Hooks, loglines and pitches

I love picking up writing gems and ANNE R. ALLEN'S blog is a virtual goldmine.

Check out her fabulous post today on Hooks, Loglines and Pitches, great stuff for writers!

Critique winners!

I'm thrilled to announce the critique winners from my pitch contest last week.

With an added bonus!

The amazingly generous Liz Pelletier (originally offering to critique the first 5 pages of one winner) has requested the FULL manuscripts of 3 entrants!

-BITERS (the winner) by Sarah Shade
-MR RIGHT NOW by Kristina Knight
-FREEFALLING by Robyn

I'd love to critique all entrants but with time constraints (I barely sleep as it is!) I've had to choose one, and that winner is:

-TOKYO DARE by Anne Van.

If you didn't win this time, please don't be disheartened.
I loved reading all the pitches and I know Liz had a really difficult time narrowing the field too.
I hope to see your books on the shelf real soon, or stay tuned for more pitch contests!

Congrats again to the winners.

Pitch & win critiques!

As most writers have discovered at some stage, synopses suck.

It's extremely difficult to take your fabulous manuscript and highlight the best bits in a succinct, cohesive way.

It's harder yet to to write a query, a 3 paragraph summary of your book.

The hardest?  A pitch, a one or two sentence summary.

So of course, that's what I'm asking you to do for a chance to win critiques.

I'm doing you a favour, honest. How can you convince someone else to read your story if you can't describe it in a snazzy, short, convincing way?

For tips, check out:

Rachelle Gardner's post on One-Sentence Summary

Nathan Bransford's post on How to Write a One Sentence Pitch

So, what's the prize?

-A critique of the first 5 pages of your manuscript by LIZ PELLETIER, senior editor & co-founder of ENTANGLED PUBLISHING (What they've achieved in a short space of time is truly phenomenal. I love working with them!)

-A critique of the first 5 pages of your manuscript by a USA TODAY, Waldenbooks & Bookscan bestseller with 30+ books under her belt. (Yeah, that'd be me!)

So here are the rules:

-As this is a blog contest, it's only open to followers of my blog (feel free to follow now to participate.)

-Your pitch must be 1 or 2 sentences max.

-Post your entry in the comments section here.  Your entry must include:

1. Title, genre, word count

2. Your polished 1-2 sentence pitch

3. your email address

-Entries must be for a completed manuscript (novellas included.)
-Contest open to unpublished writers only.

This contest will run for 1 week, entries closing 11.59pm Monday 16th October.

FYI
Entangled Publishing submissions: We are seeking novels and novellas in the following subgenres of romantic fiction for publication in Summer 2012 and beyond:


•Contemporary (including category series romance.)
•Upper YA/New Adult (17-22 yo protags) that will appeal to crossover audiences

•Historical

•Romantic Thrillers

•Science Fiction
•Paranormal and Urban Fantasy
•Fantasy

Their latest October 2011 wishlist is here.

Good luck!
And please spread the word: on your blog, Facebook, Twitter.
Thanks!

(Don't forget the chance to win my latest release all week here!)

Crafting a pitch

There was a great post by Rachelle Gardner yesterday on crafting a pitch.

She lists 11 questions to ask yourself when identifying important elements to make a good pitch.

Check it out here.