Monday, January 16, 2012

January Secret Agent Early Info

Please note: This is NOT the call for submissions! The contest will open next Monday, January 23.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (please read carefully):

*There are TWO WAYS to enter: a) via email to authoress.submissions(at)gmail.com OR via web form at msfv.thoughtbin.org
* There will be 2 submission windows on Monday, January 23:  9:00 am to 11:00 am EST and 7:00 to 9:00 pm EST.  The first 25 entries from each window will be accepted.
* 2 alternates will also be accepted, for a total of 52 entries.
* PLEASE NOTE: You are responsible for figuring out your own time zone. "Time Zone differences" are NOT a reason for not getting your entry in.
* Submissions received before the contest opens will be rejected.
* Submissions are for COMPLETED MANUSCRIPTS ONLY. If you wouldn't want an agent to read the entire thing, DON'T SEND IT. If an "entire thing" doesn't exist, you shouldn't even be reading these rules.
* Manuscripts THAT HAVE BEEN IN A SECRET AGENT CONTEST DURING THE PAST SIX MONTHS (June-December) will not be accepted.
* You may submit A DIFFERENT MANUSCRIPT if you've participated in any previous Secret Agent contests.
* If you were one of the 60 Baker's Dozen entrants, please do not enter this Secret Agent contest (unless it is a different manuscript).
* Only ONE ENTRY per person per contest. If you send more than one, your subsequent entry(ies) will be rejected.
* If you are a PAST WINNER (i.e., offered any kind of prize from a Secret Agent), please DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST. (Unless it's a different manuscript.)
* Submissions are for THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. Please do not stop in the middle of a

GO HERE to submit via our web form.

If you choose to submit via email, your submission for this contest should be formatted EXACTLY as follows:

SCREEN NAME: Your Screen Name Here
TITLE: Your Title Here
GENRE: Your Genre Here

(Followed by the excerpt here.)

* No "chapter one," chapter titles, etc.
* You will receive a confirmation email with your lottery number.
* Submissions go to authoress.submissions(at)gmail.com. They DO NOT GO to my facelesswords address. Or any other address.
*It doesn't matter what you put in the subject line. The only thing you MUST NOT do is to use "RE:" The bot will think you are attempting to respond to an email, and will reject you.

As always, there is no fee to enter the Secret Agent contest.

This month's contest will include the following genres:

Adult literary
Memoir
Humor
Young Adult (all genres)
Middle Grade (all genres)

11 comments:

  1. As a Baker's Dozen entrant, I can't enter. But I can wish everyone preparing for it now good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for including memoir this month! Good luck to all the participants and thank you, authoress, for these contests!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm almost completed my MS but not quite ready to unleash it on an agent. So for now, I will become a new follower and enjoy your posts and enter in the next one :)

    Thanks for the opportunity and look forward to your posts. :)

    Jade

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a great post! thank you for sharing! appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can we include a logline as part of the overall word count?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Skywriter -- No loglines. SA contests are first page only.

    ReplyDelete
  7. If we entered Bakers Dozen, but did NOT get picked, can we enter January SA contest?
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yes! Only the 60 who made it in are asked not to enter this month's SA.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm so excited about this, but I can't get gmail to double space my 250 words. I hope that's okay.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I tried to enter but got a snarky message from Ms. Bot saying I did something wrong. DO I choose my own screen name? I thought I followed everything to the letter but - apparently not. Signed - Lovelorn in Philadelphia - actually, no, that was for Dear Abby - this is just me. So what's with the screen name?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I received a message that the 25 submission quota had already been met (at 9:12 a.m.!). May I resubmit during the 7-9 period this evening?

    ReplyDelete