Monday, March 18, 2013

March Secret Agent Early Info


Please note: This is NOT the call for submissions! The contest will open next Monday, March 25.

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 (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 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:
  • Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Women's Fiction (including Romance)
  • Cozy Mysteries
  • YA (all genres)
(NOTE: PLEASE don't email me and ask things like, "Is MG accepted?" or "Does YA include SF?"  1. If it's not on the above list, it's not included. 2. If I say "all genres" behind YA, that's what I mean.  Muchas gracias!)

12 comments:

  1. Hopefully there are no stupid questions here :)

    If I was in the Baker's Dozen auction, but didn't win, can I participate in this secret agent contest?

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  2. In the spirit of no stupid questions...is my screen name the one I use on Blogger or my Twitter handle?

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  3. Your screen name is whatever name you use when you post here. It's for means of identification only.

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  4. Finally, a Secret Agent contest in my genre and I finally have a finished manuscript. So excited.
    Thanks, Authoress, and good luck to everyone!

    Question: Is there a way we can see the form before the contest opens, so we know what to expect?

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  5. The form always opens 30 minutes before the contest. :)

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  6. Can't wait! This will be my first contest so I am very excited. Thanks Authoress and good luck to everyone!

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  7. Last time I did a 250-word contest it was "round up to the end of the sentence." Is that true here?

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  8. It's always true. Round up or down. Word count is 255 to accomodate. :)

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  9. If I was an entry in the "Fix What's Broken" post a few weeks ago, does that count as having won something, or am I still eligible to enter the Secret Agent contest?

    Thank you for doing these!

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