit, historical fiction and high concept mainstream commercial fiction

Mystery Agent Contest TOMORROW!!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for full details, but get your one line pitches polished up!!! We've got another awesome Mystery Agent Contest coming your way tomorrow!!!

Here's what our agent is looking for :)

YA and MG: southern gothic, historical fiction, magical realism, science fiction, supernatural/ paranormal, ghost stories, humor, fantasy, thriller/ suspense, edgy YA, friendship MG