Hook, Line, and Sinker Challenge Rules #HLS2017
Welcome to the Hook, Line and Sinker Challenge: #HLS2017!
PLEASE READ THE RULES IN FULL BEFORE SUBMITTING. FAILURE TO COMPLY MAY RESULT IN AUTOMATIC SINKING OF YOUR SHIP AND ALL OF ITS CREW MEMBERS.
The Hook, Line, and Sinker (HLS) Challenge is open to all (ages 18+). Eligible submissions must come from your children’s or teen FICTION work (board books and early readers excluded) and should not already be published or under contract. Got it? NEW WORKS ONLY. YOUR WORK CAN BE UNDER CONSIDERATION BY AN EDITOR OR AGENT BUT YOU MUST ALREADY HAVE PLANS FOR A REVISION. In other words, if you do not plan to revise your work, DO NOT ENTER #HLS2017. Please let people who really want to improve their manuscripts get a shot at winning!
OBJECTIVES OF THE CHALLENGE
Be the first to catch the big one in your fishing category.
The categories
Picture Book (PB)
Chapter Book / Middle Grade Novel (CB/MG)
Young Adult (YA)
THE PRIZES
Anonymous free feedback during the challenge if your work is chosen by our slimy judges to discuss. This last year, our team has grown and joining us will be our our skippers (a glamorous bunch of WFCAT.com interns), our deckhands – the pooches – Kissy (who we already know from our last big #RLGL) and his pooch pal Shaun, with Captain Cynthea Liu at the helm. But just remember: it’s the fish you need to win over–Hook, Line, and Sinker!
Again all feedback will be anonymous, meaning your work will not be identified as yours. We will use entry numbers instead like past RLGL challenges.
If you catch the big one, you get the GLORY of winning, which is pretty much priceless (we all know that) AND your winning work will receive a free 30-minute phone consult from the Captain herself.
Let’s also not forget that agent referrals are always a possibility as well. Impress the fish and you might just hook yourself an agent!
HOW THE CHALLENGE WORKS
To catch the big one, you must cast your line and weather whatever challenge is thrown at you.
Your “first submission” (or cast, as we call it) will be the first line of your manuscript (This is your hook!) before a round deadline. You will receive an entry number that identifies this work as yours.
Next is your line. If you pass the round, your second submission for the work should be your first 125 words before the next round deadline (including your first line).
Official round results will be posted after the closing of each round here on wfcat.com, generally within 24 to 48 hours of a round closing.
If you pass the round, give us more line! Your third submission for the work should be your first 250 words (including your first line and first 125 words). Just more line to catch that fish!
If you pass the round, your fourth submissions for the work should be your last line ONLY. This is the sinker! Yes just the last line of your entire manuscript. It better be good!
Make it through 4 rounds of submission with a single work and you’ve caught the big one unless there are other anglers who are right there with you distracting your big fish. In the event a tie, fishing continues through a series of challenges set up by our esteemed judges.
If your entry doesn’t pass a round, cast again by starting over with a different work.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I MISS OR DON’T PASS A ROUND?
If you miss a round because you were too busy polishing up your boat or had to run back to the dock to refuel, do not worry, you can still keep your line out and send in your submission during any round deadline you can make. You may fall behind but anything can happen with other anglers: lines snap, stormy weather, giant sea monsters take down ships. Do not let missing a round deter you from keeping your line out.
If your work does not pass a round, you simply start over and cast a new line with a new work in the next round you can make.
NOTE: Only one submission per round at a time, unless you have done something special to earn BONUS CASTS per round (see below under BONUS CAST RULES for more info about that).
Ready to submit? Here’s how:
1) Please make sure you title your emails correctly in the SUBJECT LINE of your emails, not the body of the email. DO NOT ATTACH WORK. Paste it in. Do not attempt to format your work in the email. The crew is great at reading emails in hieroglyphics, even underwater.
2) Email your first line to INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS. Title the email (IN THE SUBJECT LINE) with the following “First Line, book type (i.e., PB, ER, CB, MG, YA), and manuscript title to help our skippers and deckhands keep track, like so (First Line, PB, If You Give a Goldfish a Cracker).
3) After the deadline for each round has passed, wait patiently as our fishy judges review your entry and give you an entry number for the work. Your entry number is unique for your work and will be used to conceal your identity when results are revealed or commentary is provided. We do not know when the judges will deliver results for each round, but it will probably occur within the first 24-48 hours after a round deadline.
4) Feel free to follow Cynthea’s Twitter for all the action, conversation, feedback, and commentary that happens during the challenge and subscribe to the WFCAT youtube channel if the Captain and her crew have sage words for you by video. Doing either will earn you a bonus cast too (see see below for more info on that). The hashtag for this challenge is #HLS2017 if that helps you. You will not receive email notifications about the rounds because we don’t want to flood people’s inboxes for those who are not playing. Keep in mind, all official round results will appear on WFCAT.com home page. Again, Do NOT inquire about your entry until official round results have been posted for your round on WFCAT.com.
Refresh the page and look for your round and your X by your entry #. Check to see which column of the official results chart it is in, and Go back to start to cast a new line as instructed OR advance to the next round.
If your FIRST LINE entry was sent back to dock, you start over with a NEW work if you so wish). You will title your email in the SUBJECT LINE: First line, Format, Manuscript title as you did before. DO NOT include your old entry # anywhere. Those are unique to each work. That # dies. You will get a new one.
If you passed the FIRST LINE, you will title your next submission with the entry number you received for that work. Your new subject line will read like this. : FIRST 125, Entry Number, Format, Manuscript Title, like so …(FIRST 125, #75, PB, If You Give a Goldfish a Cracker).
If you make it past the first 125, then you title the next email subject like so (FIRST 250, #75, PB, If You Give a Goldfish a Cracker.)
If you make it to the fourth round, (LAST LINE, #75, PB, If You Give a Goldfish a Cracker)
After that, we will help you with email subjects in the event of a tie to keep things organized.
5) After a round closes, our crew will open a new round with a new round deadline.
6) Play continues until an angler has caught the big one for their category for the prize AND the final round for the entire challenge has been announced and completed. If you enter after an angler has already won in your category, you may still enter out of curiosity to see how far you can get and also for feedback on that entry.
7) You should plan to send something off prior to each deadline so you can keep up with your competition. However, you may not send extra stuff in advance of round deadlines, meaning don’t send in 250 words when you haven’t even passed the first 125 words yet. If you fall behind in a round though; don’t worry, anglers will get sent back to dock at any point during the challenge.
BONUS CAST RULES
Is the fishing just not exciting enough for you with just one fishing line in the water at a time? You can earn a bonus cast! That’s right, a bonus cast allows you to have two entries (two different works) in a round, instead of two. There is no limit to the # of bonus casts you can earn throughout the challenge. So if your bonus cast doesn’t pass a round, do something else in the list below and earn another bonus cast for the next round. Here’s what you can do to earn a bonus cast. These must be done during the challenge so if you’ve already done any of the following, that won’t count. But there’s plenty of options to choose from so there’s something for everyone.
Retweet or share info about the challenge to your followers and be sure to reply to us in that tweet using @cynthealiu and the hashtag #HLS2017
Share a first line that you submitted to the contest and reply that line to @cynthealiu and use the hashtag #HLS2017
Subscribe to the WFCAT Youtube channel
Follow @Cynthealiu on Twitter and any of the skipper interns @Christiana_May and @MissultraJamie for challenge announcements
Follow and Like Cynthea Liu’s Facebook Author Page
Subscribe to the WFCAT.com email list (scroll to bottom of page)
Once you’ve done any of these things during the challenge, make sure we know about it when you email us the FIRST LINE of your Bonus Cast submission.
In the subject line you will put BONUS this time and the rest is the same as a regular cast. For example: BONUS, FIRST LINE, PB, If You Give A Goldfish a Cracker
You must let us know in the body of your email what you did to earn that bonus cast in a way that we can verify – for example, my username is X and I just subscribed to the WFCAT youtube channel or I followed Y’s twitter account. or I just retweeted today’s Twitter post with @cynthealiu in the reply, and my twitter username is X.
Then wait for your entry #. This number will weirdly begin with the letter B, which you may then use for subsequent rounds if the entry makes it through rounds!
If your bonus cast submission flops like a fish out of water, no worries, do something else on the list in the next round whenever you want a bonus cast. There is no limit to the # of bonus casts you earn.
One last thing!
All anglers, by submitting their work, must agree to The Solemn Critiquee Oath.
The Solemn Critiquee Oath
I shall not shed a single tear upon receiving any feedback from the judges
I shall remember I am receiving opinions from three slimy coated, but gorgeous fish, and that is all.
I shall not take any comments personally as the marine world can be quite flaky.
I shall allow the fish the opportunity to nibble my ms endlessly if they so wish.
Now are you ready?
Yes?
Terrific. Look for any open round announcement on WFCAT.com (look for a round date that has not expired) and cast your line before the deadline. If you just missed a deadline and the challenge is still going on, another round will pop up soon. Remember: Check the latest HLS postings on Twitter and the WFCAT.com (refresh the website) for round openings, closings, results and updates. Follow the submission rules, make any round deadline, and you’re in.
IF YOU DO NOT SEE ANY #HLS2017 posts on wfcat.com at all, first refresh the homepage. If that doesn’t work, chances are the Challenge has not begun yet. Subscribe to the WFCAT.com free-tique list to receive the Official Announcement that the #HLS2017 challenge has begun. That email will be the first notice anyone will get that the challenge is officially open. BE SURE YOU CONFIRM YOUR SUBSCRIPTION in your inbox, and do not worry, your email subscription will not be result in tons of email. The Captain mainly uses the wfcat.com email list for free-tique announcements and major things related to WFCAT.com. The most emails you might received is 3 or 4, a YEAR.
Happy trolling! *but please, no actual trolls allowed.*
