Submission time for the exciting March Madness Agent Pitch Match (Phew. That’s a twister) is fast approaching. Shelley Watters, Cassandra Marshall, and I are hosting this exciting event on our sites March 12-14. Check out my partners-in-crime sites in my sidebar. So far we have half a dozen agents signed up to participate. The agents we have are looking for young adult and middle grade finished manuscripts.
Here’s how it’s going down …
The agents will be bidding on your 35-word pitch and first 150 words of your finished young adult and middle grade novels. The entries that make it into the match will be posted to our sites on March 12. The agents will have two days to review the entries and make notes on the ones they want.
On March 14 it’s Game On. We’ll have a twitter hash tag for the agents to post their bids and taunt their competitors. The agents will be hashing it out to win more pages or fulls on their favorite pitches. Each agent will have a limited amount of tickets/chips to bid with – partials cost less while fulls cost more. We’ll have an official rules post before the fun begins.
Here’s how to submit …
Those of you who participated in our February pitch workshop already have a spot in the submission round. Shine up your pitches and send them to brendadrakecontests@gmail.com starting now and by the end of February 29 at 11:59PM EST. Put who critiqued your pitch in the subject line like this: Brenda’s Workshop March Madness Entry or Shelley’s Workshop March Madness Entry or Cassandra’s Workshop March Madness Entry. Remember only enter if yours is a young adult or middle grade finished manuscript. Please format just as you did for the pitch workshop. (For those of you with other manuscripts, we’re working on having a contest for you in the near future so keep an eye out on our blogs.)
It’s going to be like the show The Voice. We will pick from the others workshop entries to move on to the Agent Pitch Match. Only one entry per person.
For those who weren’t in the pitch workshop, we will have two submission times on March 2.
1ST SUBMISSION TIME: 12:00 pm EST for the first 50.
2ND SUBMISSION TIME: 6:00 pm EST for the next 50.
2ND SUBMISSION TIME: 6:00 pm EST for the next 50.
Only the best of the best will make it to the final round.
Make sure to check our sites on March 1 for instructions on how to format your entries.
That’s it. I’m so excited!
Eeeek!! That’s amazing!
Yay! This sounds like so much fun 🙂 Now, to get to work on my pitch…
Yay, sounds awesome!
Sounds like fun. Thanks for hosting this.
Marking my calendar… 😀
Yay, sounds great!! I marked my calendar too! 😀
You guys are so awesome for hosting this. Thanks for doing this. Now to pick up my nerves and work on a pitch.
Do you still have preference if the manuscript that was critiqued this month is adult and you’d therefore have to enter a different manuscript for the new pitch sessions?
Carrie-Anne yes you can enter a YA/MG it’s your reward for being critiqued in public. 😀
Yay!! I sent mine. =)
Is it purely YA, or is YA fantasy/paranormal/thriller etc ok?
It’s YA/Mg all genres
This is going to be awesome. 🙂
YAY! I’m so excited and thank you a bazillion times for all your help with my pitch and words in the pitch workshop! Awesome!
Oooh! Sounds exciting! Thanks again Brenda, Shelley and Cassandra 🙂
Wow! Thank you! This sounds amazing. 🙂
I’m pitching my YA zombie novel. Can’t wait!
Shoot! Now I wish my February hadn’t been so crazy–I totally missed the pitch help and both windows are during working hours. (Stupid day-job.)
Will the open windows be for emails or for an online form?
I wish I was finished with my manuscript. This is great motivation to keep working!
Thanks for the feedback on my pitch from your prep even this month 🙂
Awesome contest, ladies ;o) Can’t wait to see the entries!
YAY!!! I love you guys. You always have the coolest contests. I’m definitely in. Now to clean up the pitch and get it ready. Can’t wait to see what this all looks like.
Wow – that’s amazing 🙂 Thanks so much Brenda for your help on my pitch 🙂 I’ll keep having a go and send it through 🙂 So excited!
Hi, Brenda — so exciting! Is there a list of agents?
Brenda –
Have I mentioned how much I adore you lately?
Literally, you are the BEST EVER.
With that being said, I have some work to do before Feb 29th 🙂 Thanks a bunch!
Rachel
Additionally, your partners-in-crime rock too 😉
YEAH!! Now I have a ton of work to do to get this MS glittery sparkly. Thanks a bunch!
I’m so glad you all are excited. I know I am! I <3 you all too! 😀
Wow, very cool! Big thanks to Brenda, Shelley, and Cassandra
Awesome opportunity, Ladies! Thanks so much!
I’m so sad 🙁 I signed up to be able to submit for the pitch workshop, and I thought I had my preferences set to watch for when & how to submit, but somehow I missed it until after the workshop had begun, so I was too late to get my pitch into the workshop. Will I be able to try for one of the spots on March 2nd?
Oh, I’m sorry, Veronica, that you missed the workshop. You can try for a spot on the 2nd. Spots will probably go fast so be ready to send right at the allotted time. Good luck!
For those that participated in the pitch workshop, are we required to participate in this? I think its a great opportunity but unfortunately I don’t think my MS is ready for an agent yet and I’d hate to waste someone’s time or take up an extra spot.
Jamie, you aren’t required to participate. Only if you want to. 😀
This is going to be so close for me. I don’t get home from work until 5:50
How much fun! Thank you for the opportunity!
Question! Is it the first 50 who get their email sent to you? Or are you taking what you guyst think are the top 50 from the ones you get in? Thanks!
Hi, Brenda — are you going to announce the participating agents?
Anya, we’ll be taking the first 50 received for each submission time. Check back tomorrow for details. Also, we’re adding another time to submit. I will contact those who made it before the next submission time.
Anonymous, I’m putting together a post to announce the agents this weekend. I’m waiting for one more agent who said she’d get back to me. So far we have ten.
Hi, Brenda,
Can you please tell me, are you US EST or Australia EST? Also, do you happen to know your GMT offset?
Thanks!
Melissa, it’s US EST and the GMT offset is -5
😀
Awesome. Thanks, Brenda! :^)