Krista Van Dolzer's Blog, page 3

#PitchMe 2022 Results and Wrap-up

Another #PitchMe's come and gone, and I'm delightfully worn out. #PitchMe pitches racked up 72 likes earlier this week from our agents and editors (and several pitches scored 3 additional likes from an outside agent and editor, too)! Here's a breakdown of the action:

#2 PB: MY BA'S AMBODO Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez, Jennifer Herrington, Michael Carr, Elisa Houot#3 PB: SOUR DOUGH Jennifer Herrington#4 PB: THE PICKLE INCIDENT Alison Weiss#5 PB: WHISPER TO THE WORRY STONES Jennifer Herrington, Lindsay A...

This Year's #PitchMe Finalists

 Without any ado, here are the #PitchMe finalists* in no particular order:
PB
A.W.'s THE PICKLE INCIDENTA.W.'s WORRY STONES (a different A.W., I promise!)R.J.'s QUOKKA CAN'T FROWNR.M.K's HEADLINE FROM THE HEIGHTSK.R.'s I'M NOT A CINNAMON ROLLK.P.'s MY BA'S AMBODOS.K.R.'s SOUR DOUGH
(Also, it's worth mentioning that Tara reads these entries blind so her opinions are unbiased!)
MG
T.M.'s A RECIPE FOR DISASTER (contemporary)C.L.'s MAIRA AND THE RAINBOW CITY (fantasy)A.M.'s ARDEN WOOD AND THE MAGICAL MUS...

Thoughts on This Year's #PitchMe Entries

I've now read every entry, and once again, you guys didn't make it easy on me! Multiple times, I added six or seven entries in a row to the longlist I was building, which made me keep wondering how I'd ever trim it down. As we make our final choices, here's a little food for thought:
Overall Impressions
Longtime agent Donald Maass has written multiple books about writing breakout novels, but writing break-IN novels--and especially PBs--is probably even harder. Established authors can write to tren...

Second Submission Window for #PitchMe 2022 Now Open

Update: And that's a wrap! We ended up with 143 PBs, 46 MGs, 49 YAs, and 45 adults for a total of 283 entries. Finalists will be announced on Wednesday, September 21!

Welcome to #PitchMe 2022! To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions. First, it must be COMPLETE, NEVER-PUBLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the following genres:

PB fiction and nonfiction* (all genres)
MG fiction (all genres)
YA fiction (all genres)
Adult fiction (all genres, including commercial, lit...

First Submission Window for #PitchMe 2022 Now Open

UPDATE: The first submission window is now closed, but the second submission window will open at 11:00 p.m. EDT tonight. For your information, we've received 88 PBs, 26 MGs, 33 YAs, and 31 adults so far!
Welcome to #PitchMe 2022! To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions. First, it must be COMPLETE, NEVER-PUBLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the following genres:
PB fiction and nonfiction* (all genres)
MG fiction (all genres)
YA fiction (all genres)
Adult fiction (...

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About #PitchMe 2022

#PitchMe is back, and I couldn't be more thrilled. If you take what I love most about multi-agent query contests--mentoring great writers at wherever they happen to be on their publishing journey--and mash it up with a pitch fest, then you've basically got #PitchMe. Are you interested? Read on!
Here’s the timeline:

September 7: The submission windows open
September 21: Selected submissions announced
September 21-October 18: Mentoring takes place
October 19: Revised Twitter pitches posted; agents (and...

My Top Ten Reads of 2021

I read sixty books last year, which honestly seemed a little low until I remembered that, thanks to the pandemic, I'm not getting to the library nearly as often as I used to. Still, sixty isn't nothing, and in the spirit of New Year's, I thought I would share my ten favorite reads with you (in the order that I read them, not the order that I liked them).
1. RHYTHM OF WAR by Brandon Sanderson Mr. Sanderson is one of my very favorite authors, and the books in his Stormlight Archive are my very favo...

Querying by the Numbers

Lots of folks have been discussing querying trends on Twitter, so I thought it might be time for another deep dive into my querying statistics. As some of you may know, I decided to query my most recent manuscript, an MG contemporary called SECRETS ROLLER COASTERS KEEP, not because my previous agent suddenly became a bad agent but because he no longer felt like the right agent for me. I was lucky enough to sign with Jennifer Herrington of Harvey Klinger Literary Agency back in April of this year...

#PitchMe Results and Wrap-up

#PitchMe pitches racked up 66 likes last week from the members of our agent panel (and one pitch scored an extra like from an outside agent, too)! Here's a breakdown of the action: 
#1 PB: THIS BOOK NEEDS A PASSWORD Jennifer Herrington, Elizabeth Bewley#2 PB: HAND-ME-DOWN BOOTS Tara Gonzalez, Analieze Cervantes, Jennifer Herrington#3 PB: SLIME TIME Jennifer Herrington#4 PB: FINDING FADO Joyce Sweeney, Jennifer Herrington#5 PB: GUS THE MAGNIFICENT Jennifer Herrington#6 PB: LIGHTS OUT FOR LUDWIG Je...

#PitchMe Finalists

Without any ado, here are the #PitchMe finalists* in no particular order:

PB
C.S.'s FINDING FADOJ.F.S.'s SLIME TIMEC.D.'s THIS BOOK NEEDS A PASSWORDJ.W.'s GUS, THE MAGNIFICENTM.R.'s LIGHTS OUT FOR LUDWIGK.L's BOOK LAND SAFETY INSPECTORA.L.'s HAND-ME-DOWN BOOTS
MG
T.G.'s BEAST SCOUTS OF THE WANDERING REACH (fantasy)P.Z.'s THE SISTERHOOD OF ALOBIBI (mystery)R.R.'s IF ELEPHANTS COULD TALK (contemporary novel-in-verse)D.P.'s GOOD VIBRATIONS (contemporary)D.A.'s EVIE AND THE BOY FROM THE SEA (fantasy)A.V...