Pitch-Slam Weekend January 13-15, 2012 with Rachel Dugas, Leah Hultenschmidt and Carlie Webber

[Georgia McBride]

 

Pitch-slam weekend is here! Please read below for rules, and information on how to praticipate!

 

The pitches will be 4-5 lines in length and should be pasted in the COMMENTS section with your full name and title of the work. Nothing longer than 4-5 lines will be considered. The pitch should give the reader an idea of what the story is about. For example, below is a pitch for Harrry Potter.

 

"Harry Potter is the most miserable, lonely boy you can imagine. He’s shunned by his relatives,and forced to live in the cupboard under the stairs. Harry’s world gets turned upside down on his 11th birthday, when an invite to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrives. He learns of the evil Lord Voldemort who killed his parents, and then tried and failed to kill Harry when he was an infant. Harry later learns he was saved for a reason." -- from Wiki Summaries

 

Members will enter pitches beginning Friday January 13, 2012 at 3PM EST thru Sunday at midnight EST. Agents may read pitches at any time.

 

During the week of January 16-19 however, judges will read and respond to/comment on pitches.  

 

Judges will be looking for their top 5 pitches (per judge). A total of TEN members will have a chance to revise and resubmit based on agent feedback. These are the TEN finalists.

 

Upon completion of pitch review, judges will POST their top 5 pitches by author and title, establishing the top 15 finalists ON January 20 no later than 3PM EST. So be sure to check back then!

 

Once posted, those finalists will have a chance to resubmit and repost during the weekend of Jan 20-22, 2012. 

 

Judges will review the revised pitches and choose 1 (each judge) as winners: 1. The best and 2. A second best, and 3. Runner up, by Jan 23

 

The two who win the top designation will be awarded a full manuscript critique from whichever judge has chosen them. The 3rd will win a gift from Sourcebooks Fire and YALITCHAT.ORG, TBD.

 

Pitch-Slam Judge Profiles

 

Rachael Dugas

Rachael Dugas joined Talcott Notch Literary as an Associate Agent in June 2011. She earned her BA in English from Ithaca College and has worked as an editorial intern at Sourcebooks, where she assisted with their women's fiction, romance, and Jane Austen-related titles. Rachael currently represents cookbooks and young adult, middle grade, and adult fiction in the contemporary, paranormal, women's, and romance genres. She would also love a beautifully written historical and/or literary fiction, some really terrific memoir, and more fun, contemporary YA or adult fiction, especially pertaining to food or the performing arts. 

 

Website: www.talcottnotch.net

Twitter: @RachaelDugas

 

Carlie Webber

 

Carlie Webber refused to major in English in college because no one would let her read Stephen King or R.L. Stine for class. She took her love of young adult and genre fiction to the University of Pittsburgh, where she obtained a Master of Library and Information Science, and worked as a YA librarian and reviewer for publications including Kirkus Reviews. Wishing to explore her interest in the business side of books, she decided to switch from librarianship to publishing and enrolled in the Columbia Publishing Course. Now she is building her agenting career on her favorite genres: young adult, middle grade, romance, horror, mystery, suspense, thrillers, literary fiction, contemporary fantasy and women's fiction. Her ongoing submissions wishlist includes but is not limited to high-concept YA, literary suspense, grunge era nostalgia and things that go bump in the night. Carlie is also a member of the YALITCHAT.ORG Submissions Panel!

 

Website: Jane Rostrosen Literary Agency

 

 Leah Hultenschmidt

 (will not be offering editorial prizes, will read and comment on pitches)

Leah acquires YA fiction for the Sourcebooks Fire imprint, original single title romance for Sourcebooks Casablanca and select romance reprints for Casablanca Classics. She's looking for projects with a fresh premise, a lively pace and a solid marketing hook. YA should appeal to the older teen market with crossover adult potential.  The romance can be any subgenre: contemporary, paranormal, historical, romantic suspense, fantasy, time travel, or any combination thereof. Please submit cover letter in the body of an email with full manuscript (if available) or first 3 chapters and a synopsis attached as Word documents. Leah is also a member of the YALITCHAT.ORG Submissions Panel!

 

Website: www.sourcebooks.com

[Carlie Webber]

This is a great concept and I'd like to know what happens to these brothers next. What worries me, though, is the language and grammar. When you submit a query or manuscript, it should be as perfect as you can get it. I do consider myself an editorial agent, but a book that comes to me with its basic grammar wrong is getting a "no." If the pitch is missing apostrophes and has odd sentence flow, what will the rest of the book look like?

[jacqueline manley]

Violet has just graduated from high school and is currently enjoying her last summer before college. One night, after a barbecue, she realizes how boring her high school life really was: Violet never went to parties or stayed out past curfew or even got a grade lower than a B. So, she decides to call up Whitney, her childhood best friend and infinitely free spirit. The two old friends embark on an evening of adventure and repair a friendship that never should have been broken.

[Leah Hultenschmidt]

You might want to include more about the adventure itself to ramp up the excitement and interest level.

[Rachael Dugas]

Hi, Jacqueline--

This is written fairly well, but it kind of feels like an older women's fiction masquerading as YA to me. I feel like knowing you're about to go off to college and have all sorts of adventures is exciting enough as it is. The whole "I was too well-behaved and now I need to live a little" thing seems more suited to a protagonist who is turning 30 or has recently divorced or something along those lines.

[Carlie Webber]

How soon can you get to the adventure? That's the teeth of your book, yet it takes you several sentences in the pitch to get to the good part. The evening-of-adventure plot can definitely work and I'm a sucker for true-blue BFFs, but, well, this pitch needs less wind-up.

[Gabriella Oved]

Things Not Meant To Be Hidden

 

Liz and Ti are best friends. When they are required to do community service in order to dismiss their shoplifting charges, they come across the necklaces. After returning the necklaces to who they thought belonged to, Liz and Ti uncover that these are a secret trying to be hidden. When coming up with a theory that fits perfectly together in their mind, it seems too right to be real. Whether to take action and tell the police, despite the previous mess they are in, or to keep quiet and stay out of others’ business will be the hardest decision they find themselves having to make.

[Leah Hultenschmidt]

I think there could be a good nugget here, but the pitch itself is a little confusing. What necklaces? What kind of theory? Don't leave out the most intriguing parts--the goal of the pitch is to hook interest.

[Rachael Dugas]

Hi, Gabriella--

I agree with Leah that this was a little confusing. I didn't really grasp what happens here at all. It made me want to read more, but not in the right way. However, it does sound like there's potential for a really compelling story here.

[Carlie Webber]

Third on the "confusing" comment. What's the context of the necklaces' existence? How do the girls find out who they belong to? I think you're trying to fit too much of the book into this. Tell me what happens in the opening, then leave me wanting more.

[Jazmin Foy]

Ethan Wyatt Davidson is just a normal guy starting his first year of college in a new city.  Everything is going great until one day, while he is looking for video games at garage sales, an old woman gives him a pirated version of one of his old favorite games.  He is thrilled with his luck until he starts to play it. Strange things happen in the game that he cannot explain.  The game starts to threaten him to do things for it.  He struggles with whether or not this is real or if it is a prank and if he should do what it says or risk himself.

[Leah Hultenschmidt]

College can be tougher fit for the YA market, but otherwise, this sounds fun--a clear pitch with a defined premise.

[Rachael Dugas]

Hi, Jazmin--

Interesting concept, but I'd like to see it a little tighter/cleaner and I'd also like to learn more about some of the strange things that happen--I think that's how you will really draw the reader in.