#PitchWars: Why You Want Me As Your Mentor

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#PitchWars: Why You Want Me As Your Mentor

It’s that time of year again–#Pitchwars! This is a massive contest put on by author Brenda Drake in which aspiring writers work with a mentor to ready their manuscripts for a BIG AGENT ROUND. Mentors and mentees work together for one month on their entries. Agents peruse the entries and if they like what they see, they request pages. The mentor-mentee team with the most requests wins the whole contest and fabulous prizes like gift cards, etc! It’s a MASSIVE contest that had over one thousand entries last year.

Let’s look at more about the contest:

Rules & Regs

1. Writers submit their applications to up to FOUR mentors. Be sure to research the mentor list to choose those who want to represent what you write. (List is below)

2. Mentors read their submissions and choose one lucky writer and two alternates.

3. Manuscripts MUST BE COMPLETE. No fudging this. Mentors work with you on your entire manuscript.

4. Writers may submit more than one manuscript–as long as they are finished.

5. Submission guidelines are at Brenda’s site HERE.

The Schedule

11/20 Mentor’s post bios and wishlists
12/2: Submission Window
12/3 -12/10: Mentors read their applications
12/11: Mentor’s announce their picks
12/11 -1/17: Mentors work with their writers
1/22-1/23 Agent Round

So why should writers apply to me to be their mentor?

Brag Time

1. My mentee and I won the ENTIRE CONTEST last year with a grand total of 8 agent requests. Also, my mentee signed with her agent Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary as a result! I wanna go double or nothing!

2. I’m a freelance editor and work with LOADS of manuscripts, pitches, and queries in many, many genres.

3. I have an agent from a high brow literary agency and I’m pubbed (soon-to-be) by a traditional publisher–Plume, an imprint of Penguin.

4. I’m a contributor to award-winning sites WriterUnboxed.com and RomanceUniversity.org, as well as TheDebutanteBall.com.

What I’m Looking For

ADULT NOVELS:

1. Historical Fiction

2. Women’s Fiction

3. Literary (especially with suspense, thriller, & mystery elements)

4. Romance (adventure stories & plot-driven romance, think Outlander by Diana Gabaldon)

5. Time Travel or multi-era books

***Like an agent, I’ll be looking for the story that appeals most to me and has writing that is as tight as possible. Remember that this is a contest for mentors as well. I want to win!!!

What I’m NOT Looking For

1. YA, NA, or MG—Sorry. I did YA last year and I’d like to mix it up.

2. Sci-Fi

3. Epic Fantasy

4. Christian or Inspirational Fiction

The List of Agents

1. LouiseFury – Bent Agency

2. SuzieTownsend – New Leaf Literary

3. NicoleResciniti - The Seymour Agency

4. JohnM. Cusick – The Greenhouse Agency

5. SarahLaPolla – Bradford Literary Agency

6. VictoriaMarini - Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency