Our October workshop will open for submissions on Saturday, October 6th at noon, EST. In addition to our wonderful permanent mentors, we have Kaitlyn Johnson as our agent mentor and Mary Taranta as our author mentor!
The workshop is designed to help writers struggling to find the right opening for their novel or for those looking to perfect the all important first five pages before submitting for publication. Why the first five pages? Because if these aren’t perfect, no agent, editor, or reader will continue reading to find out how great the rest of your story really is!
Why is the First Five Pages Workshop a GREAT Opportunity?
- You are mentored by at the guest author as well as least one and usually two traditionally-published published or agented authors from among our permanent mentors for the duration of the workshop. These authors have been through the trenches and know what it takes to get a book deal, solid reviews, and sales.
- In addition, you receive feedback from the four other workshop participants.
- Feedback is given not just on your initial submission, but on two subsequent opportunities to revise your manuscript based on the previous feedback so that you know you’ve got it right!
- The final revision will also be reviewed by a literary agent, who will also give you feedback on the pitch for your story–the one that may eventually become your query letter or cover copy.
- The best entry from among the workshop participants will receive a critique of the full first chapter or first ten pages from the mentoring agent, which may, in some cases, lead to requests for additional material.
How It Works:
Please see the complete rules before entering the workshop, but in a nutshell, we’ll take the first five Middle Grade or Young Adult entries that meet all guidelines and formatting requirements. (Double check the formatting – each month we have to disqualify entries because of formatting.) Click here to get the rules. We will post when the workshop opens and closes on Adventures in YA Publishing and on twitter (@etcashman, @MelissWritesNow, @charlotteclg ), with the hashtag #1st5pages. In addition to the rotating team of our wonderful permanent author mentors, the final entry for each workshop participant will be critiqued by our agent mentor.
October Guest Literary Agent Mentor: Kaitlyn Johnson
After receiving a BA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College, Kaitlyn refused to leave the concept of nightly homework behind. As well as being a junior agent for Corvisiero Literary Agency, she is also a freelance editor at her own company, K. Johnson Editorial, and has worked as a copyeditor for academic publisher codeMantra, a YA editor for Accent Press, and a Conference Assistant for GrubStreet, Boston. She has written various articles for Writer’s Digest and has had a flash fiction story published in the anthology A Box of Stars Beneath the Bed.
- YA, NA, and A are her main interests. She mostly drools for fantasy, time travel, select dystopian, romance and historical fiction if it is anything other than Henry VIII.
– Contemporary can grab her attention only if the concept is unique enough and executed well. Overplayed tropes/characters make her cringe. Same goes for upper MG.
– LGBT (as well as characters questioning their sexuality) welcome in all genres accepted above.
When querying, please follow submission guidelines.
September Guest Literary Author Mentor: Mary Taranta
Mary Taranta grew up notoriously quiet but secretly wild, playacting her favorite stories and writing some of her own in the woods behind her family’s farmhouse. Her first book, SHIMMER AND BURN was released in August of 2017, with the second book in the series, SPLENDOR AND SPARK due out in November, 2018.
Faris grew up fighting to survive in the slums of Brindaigel while caring for her sister, Cadence. But when Cadence is caught trying to flee the kingdom and is sold into slavery, Faris reluctantly agrees to a lucrative scheme to buy her back, inadvertently binding herself to the power-hungry Princess Bryn, who wants to steal her father’s throne.
Now Faris must smuggle stolen magic into neighboring Avinea to incite its prince to alliance—magic that addicts in the war-torn country can sense in her blood and can steal with a touch. She and Bryn turn to a handsome traveling magician, North, who offers protection from Avinea’s many dangers. With the fate of kingdoms at stake, Faris, Bryn, and North maneuver through a dangerous game of magical and political machinations, where lives can be destroyed—or saved—with only a touch.
