SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
- YA/MG submissions will be open on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 and THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EST.
- During the appropriate submission window, send your LOGLINE and the first 250 words of your COMPLETED AND POLISHED MANUSCRIPT.
- The word count is set at 310. This allows for a maximum of 60 words for your logline. (Most loglines are shorter than this.)
- To submit, GO HERE and follow the directions. Be sure to check your word count and preview your entry before hitting "submit."
- YES, you may submit your entry if you were in any Secret Agent contests this year.
- NO, you MAY NOT submit if you were one of last year's 60 Baker's Dozen entrants...UNLESS it is a DIFFERENT MANUSCRIPT.
- YES, you MAY submit a YA or MG manuscript this week if you have already submitted in the adult category.
- All entrants must pay an $10 entry fee. You will be asked to pay before your entry is completed. You do not need a Paypal account to pay the fee (you should be given the option to use a credit card), though it's certainly easier when you do have an account.
- Please do not enter if you are already agented.
- Please notify me if you receive an offer of representation prior to the announcement of winners. Also, please understand that the entry fee is non-refundable.
- By entering this contest, you are giving implicit permission to have your work posted and publicly critiqued.
- All non-winning entries will be given the option for public critique at a later date. Details to be announced.
- When you are getting ready to cut and paste your entry into the submission form, it might be a good idea to make sure you are pasting FROM A PLAIN-TEXT DOCUMENT. Certain goofy HTML tags (that you can't see) tend to mess up the formatting, sometimes to the point of making the text of your entry disappear (don't worry; I found all the missing ones in the database...but I'd rather not have to go looking for them!).
- If you do not have a Paypal account, and you find that Paypal does not offer you the "pay with card" option, it is likely that you have, at some point, registered for a Paypal account--and Paypal remembers. (Creepy, that.) Try clearing your cookies or using a different browser or...something. I don't pretend to understand this. I only know that Paypal can be a bit quirky.
- It doesn't matter if your Paypal account uses a different email address than you used for your entry--the Authoress Bot doesn't care! Your payment will be automatically credited to your entry, and all will be well.
- YES, you will receive a confirmation email! Look for it. It contains a link to pay for your entry, which is your back-up in case you ran into difficulty while trying to pay from the web form. The bot will mark your entry at "processing" until payment is received, and it will know who you are when you pay.
Authoress,
ReplyDeleteSilly question, but I can't seem to find the answer. Are the 100 entries done via lottery like your other contests, or will it be first come? (In case I need to block off my calendar for right at 9am :)
Thank you!
It's not a lottery! It's first come, first served, for a maximum of 150 entries per day (I don't expect the second day to fill up).
ReplyDeleteSo yep -- block off your calendar! :)
It's only now sinking in for me what an incredibly generous thing it is that you're doing here... Thank you so much for putting so much time and energy into creating this opportunity for all of us!
ReplyDeleteIs it okay if the logline is a couple of words longer and the sample a couple of words shorter as long as the total word count is under 310? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSo if you don't make the first day's window, can you try for the second, or are you tough out of luck? :) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteRobyn -- Thank you so much; it is truly my pleasure. :)
ReplyDeleteAnon 1 -- Yep. There's no way for me to control that!
Anon 2 -- You can totally try for the second! That's one of the reasons I have 2 windows.
I have an inversion of the word count question asked above:
ReplyDeleteMy logline is 37 words. There's a good stopping point in my MS at 259 words. Would that combo be admissable?
If not, no big, there's a phrase I can eliminate if needs be to get to that magic 250, but I thought I'd ask :-)
A.M. -- That's fine. Honestly, the bot won't know the difference. :)
ReplyDeleteGoing to sit this one out, I think. But best of luck to everyone and thanks for all you're doing, Authoress.
ReplyDeleteI'm so nervous and excited for this! Thank you, Authoress, for hosting such a fantastic event.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to all! And happy reading to Authoress and Jodi!
ReplyDeleteI second Julia. So nervous and excited!! Can't wait for tomorrow! Thank you again so much for doing this. This is the first year I can participate!
ReplyDeleteI noticed a comment some posts back that you and Jodi read the adult entries and decide which will be put forward.With MG/YA it's first across the line, is that correct? Thanks so much for organizing this.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth -- ALL entries will be read by Jodi and me. It's "first across the line" to get into the slushpile. Once in, ALL entries will be read and considered for one of the slots in the auction.
ReplyDeleteHope that clarifies. :)
Do you happen to know if the bot counts hyphenated words as one word or two? Microsoft Word counts them as one... but Apple Pages counts them as two. Yeesh.
ReplyDeleteAuthoress, thanks so much for doing this. You're awesome!!
ReplyDeleteSo if you don't make it in the first window and have to try for the second one, does that mean you have to pay the $10 entry fee both times? Or will it just close when it's full and not allow you to go any further?
Carmen -- It will close. The bot will only accept payment after an eligible entry is entered (i.e., word count is right, etc.). Once the 150 slots are filled tomorrow, the contest will close.
ReplyDeleteJust a test comment. Thanks so much for hosting this contest!
ReplyDeleteMade it in! Woo-hoo!
ReplyDeleteI think the numbers "8:59" are now burned into my retina from staring so hard at my clock, but it was worth it ;-)
Thank you, Authoress, no matter what happens. It was great fun to be up at 6:03 PT to do this.
ReplyDeleteYou are blessed with patience, Authoress. Thank you for all you do!
ReplyDeleteI feel lucky to have gotten in!
(Are my priorities off? I put entering the Baker's Dozen ahead of voting.)
Woohoo! Me too. Now I can go back to bed...
ReplyDelete@ Triona
ReplyDeleteLooks like the bot counts hyphenated words as one.
...'cause my final wordcount ended up as 280 when it should have been 293.
LOL Anon! They are equally stressful. I'm manning the contest before voting, too. :)
ReplyDelete100th monkey -- well that worked out well!
ReplyDeleteAuthoress, what a great opportunity. Thank you. I made it in this morning but even with the plain text I had trouble with the formatting and it wouldn't allow me to change anything. Hence there will be no paragraph indents in my sample. If it can be sent in another way, I'd be happy to do that.
ReplyDeleteNo worries, nhatch -- I don't use paragraph indents on the blog, anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteVoted early (last week) here in Florida, so no worries this am. This is such an amazing opportunity! I am soooooo excited!
ReplyDeleteI am confused by Paypal. I don't have an account, and it didn't give me a choice so I filled in the information to set up an account. Then it sent me to a second page where it said I could link a credit card for payment, so I put info in again. Now, in my inbox is a receipt for payment (Yay!) plus an email from paypal asking me to click to activate my account. If I don't activate, do you still get payment? I don't want to screw this up, but I really don't want a paypal account either!
ReplyDeleteEntered and done. Now I can go back to my zzzzzs good ole west coast time difference!
ReplyDeleteWendy -- Paypal is quirky. You don't have to activate your account. If you've already entered a credit card #, then your payment has gone through.
ReplyDeleteJust ignore the "activate" email. :)
Staring dumbfounded at the Sorry screen. Can't believe how fast those 100 entries filled up. Going to be having an anxiety attack at 5:59AM Pacific on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteI got an email receipt from paypal, but not from the bot. Does this mean there was something wrong with my entry?
ReplyDeleteNope! Check your spam folder.
ReplyDeleteI did. It's not there either :-(
ReplyDeleteThank you, Authoress! You make it possible for me to head off to vote with joy in my heart...regardless of the outcome!
ReplyDeleteThanks Authoress! I found it! (I forgot I used my other email address, and since it went to spam it wasn't forwarded to my main email box.)
ReplyDeleteSorry. That's what I get for trying to submit with a 11 month old crawling all over me. But anyways, yay! I'm in :-) Thank you so much for hosting this!
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ReplyDeleteI know they filled up fast 'cuz my confirmation e-mail - received at 9:02 AM - said I was #87.
ReplyDeleteWhoa.
Quick question. I always have problems with Paypal from my computer at work. Does the bolt hold your spot when it's processing until the payment goes through, or does it bump you and allow a faster payment to take your place in line?
ReplyDeleteI received an email receipt from paypal, but not from the bot... it's not in my spam folder either. Is everything ok with my entry?
ReplyDeleteSorry for adding to the chaos of your morning!
It will hold your space...but only the until the contest closes.
ReplyDeleteJeannette -- If you've heard from paypal, you're good to go.
I submitted and have Paypal verification, but never got a confirmation email ... were those sent out right away? I even checked spam!
ReplyDeleteWonderful and fun opportunity, thank you Authoress. Even if none of my pages are requested, I love getting the feedback and/or just following along, learning from other's work. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are fabulous for doing this again!
ReplyDelete