#SonofaPitch! Meet the Hosts and Critiquing Authors

Today is the first day back at school here, but I like adding to my hectic schedule. So, today you get to meet the Hosts for the Author Critique Round and the Authors who will be critiquing and voting for round three. The hosting authors will also be critiquing and voting, so go crazy with the bribery! Heh heh heh... Hosts will decorate their blogs with stuff about their chosen hero/villain, and you can vie to be on a specific host's blog by tweeting team whatever the host is!


So, here we go!
Blog Hosts Kathleen Palm


Kathleen aka Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty!

Kathleen Palm loves the weird, the scary, and the fantastical, believing that magic makes the world a fabulously strange place. She started writing about twelve years ago with no idea of what she was doing or where the road lined with words would take her. She wrote several manuscripts and faced the next step with tears in her eyes. Publishing. She wanted her words to be a real book! Deciding against querying agents (or possibly doubting her ability to catch one), she made a list of small presses and queried her YA fantasy FAERIE WIND and, well, failed. The following year, she polished her YA fantasy DOORS and sent it out into the world with a bit of hope flying behind it like a kite tail. Two years ago, she had two offers to publish DOORS and chose REUTS Publishing. The making of the books is a slow endeavor, and she waits for her turn to be a debut author. She writes to pass the time…writing new manuscripts and revising old ones…and has found a love of creating short stories. Her stories DARK WOLF and TOGETHER can be found in the anthology FAIRLY TWISTED TALES FOR A HORRIBLY EVER AFTER. Her horror short WHAT LURKS IN THE DARKNESS can be found in the anthology HALLOWEEN NIGHT: TRICK OR TREAT.
HALLOWEENNIGHT: TRICK OR TREAT Anthology…
FAIRLYTWISTED TALES FOR A HORRIBLY EVER AFTER Anthology…
DOORS (Goodreads)


Tegan Wren
Tegan aka Belle from Beauty and the Beast!

How I got my deal: I'd had strong interest from agents through various pitch contests but I kept getting encouraging passes and a couple of R&Rs. One R&R in particular from an agent was incredibly helpful. Even though she ultimately passed on representing me and my novel, the revisions I did using her suggestions helped me get my novel in great shape for the next contest I entered: Pitchmas. Lisa Gus from Curiosity Quills Press requested the first few pages. A week or so later, I had a request for the full from acquisitions editor (and talented writer) Vicki Keire. A few more weeks after that, I had an offer on the table from CQ. I signed with them and have loved being a part of the CQ family!
My novel is INCONCEIVABLE! and is available here: j.mp/readinconceivable

Elsie Elmore:
Elsie aka Hades from Hercules!

Elsie Elmore lives in North Carolina with her husband and two kids.
She loves the color red, has an appreciation for chocolate and coffee that borders on obsession, writes stories that challenge the laws of nature, and wishes fall temperatures would linger year round. 
Elsie is a member of  SCBWI, and WSW. The Undead : Playing for Keeps is her debut novel. Find her on the web: on twitter at @ElsieWriter, her blog at www.elsieelmore.com, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/elsieelmorewriter.
Pub story:
I finalized The Undead mid-summer and had queried a few agents before participating in the September's #pitmad. I had two requests.About a week after I had sent my partial, the full manuscript was requested and I couldn’t push SEND fast enough.I checked out Curiosity Quills books, covers and their online presence. I was excited and hopeful. In November, I was offered a contract. I withdrew my queries / partials from other agencies and signed on the dotted line. And of course, went out to dinner to celebrate.
Find her book on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles (Paperback only)
Samantha Bryant
Samantha aka Meg from Hercules!

Short tale of publishing path: I spent a year and a half shopping around a women's fiction novel at the big publishers and being frustrated by the long wait just to get to a nonspecific and unhelpful, "No." So, when I finished another novel, I decided to try the small publisher route. Even though I still collected a few rejections, the process was faster and more personal. I felt like I was dealing with people instead of machines. I queried Curiosity Quills because I had an online friendship with a writer who was published with them. My research on the company showed me that they were transparent from the get-go about their contract terms, that the covers looked good, and that they had several books in their stable with a strong sales record. There were no red flags on Preditors and Editors or Writer Beware. I also saw that they had already published several books with themes similar to mine: superhero, women-centric, gender-bending, feminist. It seemed like a good fit. The acquisitions editor agreed. The process was very quick. In the space of a week, I had a request for a full, followed by a contract offer. The book came out the following spring. I have since published the sequel and a novella in the same world with them, and plan to publish the third book with them next summer. The moral of my story: research your options and choose one that seems like it will be a good fit in philosophy and style. Don't waste your time on others.
Links: International link to Amazon author page: viewAuthor.at/SamanthaBryant
Bio:  Samantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her secret superpower is finding lost things. When she's not writing or teaching, Samantha enjoys time with her family, watching old movies, baking, reading, and going places. Her favorite gift is tickets (to just about anything).You can find her Menopausal Superhero series from Curiosity Quills on Amazon, or request it at your favorite independent (or big box) bookstore. You can find her online on her blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Goodreads, on the Curiosity Quills page, or on Google+, and now on Tumblr.
Elizabeth Roderick

Elizabeth aka Ursula from The little Mermaid!

Hello, everyone! It’s that time again! I had so much fun being a critiquer/judge in the Son of a Pitch contest last time, and I can’t wait to participate again!A little about myself: my name is Elizabeth Roderick. I’m the author of Love or Money, a standalone LGBT romantic suspense novel (published through Limitless Publishing), and The Other Place Series, a new adult magical realism series (also through Limitless; the first two installments (The Hustle and The Other Place) are already out, and the last two will come out next year). I have several other books in various stages of editing, and am working on a few more. I write YA, NA, and Adult, and my genres range from contemporary to fantasy and all points beyond and in between. My books usually feature characters of the sort society tends to shun (addicts, convicts, the homeless, and the neurodiverse). I think if you get to know my characters, as well as people like them in real life, you might find they’re a lot more wonderful and interesting than you originally thought. Part of the reason I write “unlikeable” characters that is because I myself am a neurodiverse person, along with all the baggage that can come with that (I’m a recovering addict, for instance). I’ve recently “come out” about the fact that I have bipolar disorder with episodes of psychosis. This profession is one of the few where this might actually be an asset: my experiences I think lend a lot of insight into my writing and my characters. A lot of things people only know about from television, I’ve lived through, for better or worse. Believe it or not, it’s not all dark! I use my stories as a way to explore the different ways in which people’s minds work, and the many ways in which they learn to live and love in this crazy world. It’s my strange and convoluted way of trying to find out how I fit into this society. I think a lot of writers write for the same or similar reasons. Enough about me. I’m really excited to be part of Son of a Pitch again. I love reading everyone’s entries. The only problem is I’m always left wanting to read the entire manuscript.Critique contests like these are so important. I would never have gotten published if it weren’t for the advice I got from other writers, authors, and industry professionals along the way. Writing is a subjective business, and we all know that sometimes the advice we get from critiquers can be contradictory. But it is always a learning experience. It’s sometimes difficult to see how our stories will be perceived by others. Readers won’t always walk away with the same perceptions, but knowing what those perceptions are gives us incredible insight into our own work, and helps us to make it stronger, even if we end up not taking the exact advice our critiquers gave us.The support of other writers and professionals in the community is also incredibly important. My hope is to see each and every entrant published. My first job in that regard is to make sure that no one gives up. The only thing that separates writers from authors is the refusal to throw in the towel, even when it gets hard. There will always be days when you think you can’t go on, when you’re angry, when you’re sure you “suck”. Ask anyone who is published, even people who are mega-famous bestsellers. They’ve felt the same way. I want you all to love writing, and to believe in your own voice, enough that you’ll never give up. As for what kind of stories will be my favorites, I’m constantly surprised by what I like best. Any of you who know me know that I am a huge fan of diverse stories, especially #ownvoices. That isn’t limited to stories about and by neurodiverse people—I’m massively excited to see stories from authentic points of view that I’ve never read about before. In fact, I would be so honored if you would comment on this blog post, or in a private message if you prefer, and tell me the inspiration for your diverse and/or #ownvoices story. I love hearing people’s personal stories as much as I like reading their fiction. That said, I’m a huge fan of any sort of story that’s well-told, even if it can’t possibly be #ownvoices because it’s about a being that is a near-sentient wisp of memory contained in the scent of jasmine in a young woman’s garden. Or whatever. I love crazy stories, and more traditional stories; quiet stories and high-action stories; stories about love and hate and everything in between. I want to read them all, and I can’t wait to!
Critiquers and Voters: Em Shotwell
Hi guys! My name is Em Shotwell and you can visit me right here-à www.EmShotwell.com.  I am the author of Blackbird Summer (City Owl Press). Blackbird Summer is about a family of magical misfits who try to quietly live their lives in a backwards, hick town that would rather they not exist. I am so excited to help out with your queries! My very first query letter was treacherous. That is really the only word that does that sad letter justice. It was long and clunky, and the hook was lost in its wordiness. After studying at the query altar—also known as the Query Shark blog (yes- I read every. single. post.)—and work-shopping it with a wonderful CP, I was able to trim the fat, up the stakes, and turn my dud-of-a-letter into one that worked. As a result, when I decided to accept the offer from City Owl, I had four fulls out, and a second offer on the table. In my experience, the most important elements of a query are voice, cadence, stakes, and of course, the hook. The voice and cadence give us the feel of your book, and the stakes and hook leave us needing to know more. Send in your letter and I will do my best to help you mold it into one that stands out and leaves publishers dying to read your words.Come say hi! Facebook  /  twitter /   Instagram  /  pinterest  /  amazon  /  goodreads Want to read my short story (Blackbird Summer tie-in), THE CHANS, for free? Click here!