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Announcing Pitch Madness 2017…Candyland Edition!

Friday, 13 January 2017  |  Posted by Brenda Drake

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The Pitch Madness submission window will be open for 24 hours on February 24!

What is Pitch Madness? It’s a contest held every March, where writers enter for a chance to win requests from the participating agents. Writers submit a 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of their completed manuscript on submission day. Then a team of readers choose the top sixty (60) entries to go onto the agent round. Though Pitch Madness has a game theme, the next contest will transition to more of a critique based contest with agents simply requesting in the comments of the entries’ posts instead of having the agents play for requests. Also, hosts will coach our team members, helping them polish their entries and first pages.

We’ll have an agent introduction post up next week.

The submission window will be open from 12:01 AM EST on February 24 until 11:59PM EST. You should have plenty of time to get your submissions in. There is no limit of how many entries will be accepted. Please note: All entries sent before or after the allotted times will be deleted.

There will be 60 finalists moving onto the agent round. Pitch Madness will accept Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult completed fiction, novel length (no novellas) completed and polished manuscripts only. This time around we will not accept non-fiction. Only one entry per writer this round.

What do you need to enter? A 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of your finished manuscript. If the 250th word falls in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of the sentence. I will post formatting instructions before the submission window opens. There will be a form on the submission post to enter your pitch into.

Pitch Madness will be on six blogs and each blog host will have a co-host helping them choose their top 10 entries.

We’ll have a small team of first readers ranking the entries for the host round.

All the twitter fun will be happening on the hashtag #PitchMadness!

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Meet our first round readers …

 

Jami Nord

Jami Nord

Website | Twitter

Phone monkey, former Lit Agent intern, freelance editor for , & writer under a pen name. Bi, pagan, nerdy, & liberal. I don’t bite, promise.

 

Kerbie Addis

Kerbie Addis

Twitter

Writer. Feminist. Slytherin. Bacon mage. Future librarian. Lit agent intern. Army wife. Lover of dark stories & dark lipstick. co-mentor.

 

Mary Ann Marlowe

Mary Ann Marlowe

Website | Twitter

Author of SOME KIND OF MAGIC Feb ’17 * Repped by at * Mentor, Whovian, & Sassenach

 

Samantha Joyce

Samantha Joyce

Website | Twitter

Author of the LOVE IN DISGUISE series. FLIRTING WITH FAME and DEALING IN DECEPTION out now from Pocket Star! Repped by of ABLA. Broadway Geek Girl.

 

 

Here are the links to the host blogs and their co-hosts for the contest …

 

Image result for ice cream sea candylandTeam Ice Cream Sea hosted on Brenda Drake’s blog

Brenda Drake

Brenda Drake

Twitter

NYT bestselling author of YA fiction. Latest, THIEF OF LIES & CURSING FATE. Next, GUARDIAN OF SECRETS 2/7/17. Rep’d by & Creator

 

Monica M. Hoffman ?

Monica Hoffman

Website | Twitter

YA Spec-Fic Rom Writer | Trekkie, Dr. Who, & Star Wars fan | Music is my blood | SCBWI Member | Mentor | Rep’d by &

 

 

Related imageTeam Gumdrop Mountains hosted on Heather Cashman’s blog

Heather Cashman

Heather Cashman

Twitter

All things wordy, generally nerdy. Editor at . Agent intern. member. Assistant to

 

Nikki Roberti

Nikki Roberti

Website | Twitter

YA Contemp author rep’d by of , ‘s assistant, Mentor, Query Editor, Awarded Playwright

 

 

Image result for peanut brittle house from candy landTeam Peanut Brittle House hosted on Pintip Dunn’s blog

Pintip Dunn

Pintip Dunn

Website | Twitter

New York Times bestselling author of YA fiction. RWA RITA® winner for Best First Book. The FORGET TOMORROW series; THE DARKEST LIE; GIRL ON THE VERGE (Jun 27).

 

Darcy Woods

Darcy Woods

Website | Twitter

Counts laughter as exercise. Lives to swoon. Award-winning YA author of SUMMER OF SUPERNOVAS (Random House/Crown). Repped by .

 

 

Image result for Lollipop WoodsLollipop Woods hosted by Rebecca Coffindaffer’s blog

RebeccaCoffindaffer

Rebecca Coffindaffer

Website | Twitter

Author, shipper trash, all-around nerd. Freelance copy editor at . Making my own fun since 1983. Repped by .

 

 

Marieke Nijkamp

Marieke Nijkamp

Website | Twitter

#1 NYT bestselling author of THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS (Sourcebooks Fire) | Dreamer | Wanderer | | Secret Agent: , Barry Goldblatt Literary.

 

 

 

Image result for licorice castle candylandTeam Licorice Castle hosted on Sharon Johnston’s blog

Sharon M Johnston

Sharon Johnston

Website | Twitter

DIVIDED & SHATTERED: Open Heart Novels out now with mentor.

 

 

Jeyn Roberts

Jeyn Roberts

Website | Twitter

Author of the Dark Inside trilogy, The Bodies We Wear and When They Fade. Vancouverite. Animal lover. Destroying words in a coffee shop near you.

 

 

 

yTeam Peppermint Forest hosted on Wade Albert White’s blog … 

Wade Albert White

Wade Albert White

Website | Twitter

Author of THE ADVENTURER’S GUIDE series. Mentor. Member of . Also, I own one pretend cat and one real one.

 

 

Timanda Wertz

Timenda Wertz

Blog | Twitter

Middle Sschool science teacher, SF/F geek, Ravenclaw, equal parts football & Broadway fan, Pitch Wars MG co-mentor, represented by Elizabeth Kaplan of Kaplan Literary

 

 

Here’s the schedule for Pitch Madness …

February 24: Pitch Madness submission window opens for 24 hours

February 24  – March 5: Pitch Madness Slush Readers sort the entries

March 6: Pitch Madness Draft – Hosts pick their top entries

March 6 – 14: Hosts coach their teams

March 16 – 17: Agent Round

March 23: #PitMad Twitter Pitch Party (Even if you made it in, didn’t make it in, or didn’t enter Pitch Madness, #PitMad is open to everyone!)

 

That’s it for now. Look for our agent announcement post next week and join us on Februrary 24 when the submission window opens!

 

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Filed: Pitch Madness

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We're thrilled at the different ways those in our Pitch Wars community are giving back—and we encourage them to do so. However, please keep in mind that Pitch Wars is not affiliated with any of these various contests, promotions, etc., including those of our mentors and mentees. Promoting any such opportunities via our social media channels doesn't imply endorsement or affiliation. We encourage you to do your research before participating.

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