What are SECRET AGENT contests?

By far the most popular event on Miss Snark's First Victim, the Secret Agent: Are You Hooked? contests run monthly (more or less) and include a literary agent on the "critique panel" whose identity remains secret until the close of the contest.

Here's how it works:

There will be a call for submissions. When the call comes, follow the guidelines carefully and submit your excerpt before the deadline. All submissions will then be posted (anonymously) on the blog, and all readers are invited to leave critiques/feedback. Everyone who has entered the contest is expected to crit a minimum of five entries -- it's the mutual backscratch thing.

Our Secret Agent will join the panel of critters (that is, you) and will leave feedback for every entry. When the contest has ended, the Secret Agent will choose a winner or winners.

That's it in a nutshell!

Here are the basic guidelines for each Secret Agent contest:

• All excerpts submitted to a Secret Agent: Are You Hooked? contest must be the first 250 words of your COMPLETED manuscript.
• Your submission must include your screen name and the title and genre of your novel.
• By emailing your submission to me, you are giving implicit permission to have your work posted and publicly critiqued.
• No submissions will be accepted prior to the opening of the contest. The maximum number of entries per contest is 50 submissions.
• Winners of previous contests may not submit the same manuscript in future contests.
• All contest entrants are required to critique a minimum of five other entries.
• No attachments are accepted. Your 250 submission must be pasted into the body of your email.

Questions about the Secret Agent contests can be emailed to Authoress at facelesswords(at)gmail.com.