Monday, June 25, 2012

Christmas in July Agent-Judged Blog Comp: Submission Details!

As you know, Ruth Lauren Steven is co-hosting Christmas in July with me, and today we have a few more details for you. 

First of all, if you missed the first post, you can find it here.

Now for the exciting bits :) We already told you you'll need a query letter and the first 500 words of your completed ms to enter. We'll both be reading ALL the entries (and possibly fighting over our favorites.) I'm kidding! (I'm not.)

Anyway, once we've come to a dignified and amicable decision (seriously, I fight dirty), we're going to help you edit your entry until it is a many spendoured thing. Not that you HAVE to take our advice - it's your work. But the advice will be there :) 

So because we'll need time to read all the entries and you might need to time to polish them up after our suggestions, the timeline is going to look like this:
Next post - July 2nd. This one will reveal the identities of our ten agents!

Submission window - July 9th between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. EST. Submissions should be sent to lottiehumphries14(at)yahoo(
dot)co(dot)uk. I'll set up an auto response so you'll know we've received your submission. 
13th July - the 30 writers chosen by us will be posted. 

18th July - the chosen (and polished!) entries go live on our blogs for the entire week, and requests will be made by the fabulous agents!!
Don't forget to use the hashtag #XmasinJuly on Twitter!






34 comments:

  1. How exciting! Can't wait until July! :D

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  2. This is exciting! Thanks for the info!

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  3. Question: the first 500 words of my ms cut off in the middle of a sentence. Can I submit a titch over 500 to keep this from happening? Or should I just go under 500 and axe that sentence for the entry?

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    1. *consults with co-consirator Ruth*

      Yes, go ahead and finish your sentence :)

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    2. Thank you =). I'm revising now, but good to know I can at least submit a completed snippet =)

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  4. Another wonderful opportunity to snag an agent's attention. I wish my MS was ready!

    New follower here. :)

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  5. I'm here from Kimberly Gabriel's blog! Just popped over from Ruth's blog as well. Thank you both for hosting this great contest! I will have to keep an eye out for news :)

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  6. Sounds like a fabulous comp! If only the ms were ready...

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    1. Boo to incomplete manuscripts! :)

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    2. LOL, I know, I know! :)

      Oh well. When the time is right, it'll be ready. And hopefully a contest will be, too!

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  7. A great contest opportunity... thanks for holding this:)

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  8. Sounds like a great opportunity! Thank you so much for hosting it!

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  9. This sounds like tons of fun, but I am in Africa and have no idea when I'm going to have internet access next but thanks for doing this Ruth and Michelle!

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    1. Sweet! I have a special place in my heart for Africa (spent a month there before I got married).

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  10. This is great! can't wait for July :) Finishing the last of my revisions...*chair dance*

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    1. I fully approve of chair dancing of all types. Just sayin'.

      :D

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  11. this is exciting & perfect timing! robin weeks sent me. thanks and glad to be a new follower!

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  12. So fun! Squee!

    Ah, Michelle and Ruth. The very definition of overacheivers :)

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  13. Can't wait, especially because my query is still driving me crazy! I was going to ask whether I should submit my prologue (which is about 500 words) or the first 500 words of chapter 1, but I keep thinking that the only reason my prologue exists is because I don't know where else to put the scene. It probably makes more sense to start a book with the main character, huh?! So I guess I answered my own question. Fingers crossed!

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  14. Wow this is an amazing opportunity! But we can only send you the first 500 words of our novel?! Mine is completed (first draft) and that means I'd only be able to send about two pages worth of writing...can we pick any two pages or would you like us to start at the beginning of the novel? Thanks :)

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    1. Yup! The contest is only for completed manuscripts, so YAY that yours is done! You should send a query letter and the first 500 words of your ms.

      Good luck!

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    2. question. can it be 520 words?:o

      or do you want us to cut it down to under 500 if let's say it's in the middle of a sentence and----

      :P

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    3. I've discussed it with Ruth, and if 500 words find you in the middle of a sentence, go ahead and finish that sentence, but otherwise entries should be 500 words or under. This is to be fair to everyone!

      Excited to see your entry :)

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  15. New follower here ;) very much looking forward to this. Now I need to go read the other posts to see if my genre is allowed *crosses fingers*. YA narrative memoir??

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  16. Thanks so much for offering this opportunity for writers. I'm so glad a retweet found me and now I've found your blog :)

    Leslie

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  17. Just heard about this from Tara Tyler... what an awesome idea! Will definitely be sending my query and ms...

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    1. Awesomesauce! And thanks to Tara Tyler for the blog mention!

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