Have you ever wondered if your young adult, new adult, or middle grade manuscript would hook a teen reader? We all have. So what better way to find out than a contest with the talented teens of TEEN EYES EDITORIAL.
Here's a bit about the editors . . .
Kate Coursey
Kate Coursey has completed nine novels to date. Her fifth novel, tentatively titled LIKE CLOCKWORK, won the 2010 PUSH Novel Contest. It is currently undergoing revisions with Jody Corbett at Scholastic Press. She is represented by Edward Necarsulmer IV of McIntosh & Otis. In addition to having extensive experience as a freelance editor, Kate worked as an intern at Scholastic Press where she read many (agented and unagented) submissions. She received the prestigiousSterling Scholar Grant in 2011 based on an extensive creative writing sample. Later that year, Kate underwent a comprehensive evaluation of her editorial skills (both technical and content-related), beating out dozens of post-grad students for an editorial internship at a mid-sized publisher, where she worked during the fall. She is 19 years old and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Kate loves all things fantasy, contemporary, and middle grade. To learn more about her, visit her website or follow her on Twitter.
Kate loves all things fantasy, contemporary, and middle grade. To learn more about her, visit her website or follow her on Twitter.
Taryn Albright
Taryn Albright is a nineteen-year-old author whose choice to write instead of do homework led to a Creative Writing major. When she isn't being a college student, swimmer, or writer, she is an intern with Movable Type Literary Management. She is also the personal assistant to the amazing Genn Albin (CREWEL, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, October 2012). Her YA fiction is represented by Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst Literary Management.
Taryn is particularly interested in contemporaries, mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi, and dystopians, but she also loves fantasy and historical fiction. She's probably not right for your paranormal, but pleasant surprises happen. She loves strong heroines, myth and fairy-tale retellings, and stories about sports. Some of her favorite authors include Suzanne Collins, Stephanie Perkins, Rae Carson, Kirsten Hubbard, Kendare Blake, Veronica Roth, Ilsa Bick, and Ransom Riggs.
To learn more about Taryn, visit her blog or follow her on Twitter.
Taryn is particularly interested in contemporaries, mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi, and dystopians, but she also loves fantasy and historical fiction. She's probably not right for your paranormal, but pleasant surprises happen. She loves strong heroines, myth and fairy-tale retellings, and stories about sports. Some of her favorite authors include Suzanne Collins, Stephanie Perkins, Rae Carson, Kirsten Hubbard, Kendare Blake, Veronica Roth, Ilsa Bick, and Ransom Riggs.
To learn more about Taryn, visit her blog or follow her on Twitter.
Brent Taylor
Brent Taylor lives in Louisville, Kentucky. He’s an ex-gymnast turned blogger, and has been a children’s and YA specialist intern at a New York-based literary agency for a little over a year. His articles have appeared inSchool Library Journal and VOYA, and he is a contributing writer at Lambda Literary.
Brent was raised in middle grade fantasy, hung out with YA contemporary for years, and is now enjoying every stolen moment on his porch swing with nice literary and not-so-literary fiction. He loves narrators that take him on wild rides to worlds and situations he’s never experienced before and fresh plotlines.
You can visit his blog, or—and this is if you’re feeling particularly adventurous—follow him on Twitter.
Each editor will read different type of entries for new adult, young adult, and middle grade manuscripts (please see info. below each editor's picture for their genre tastes) on these three blogs . . .
Authoress will host editor, Taryn Albright who will judge query letters. The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to use toward any of Taryn's editorial services.
Brenda Drake will host editor Brent Taylor who will judge one-line pitches (35-words max.). The winner will receive a 20K in-depth manuscript critique.
Krista Van Dolzer will host editor Kate Coursey who will judge 1st pages (250-word max.). The winner will receive a 20K in-depth manuscript critique.
The submission posts on all three blogs will go live on July 31 at 8AM EST. Here's the great part, you can enter on one, two, or all three of the blogs for a chance to win the prize on that blog (one prize per person).
You don't have to follow us on our blogs or on twitter or spread the word to win, but we'd love it if you did. All you have to do is come back and enter on the submission post.
Does the MS have to be complete in order to enter?
ReplyDeleteThis definitely sounds intriguing. I was fortunate enough to have 5 of my beta readers be in the 14-20 age range, but it never hurts to run it by another young set of eyes :-)
ReplyDeleteI may take the plunge on this one! Although the query is my weakest element of the 3 since I haven't started the query process; I only have a draft. The Teen Eyes website is pretty cool. Thanks for sharing about the contest!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great contest! Several of my critique partners have used Teen Eyes Editorial, and they've had only the best things to say!
ReplyDeleteThanks Authoress for hosting part of this contest! And thanks Taryn, Kate, and Brent, for having such an awesome contest!
So, when is the submission window? July 31 at 8am?
ReplyDeleteNice idea and fun! I think people forget however that older teenagers are not the audience for YA..it is more the 14 and 15 year old so if we could round some of them up then you would have a clearer picture of what grans and what doesn't. By the time someone is 18 or 19 this is an adult. Something to think about. And many 15 year olds are also too sophisticated for YA already - they have moved on to so-called adult books which pique their interest. So, remember that YA is usually aimed at a very young teenager ....not someone who is already in college or at least eligible to be so.
ReplyDelete@Jasmine - That is true in select cases, but definitely not all. Many YA books published these days (based on the findings at ALA this year, I'd actually say the majority) are aimed at a 16-21 audience. For instance, Code Name Verity, Chime, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and several of Holly Black's novels are all aimed at older YA readers. It's a very broad genre. There are YA novels for 13-year-olds (Princess for Hire series), and YA novels that kids might not fully understand until college (Code Name Verity). YA means "young adult," and these editors certainly fit that category.
ReplyDeleteLove this!
ReplyDeleteI had to bribe my son's friends with Gushers and cupcakes to sit down and read my first MS and give me feedback.
Thanks, all six of you!
Sounds like a neat contest. Is it a lottery, a limited number of submissions, or as many people who want to enter can?
ReplyDeleteName: Wendy Wilson O’Connell
ReplyDeleteTitle: Wolf Drawing
Genre: YA Horror
Protecting the town means sacrificing someone to the wolf every year and seventeen-year-old Red wants to rip out beating hearts.
Mama has to draw. I begged her not to go tonight. My face still stings from where she slapped me. She left a mark as bright as my name – Red. Her shit brown eyes glared defiance at me leaving the stench of her ignorant pride up my nose. I shouldn’t worry. She has more of a chance this year not to draw the paper with the wolf symbol. There are twenty more names in the drawing because of the high school graduates just turning eighteen. Next year, I’ll be eighteen and I dare this town ask me to go. I double dare them to lead me to the edge of those woods.
That wolf should be coming after me, not Mama. She’s all I’ve got, and being alone is the only thing I’m afraid of. I shouldn’t be here, but when have I ever done anything I’m supposed to do? My body presses farther into the tree behind me. The night air should numb me to what’s going on in that big white Plantation house on the hill, but it doesn’t.
My awareness warms me. You could even say it has made me wolf-like. It will soon enough. It’s dark, and the full moon passes behind the roof. Its six large windows on both floors make it look like a real mansion, but close up you can see the paint peeling, just like this town and all of its traditions built out of fear and superstition.
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ReplyDeleteName: John Sankovich
ReplyDeleteTitle: The Gifted
Genre: YA Supernatural
Query:
When people with supernatural gifts are hunted, sixteen-year-old telekinetic Rebecca Stevens has come to terms that people want her dead—her brother included.
Rebecca uses her gift to stop a robbery to save her brother’s life, and unwittingly starts a war between the violent Followers and the self-righteous Trinity. The Followers use their supernatural talents to oppress anyone unlike them while searching for their long lost leader, The Collector. Trinity recruited her brother and was formed to combat The Followers using any means necessary. No one is safe from their persecution.
Her father mysteriously disappears while trying to put a stop to the growing panic in town. Rebecca must navigate the battlefield between the two groups by using her growing gift to find him. With the war tearing apart the town of Peakside, Rebecca finds gifted allies in a spunky speedster, a super strong little girl, a jock who can become invisible, and a cocky young man who can teleport anywhere. Joined by her brother’s best friend without powers, she hopes to reconcile with her brother, stop the war, and find her father. If she fails, the world will witness the revival of The Collector, whose desire is to destroy anyone who isn’t gifted and rule with an iron fist.
THE GIFTED is a 93,000 word young adult supernatural thriller. People who enjoy Michael Grant’s Gone series will enjoy this novel and the strong protagonist’s struggles to overcome insurmountable odds.
Sounds like a neat contest. Is it a lottery, a limited number of submissions, or as many people who want to enter can?
ReplyDelete