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]

Not enough on the screen here to interest me. Cracking the suburban perfection and revealing secrets isn't anything new and exciting. What is your hook, the one event that will make readers want to see Pru succeed?

[Kathryn Purdie]

The Rowaness of Shalott by Kathryn Purdie

After a life of hiding, a 17-year-old dryad falls in love with the young knight Lancelot, who names her Guinevere and awakens her dormant ability to feel touch. But Guinevere’s growing mortality severs the life-sustaining bond to her rowan tree. In order to survive, she must flee to Camelot and convince the sorcerer Merlin to bind her to another tree, though it will cost her freedom, her mortal sensations, and Lancelot’s love.

[Leah Hultenschmidt]

This definitely gives the Arthurian legends a new twist.  I wonder if there's another way to word "bind her to a tree," though.  Perhaps something about "if she wants to preserve her immortality, she'll have to flee Camelot and relinquish her mortal emotions--including her love for Lancelot."  Otherwise I'm just not sure it's really that dramatic of a choice, as I can't imagine too many people wanting to be bound to a tree.

[Carlie Webber]

Good pitch. Doomed love is always popular in YA, and the premise of having to choose between the life you've always known and love is familiar.

[Rachael Dugas]

Hi, Kathryn--

You've worded this very well, creating increasing drama with each sentence and using language that is clear and dramatic. I would take care to make sure this novel really has themes that appeal to YA readers, however. The only indication that it's YA right now is the fact that she's 17.

[Debbie Roe]

Abby's Armageddon

 

After fifteen-year-old Abby discovers her mother attacked and her father jailed for the crime, she sets out to find the real killer before she becomes his next victim.

[Leah Hultenschmidt]

More about Abby--her personality and her situation--would be really helpful here to help distinguish it from a ton of adult thrillers.

[Carlie Webber]

Definitely need more on this. Who is Abby and why is her father the suspect? How does she know where to look?

[Rachael Dugas]

Hi, Debbie--

Way too vague. Watch the pronouns at the end--it's unclear who "she" is.

[D L Richardson]

Feedback by D L Richardson

Ethan James, Florida Bowman and Jake Inala are three teenagers who have just received the best news of their lives. They will finally receive their much-needed organ transplants and survive to become adults. Five days after being released from hospital they are kidnapped. They learn from their captor, Hank Miller, that their organ donor was a CIA agent named Dylan Black. Dylan was killed halfway through a mission and Hank believes that Ethan, Florida and Jake possess knowledge that only Dylan knew, and Hank will do anything to get this information.

[Leah Hultenschmidt]

Why would the kidnapper believe the organ recipients have knowledge from their donor? Everything feels like it could be very coincidental.

[Carlie Webber]

I'm having a difficult time believing this setup and premise. How would knowledge come through organs? Is this meant to be more SF than thriller?