3rd Annual Write Your Way to RT

The 3rd Annual Write Your Way to the 2016 RT Book Lovers’ Convention in Vegas

A little known fact about me is that I believe in Paying It Forward. You know, if you’re having good things happen, you should share as much as you can and pay it forward somehow. I also know how hard it is to get your feet in the door when it comes to writing and even attending the big events where agents, editors, and authors come together to talk all things books.

Writer events really aren’t on the cheap side, but they are worth every red penny and then some.

Especially this one.

2016 RT Book Lover’s Convention will be in Vegas, Neveda. For those who’ve never had the pleasure of attending the RT Convention, it caters to both writers and readers. It’s nearly a week long event where you can mingle with other readers, writers, and most likely, your favorite authors. You can attend panels focused on readers and you can attend panels that are for writers. Not only that, you get to meet top agents and editors. A lot of agent/editor referrals come from events like RT.  And there’s parties, awards ceremonies, slumber parties, Teen Day, and a GIANT BOOK fair with hundreds of the most popular authors.

So, I got to thinking a couple of years ago. How could I come up with a contest centered around one of the hottest events in the biz?

And so I did.

Write Your way to the 2016 RT Convention

Grand Prize

You will be flown into Vegas on Tuesday, April 12th 2016 (if flying is required) and you will be able to attend all the RT events and panels through the 17th of April, leaving on Sunday. RT events do continue throughout Sunday, but if you would like to stay the extra day, you’re on your own for that one.

Your hotel will be covered.

Your registration, valued at $495 will be covered.

You will be at RT, hanging with readers and writers.

 Runner- Up

Will receive a box of books and swag!



2nd Place Winner

Will receive a box of books and swag!

How do you enter?

Put your writing caps on, kiddos. To enter this contest you can fan fic one of the author’s books below to enter or write an original piece. You can mix and match books, characters. You can flip a POV of a scene or you can create a whole new one. You can do something entirely original. It’s not a complete story, but you must have a beginning, a middle, and an end to your scene. What you write is up to you. You just cannot exceed 1500 words.

Once you’ve written your piece, please submit it to this email: RTcontest@outlook.com

You must include the following items with your submission. If not, your submission is automatically deleted.

Your full name and full address
Date of Birth
Email address where we can get in contact with you

If you are unable to provide any of that information, the submission will not be accepted. No exceptions, guys! We have to verify age and location.

How this will work?

All entries must be received by December 31st or before we receive a 150 entries. Website will be updated with submissions if that happens.

Entries will be judged by an all star cast of Bestselling authors, an agent, a member of RT Book Reviews, Two super awesome bloggers, and the most important judge:  a reader.

Judges:

Veronica Rossi

She is the NY Times and USA Today best selling author of fiction for young adults – and adults who love fast-paced, thrilling reads. Her debut novel, UNDER THE NEVER SKY, was the first in a post-apocalyptic trilogy. Released in January 2012, it was deemed one of the Best Books of the Year by School Library Journal. The UNDER THE NEVER SKY trilogy is available in over twenty-five territories, and film rights have been optioned. Her second series, RIDERS, is a modern-day fantasy about four teens who unwittingly become incarnations of the legendary horsemen of the apocalypse, and the girl who leads them in their fight against an ancient, emerging evil. It released February 2016, with the sequel expected in early 2017. Veronica is also half of the New Adult writing duo behind the BOOMERANG trilogy, writing with Lorin Oberweger as Noelle August. Veronica completed undergraduate studies at UCLA and then went on to study fine art at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons. When not writing, she enjoys reading, painting, and to her great surprise this past year, running.

Jay Crownover

Jay lives in Colorado. She loves tattoos and body modification and loves to incorporate what she sees into her writing. She loves to read, particularly any kind of great story that engages; and of course a pretty, tatted-up bad boy always makes any kind of story better.

She is also the New York TImes and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men Series and the Welcome to the Point series.

Christopher Rice

CHRISTOPHER RICE published four New York Times bestselling thrillers before the age of 30 and was declared one of People Magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive. His supernatural thrillers were both nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. He launched his first erotic romance series, The Desire Exchange, two years ago as part of the 1,001 Dark Nights series. Together with his best friend, New York Times bestselling author Eric Shaw Quinn, he hosts a weekly Internet radio show and podcast at TheDinnerPartyShow.com.

Wendy Higgins

Wendy Higgins is the USA Today/NY Times bestselling author of the Sweet Evil series. She lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her husband, daughter, son, and little dog Rue. She loves stories of all kinds, but has a soft spot for romance and unique settings that sweep her away to somewhere different.

Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of the New York Times and International long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced ten New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 28 languages. (Some of these books have kissing. Some of these books have A LOT of kissing.)

Cora Carmack

Cora Carmack is a twenty-something writer, New York Times Bestselling author, who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She’s done a multitude of things in her life- boring jobs (like working retail), fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). Raised in a small Texas town, she now splits her time between Austin, TX and New York City and spends her time writing, traveling, and marathoning various television shows on Netflix. In her books, you can expect to find humor, heart, and a whole lot of awkward. Because let’s face it . . . awkward people need love, too.

Vilma Gonzalez (Blogger/Reviewer of Awesome)

Vilma Gonzalez is a marketing professional by day and book reviewer by night. She’s been devouring books since she was very young and in early 2013, created Vilma’s Book Blog, a website dedicated to reviewing books of all genres. In addition, she also writes for USA Today’s HEA blog, penning a column entitled Love In Suspense, which focuses on thrillers and mystery novels. Vilma also blogs about fashion and style trends and is determined to own every Alex and Ani bracelet every made. She currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and their two young sons.

Jillian Stein (Blogger/Reviewer/Author Relations of Awesome)

Living in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband, son, and many books, Jillian Stein turned a voracious appetite for reading into a successful book blog, Read-Love-Blog.  She also spreads the love of a good story as the Social Media Manager for the 1,001 Dark Nightsseries and also serves as the Author Relations Manager for International ThrillerWriters, Inc.

Elissa Petruzzi (RT Website Whiz)

Elissa Petruzzi is the Website & YA Editor at RT Book Reviews. She joined the magazine in 2006 after receiving her master’s in journalism from the University of Maryland. During her time at RT, she has interviewed such bestselling, beloved authors as Francine Pascal, Suzanne Collins, and Veronica Roth and extensively covered the publishing industry. Ever a teen at heart, Elissa has been a champion of the YA genre since she was reading the Baby-Sitters Club in her room way past her bedtime. Elissa has been published in In Touch Weekly, The Baltimore Sun and USA WEEKEND, among other publications.

Kevan Lyon (Agent of Ah-Mazing)

Kevan Lyon is a founding partner of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. With over 20 years in the publishing business, including over 9 years as a literary agent and 17+ years on the wholesale, retail and distribution side of the business, Kevan brings an informed and unique perspective to her work with clients. Her background on the buying and retail side of publishing affords her helpful insight into what types of books will sell and how to market them. Kevan holds an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

The. Reader.

Shh. The Reader is a secret!

And Jennifer L. Armentrout

# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

The Winners will be announced on February 13th, 2016

Short Story Guidelines

Cannot exceed 1500 words.


Books you can fan fict if you choose so can be any book written by the below authors: Me (under my real and pen name), Jay Crownover, Veronica Rossi, Christopher Rice, Christina Lauren, Cora Carmack, and Wendy Higgins


Blow our minds.

Rules/Disclaimers/And other important stuff you NEED to read

Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Entries under this age will be null and voided. No exceptions. I cannot be responsible for a minor attending this event.


Entry cannot exceed 1500 words and must be submitted by December 31st or before 150 entries have been received. Website will be updated with number of entries.


Upon entering the contest, you are agreeing to attend RT 2016 in Vegas. Please do not enter this contest if there is even a small chance you will not be able to attend due to any reason. I will be paying for the flight, the hotel, and the registration. Most of these are nonrefundable. If you back out after payment, that’s a lot of money down the drain plus someone else could’ve won and benefited from this opportunity.


Author, Judges, and RT Book Convention hold no liability for anything in this contest. So that means by entering, if you win and the airline loses your luggage or, in your excitement, you jump over your couch and break a leg, we are not responsible.
This contest is not sponsored by RT Book Reviews and is solely financed by Jennifer L. Armentrout.


By entering, you are a giving me the permission to share your short story through any venue I see fit. I will not be publishing the stories for financial gain, but story may be shared in a promotional or other way related to the contest.

For International Peeps

Originally, I was only going to limit the contest to US and Canada entries, simply because of the cost of international flights and all the other things to take in consideration: passports, potential customs issues, entry and exit of the states, and all that jazz. That’s a lot of money and a lot of responsibility. However, I have come up with an alternative. Please see the guidelines below for International entry. DO NOT enter the contest unless you can accept the guidelines. I do not want to award this prize to a winner who cannot attend the event due to International travel issues.

An international winner will be awarded a $700 voucher toward airfare (the approximate cost of a US city to US city flight), and the winner will be responsible for the remaining cost to travel into the US. Before entering this contest, ask yourself if you have the funds to cover the rest of the trip. Check out rates. Get information. DO NOT enter if you cannot purchase the rest of the ticket.


International winner must have a valid passport and meet all traveling requirements that are set forth by the United States Government.

This is a prize package that averages between $2,000-$3,000 when its all said and done. It’s huge. It’s epic. It’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun in Vegas.