Submissions Are Now Closed!
Please see here for additional information. See below for scheduled events and information on the next round.
We all know the importance of the first page in selling your manuscript. To compete with the talent out there, we have to grab our readers fast. But how do we know we’ve done it?
We’re excited to hold a line-by-line contest to help you evaluate your opening the same way a literary agent will read it. And we are fortunate to have agent Natalie Fischer of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency as the judge.
Here’s how the contest works:
June 10th – Round One: 8:00 a.m. and Noon Eastern Time Submission Windows
- Submit the first sentence of your completed YA or MG manuscript starting at 8:00 a.m. ET today in the comments of this post. We will take the first 50 entries and then close the comment window.
- We will reopen the comment window at noon today to accept the next 50 entries. Comments will stay open until we have 100 entries total, or until 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on June 16th, whichever comes first.
- Please enter only once per manuscript. If you have multiple completed manuscripts, you may enter the second one after 1:00 pm if there is still room.
June 17th – 100 Entries Posted
- We will post the first sentences for all 100 contestants and open them for kind, respectful feedback.
- Natalie Fischer will begin judging.
June 24th – Round One Winners: Top 75 Entries Posted
- If you made the top 75, you may submit the first and second sentences of your novel.
June 28th – Round Two: Submission Deadline for 75 2nd Sentences
- Submission window CLOSES at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
July 1 – Round Two Winners: Top 50 Entries Posted
- If you made the top 50, you may submit the first through third sentences of your novel.
July 5 – Round Three: Submission Deadline for 50 3rd Sentences
- Submission window CLOSES at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
July 8 – Round Three Winners: Top 25 Entries Posted
- If you made the top 25, you may submit the first through fourth sentences of your novel.
July 12 – Round Four: Submission Deadline for 25 4th Sentences
- Submission window CLOSES at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
July 15 – Round Four Winners: Top 10 Entries Posted
- If you made the top 10, you may submit the first through fifth sentences.
July 19 – Round Five: Submission Deadline for 10 5th Sentences
- Submission window CLOSES at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
July 22 – Overall Winners Announced
And the winners get…. Drumroll, please!
- 1st Place: A 25-page critique by Natalie Fischer plus books by a Sandra Dijkstra agency author
- 2nd Place: A 10-page critique by Natalie Fischer plus books by a Sandra Dijkstra agency author
- 3rd Place: A 5-page critique by P.J. Hoover, author of the MG Forgotten Realms Novels, plus books by a Sandra Dijkstra agency author
- 4-10th Place: A 3-page critique from one of the debut authors who has recently battled through the submission process and won. These generous authors are: Tahereh Mafi, Kirsten Hubard, Cole Gibsen, Michelle Hodkin, Michele Corriel, Robin Mellom or Tracy Clark.
- 11th-25th Place: A critique of your first four sentences by Riley Carney–who is aready published at 17-years-old–to give you both a young adult and a the view from someone who’s been through the trenches, and a second critique of your first four sentences by Lisa Gail Green to give you a Paranormal Point of View!
Wow, right? And to top it off, Natalie is actively seeking new clients, so please see below for her bio to understand what an opportunity this really is.
Remember, the first submission of the contest will open at 8:00 a.m. Good luck!
Martina & Marissa
Natalie M. Fischer is a Literary Agent and office assistant at the Dijkstra Agency. An honors graduate of the University of San Diego, California, Natalie holds a B.A. in Literature/Writing. She started as an intern at the Agency in 2007, after which time she left to write author profiles and book reviews for the San Diego Union Tribune. Finding that journalism was just not for her, she returned to work full-time at the Dijkstra Agency in April 2009, and started building her own client list in September of that same year.
Natalie is actively seeking new clients, and is especially interested in talented, hard-working new authors with a fresh, unique voice and hook. Her specialty is commercial fiction, with an emphasis in children’s literature (from picture book-YA/Teen), romance (contemporary and historical), historical fiction, multi-cultural fiction, paranormal, sci-fi/fantasy in YA or romance only, fairy-tale/legend spin-offs, and “beautiful dark” novels. She will also consider select memoir (has to be really unique) and that amazing project she never even knew she was looking for! She is always drawn to an open and positive attitude in an author, good grammar, and fantastical, engaging and sexy plots.
The Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency is one of the most respected literary agencies in the United States. With over 150 authors based around the world, SDLA represents an impressive client roster, which is both selective and eclectic. The Agency has helped guide the illustrious careers of many best-selling authors in several genres, including: on the fiction side, Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, Lisa See, Melinda Long, Janell Cannon and Diane Mott Davidson and on the non-fiction side, Peter Irons, David Landes, Mike Davis, Chalmers Johnson and Susan Faludi, among others. Read more about the agency at http://www.dijkstraagency.com/, and follow Natalie on Twitter @Natalie_Fischer!
Want additional info on Natalie?
Here’s Natalie’s cheat-sheet of tricky grammar (so you don’t blow your contest submission!):
And here are the bios for our fantastic author critiquers:
- P. J. Hoover grew up visiting museums and dreaming of finding Atlantis. She eventually married and had two children, shifted her dreams to reality, and began a writing career. PJ enjoys writing fantasy for middle grade and teen readers, boys and girls alike. Her middle grade fantasy novels, The Emerald Tablet and The Navel of the World, chronicle the adventures of a boy who discovers he’s part of two feuding worlds hidden beneath the sea. Prior to writing full time, PJ worked as an electrical engineer designing chips in Austin, Texas. PJ is represented by Laura Rennert of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
- Riley Carney is seventeen years old and has written seven MG/YA novels. The first book of the five-book Reign of the Elements Series,The Fire Stone, was released January 2010, and the second book, The Water Stone, will be released August 2010. Riley is passionate about promoting global literacy through the nonprofit corporation that she founded because she believes that the way to help children break the cycle of poverty and exploitation is through literacy.
- Tracy Clark has completed two YA novels and is currently working on her third. She is represented by Michael Bourret of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. She’s a wife, mother, lover of words, private pilot and irredeemable dreamer. Tracy was mentored by bestselling author, Ellen Hopkins, in the NV SCBWI Mentor Program.
- Award-winning journalist, freelance writer and book reviewer, Michele Corriel’s debut middle grade novel, Fairview Felines: A Newspaper Mystery, comes out this summer and her debut picture book, Weird Rocks, will be out this fall. Michele is also the Regional Advisor for SCBWI’s Montana Chapter and conducts writing workshops throughout the year.She is represented by The McVeigh Agency.
- When Cole Gibsen isn’t writing she can be found shaking her booty in a zumba class, picking off her nail polish, or drinking straight from the jug (when no one is looking). Cole’s debut YA paranormal, Katana, is due out from Flux in spring, 2012.
- Michelle Hodkin is a lawyer and YA author represented by Diana Fox of Fox Literary, LLC. Her debut novel, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, will be published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in Fall 2011.
- Kirsten Hubbard is a San Diego-based travel writer and young adult author who is always running away to exotic places, or at least imagining them. Her debut YA novel, Like Mandarin, will be published by Delacorte Press in March 2011. She’s represented by Michelle Andelman of Lynn C. Franklin Associates.
- Tahereh a.k.a. T.H. Mafi works as a graphic designer. Her blog Grab a Pen consistently entertains the masses. She writes YA novels and is represented by the ever-fabulous Amy Tipton of Signature Literary Agency.
- Robin Mellom has a Master’s degree in education and has been a middle school teacher and social worker for children with autism. She is now a full-time writer and her debut novel, Ditched, will be published by Disney-Hyperion in spring 2012.
- Lisa Green is not a demon, ghost, vampire, fairy or shape-shifter*. She has, however, enjoyed reading and writing about them since the age of seven. Her short stories and poems have been featured in several online magazines and her manuscripts are represented by the amazing Rubin Pfeffer of East-West Literary. *Please note that the exclusion of werewolves above is strictly coincidental.
