Please note: This is NOT the call for submissions! The contest will open next Monday, January 14.
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.thoughbin.org
* THIS
WILL BE A LOTTERY: The submission window will be open from NOON to 5:00
PM EDT. Once the submission window is closed, the bot will randomly
choose the winning entries.
* 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 (July-December) will not be accepted.
* You may submit A DIFFERENT MANUSCRIPT if you've participated in any previous Secret Agent contests.
*If yours was one of the 2012 Baker's Dozen entries, please do not enter the same manuscript in this month's contest.
* Only ONE ENTRY per person per contest. If you send more than one, your subsequent entry(ies) will be rejected.
*
If you WON A CONTEST WITHIN THE PAST 12 MONTHS (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
Miss Snark's First Victim
Happy New Year Authoress,
ReplyDeleteIf I offer you a substantial bribe of chocolate, could you make the genre for the next contest Adult - all genres? :)
Hee! I'm always up for chocolate bribes. I take the agents as they come, though,and I actually don't check their genre lists until the week before each contest, so I can post them. (Actually, I don't even remember which agent is coming up next until I check my calendar. :P)
ReplyDeleteRe: This rule "If yours was one of the 2012 Baker's Dozen entries, please do not enter the same manuscript in this month's contest." If your manuscript did not get chosen for the bidding can you still use it? I have many writing projects but only one that I consider complete & submittable right now. Please explain this rule.
ReplyDeleteThere were 60 Baker's Dozen entries. If yours was not one of them, you may enter this month's SA contest.
ReplyDeleteA "screen name" question - have been logging in using my Wordpress OpenID - so I guess my "screen name" is charlotteashley (as above?) Or should I register with your site specifically?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
My comment
ReplyDeleteWhat do i do if I don't have a screen name? How do I get one?
ReplyDeleteYour screen name is whatever name you use when you leave comments here. You don't have to "do" anything -- just call yourself something other than "Anonymous". :)
ReplyDeleteBeen a long time stalker for these contests, and now I'm finally biting the bullet to enter. Looking forward to it..hopefully that frantic looking robot picks my number out of a hat.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I didn't receive a confirmation e-mail after I signed up, but I do have a confirmation number from the submission screen. Just wondering if that's just as good. I know e-mails can get lost in space.
Hey Nerdicus -- It should be fine. Check your spam folder, though.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't receive a confirmation e-mail, and my computer crashed before I could record the confirmation number. There is no message in my spam folder.
ReplyDeleteKem -- what email did you use to enter?
ReplyDeleteI used kmaaren@gmail.com. I double-checked to make sure it was correct.
ReplyDeleteI'm not seeing it in the database. Try entering again. Use the web form and let me know what happens.
ReplyDeleteOkay...I tried again, and it rejected the entry with a little frowny-face and the following notation: "You are only allowed 1 submission to this contest."
ReplyDeleteIf it helps, the original entry was submitted not long after noon (maybe 12:03 or so).
I also did not receive a confirmation e mail-- and I checked my spam folder, too. My e mail is tb5fab@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteKem -- there's your answer. It already has your first entry. Not sure why I couldn't find it (but I am admittedly database challenged...)
ReplyDeleteOkay, excellent. It looks as if this is happening to a lot of people. Thanks to my evil computer, my confirmation number will have to remain forever a mystery.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your responses...
No spam mail e-mail here either..but I'm going to just cross my fingers that I am in the database :)
ReplyDeleteHm, I didn't receive a confirmation email either. I tried to resubmit, and it said I couldn't submit again, so I'll just cross my fingers and hope it's in the database!
ReplyDeleteMichael has looked into this, and apparently it's a GoDaddy issue. He's working on it.
ReplyDeleteI just received my confirmation now. I think the bot may have short circuited a bit ha.
ReplyDeleteI've received my confirmation e-mail now, so hurrah!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to read all the entries! When do they go up?
ReplyDeleteWednesday morning!
ReplyDelete