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
* This month's submissions will be A LOTTERY. This means that all entries will be assigned a "lottery number" and the bot will choose the winners. Submissions will open at 9 am EST and will close at 5 pm EST.
* 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 (September-February) will not be accepted.
* You may submit A DIFFERENT MANUSCRIPT if you've participated in any previous Secret Agent contests.
* 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:
- Young Adult (all genres)
- Middle Grade (all genres)
- Romance
- Horror
- Mystery
- Suspense
- Thriller
- Literary Fiction
- Contemporary Fantasy
- Women's Fiction
Finally! My genre! :)
ReplyDeleteYay!
ReplyDeleteCan we enter this if we entered first line grabber?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit concerned. Last Secret Agent it said "MG (all genres)" but then the agent straight out said in comments that she didn't rep or read science fiction (a genre within middle grade). Could you confirm that this agent actually does take ALL genres?
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for the folks who can't enter any more SA contests after last month's even though they shouldn't have entered in the first place.
Anon, I get the agents' info directly from their web sites and/or PM pages. If they reflect something different when they arrive here, that's out of my control.
ReplyDeleteEntering a SA contest is similar to querying, in that you're reading the guidelines and entering according to what you've read. An agent's tastes or preferences can change regardless of whether you've sent a query or entered a Secret Agent contest. That's part of it, unfortunately.
I can't "confirm" that an agent won't change her mind about something or say something completely unexpected during a Secret Agent contest.
The value in these contests reaches much farther than simply "nabbing the agent." I believe most folks who enter understand that.
Looking forward to it!
ReplyDelete