How 'bout them auctions??
So now's your chance to give feedback, and I REALLY WANT TO HEAR IT. This was our first ON THE BLOCK, and its future depends on the overall perception of how it actually went.
I set it up in the one-at-a-time format so that everyone could watch the auctions live (unlike the Baker's Dozen, during which all the bidding went on simultaneously and it was impossible to watch it unfold). Did that work for you?
Full disclosure--it was a lot more intense on my end this way, because I basically couldn't leave my computer for 4 consecutive hours. But I planned ahead and knew it was coming, and honestly, it wasn't bad. And other than a ridiculous problem with Blogger asking for verification EVEN THOUGH I HAVE ALL THAT TURNED OFF, there were no technical issues.
Did any of you deal with being forced to prove you weren't a robot? Several of the bidding agents were quite frustrated because their bidding was stalled by silly compare-the-picture type verifications. What is that?? Please let me know if you also dealt with that while leaving critiques last week.
Any other thoughts and impressions, positive and negative, are welcome. Please don't be shy. :)
A few of our give-aways winners still haven't contacted me, so please do check to see if your name is ON THIS LIST. Don't miss your chance at a critique from one of our Success Story authors!
A couple of you mentioned the idea of offering logline critiques to the people who submitted to ON THE BLOCK but were not chosen. I like this idea, so LOOK FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR THIS EARLY NEXT WEEK. (Note: This will ONLY be for people who entered the ON THE BLOCK contest in September.)
And MAKE SURE YOU POP BY ON MONDAY, because we're having a BETH REVIS INTERVIEW AND BOOK GIVEAWAY! I'm very excited about Beth's new book for writers, Paper Hearts. Be sure to stop by and grab your chance to win a signed copy!
I think that's everything. And now I'm going to take a deep breath and launch myself back into writer mode after nearly 2 weeks of doing other things. I did spend a little time planning my Next Book over the past few days, but my goal for this weekend is to really launch myself into everything full time. Mr. A will be out of town for several days, and of course that means more writing time, yes? Wish me luck. You know I'm not the queen of planning or drafting, so these are the things I have to muscle through.
Though, truth be told, planning a "book 2" isn't half as daunting as starting from scratch, since the world and characters are already built, right? It's just that dang PLOT thing. (Am I the only one who really, really, REALLY hates plotting? No one should have to think that hard. Or maybe I have to think that hard because I'm essentially plot-challenged.)
Anyway -- have a wonderful weekend, everyone! PLEASE leave your ON THE BLOCK feedback below, and I'll see you Monday.
Miss Snark's First Victim
I really liked the auction format, and it was clear which manuscripts spoke to the agents and which didn't. The ones they liked had full requests faster than I could refresh my browser. I was a bit surprised with the lack of interest in many of the adult novels, but I guess that had to do with the group of agents. I did read their complaints about the picture authentications, but I thought that just made the game more fun. The writers know they are interested, so they'll probably be getting queries for the novels they bid on soon enough.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, is there a rule as to how long we need to wait before querying?
Thanks for another great contest, and I hope you repeat this one next year!
The winning agents have a 1-week exclusive on what they won. After that, the losing agents can email me and request the stuff they didn't win. Some of them already have made those requests, but I'm waiting the full week before notifying the authors. :)
DeleteI thought it was great to be able to watch each auction unfold. I never even tried to keep track of Baker's Dozen, since you never knew when and where agents were going to be bidding. It was easier to check out the wrap-up post once the dust had settled. On the flip side, On the Block was much easier to follow, and I found myself checking in regularly throughout the morning.
ReplyDeleteAs for the problems with leaving comments, I've noticed that my blog still has some kind of comment authentication even though I have Captcha turned off. It's annoying, and I don't know how to disable it. I'll let you know if I have to prove my humanness as I leave this comment...
LOL Well? Did you?
DeleteI didn't have to prove my humanness! But that's probably because I was already signed in with my Blogger account. I assume it's when you're commenting under the "Name/URL" option that it forces you to pass some kind of test.
ReplyDeleteYes, and that's SO DUMB, right? If you've got it set to allow everyone to post, then it shouldn't override that. I get the whole "catch the spam" motive, but it should be up to the blog owner, not Blogger. But we can't complain about something that's free, yes? :-/
DeleteHi, yes a couple times leaving a critique I had to prove I'm a human. It wasn't a problem for me, though I can see how it might annoy bidding agents. :) I was a bit disappointed to see agents' low level of interest in the adult entries, when the MG and YA entries had so much interest. But overall a very positive experience, I have definitely benefited from it.
ReplyDeleteThe format was refreshing. I can see how it was easier to follow. I was also struck by how little interest there was in the adult entries, some of which I thought were very well written. But yes, that's an indication of the sort of agents who participated more than anything else.
ReplyDeleteIn the past, you've taken some time to call your your own takeaways from the submissions - if there are trends, if there are common problems. I'd be curious to know if you saw anything like that this time around.
Thanks for putting in all this time and sending out all this good energy into the universe.
I enjoyed On the Block as an early critiques. On auction day, I hope you left yourself a couple of ten-minute stretch windows! :-) Also, the prizes were brilliant. Thank you for organizing another awesome writing contest.
ReplyDeleteNo captcha for me, but, like Krista, I was signed in.
DeleteI'm going to be honest with you: When you first announced the On the Block contest, I decided not to participate. I have made it to the agent round in a contest before, and in that particular contest, myself and several other people did not get any requests because the agents representing our category/genre didn't come by (despite having committed to doing so).
ReplyDeleteI understand that's the nature of the beast on these things, but OTB seemed like the very, very short windows made it unlikely to get good agent participation. If agents can't even commit to coming by a blog to read entries when there are several days, sometimes up to a week, how can we expect them to stop by when there's only minutes available?
For me, it was a cost-to-benefit ratio. If the contest had been free? Probably. Which is not to say I'm resenting an entry fee. I have no issues with that in general. I would participate in Secret Agent with an entry fee again. It's just that the format of the contest made me skeptical that this was worth the money.
I would pay more to enter this type of contest if I could get feedback (from Authoress) as to why my logline and 250 didn't make the cut.
DeleteThat's an interesting perspective, Anon. Actually, the short windows made it much easier for the agents to schedule their days. They knew in advance exactly when each entry would post, and they planned accordingly. One of the agents knew she wasn't going to be available, so she had someone else bid for her. It was much less chaotic and much less stressful for the agents. They were able to focus on each entry individually, without worrying about others they might miss out on. And the short 10-minute window meant there was very little demand on their time for each entry they were interested in. For them, it seemed like a good fit!
DeleteKathryn, I agree that that would be fabulous, but the amount of time that would have taken is unfathomable. Reading the entries and taking time to choose the best ones is time-consuming enough. I would love to be able to explain the "why" of every rejection, but, just like agents, there just isn't enough time to feasibly do that.
DeleteNo technical problems here. I hope it was amazing for everybody.
ReplyDeleteI know this type of contest is subjective, but as a women's fic/romance writer, the odds of being a finalist are slim to none. :'(
ReplyDeleteSuzan, that's not really true. It's all about the writing, and as long as I have a participating agent who reps women's fic/romance, it's all good. When it comes right down to it, genre is the last thing that matters to me. What matters is good writing. (Even if the logline is weak, good writing will trump it!)
DeleteThx Authoress -- good to know. Seems like Women's fic just isn't that popular these days, at least compared to YA. I'll keep at it. :)
DeleteNever give up, Suzan! It's true that women's fic isn't as hot right now as it was a few years ago, but EVERYTHING waxes and wanes. Just keep writing. Always keep writing!
DeleteBeing on the west coast, I was disappointed that it was mostly over by the time I got out of bed and got to a computer. But what little I saw of the auction seemed to go very well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for another awesome contest, Authoress
Ugh, I know, the time zone thing is always a booger. Sorry about that! :( The problem is that I have to schedule things like this when I know I will be available (I couldn't leave my computer for the entire time, unless I, yanno, ran really, really fast to the bathroom. ;) ).
DeleteAs a disinterested observer (I didn't submit for the contest this year), I thought the format worked well. It was fun to be able to watch entries appear on the block and see the bidding wars in real time--or feel the stab of disappointment for the few excellent entries that didnt get any bids.
ReplyDeleteHaving a smaller number of entries overall also made it easier to read and get familiar with them, and my impression is that the average number of critiques on each entry was higher than in the past, which can only help the authors.
I know the participating agents probably don't have time for this, but I think it would be fascinating to see some feedback--even a sentence--on what they liked about the entries they bid on and why they passed over the ones they did.
Oh, and I had to do the Captcha thing every time I commented (including this post).
Though I don't know how the agents feel about it, the impression I got was that the technical aspects of the auction may have been rather frustrating for them. Even without the Captcha issues, if one agent's computer were just a teeny bit slower than another's, they were at a real disadvantage because so many of the bids were made at exactly the same time. But perhaps there's no way to do it differently that would remedy that?
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the lack of interest in the adult entries, and I sympathize with that concern. However, it's been my experience with all online writing sites in general, not just this one -- the emphasis on YA (and to a lesser extent, MG) is almost overwhelming. And it seems to be pretty much across the board -- whether you're looking at agent contests, online critiques, blogs, or writers' forums. Especially when it comes to adult fiction that's on the literary side of the spectrum, the majority of the participants on those kinds of sites seem neither very interested in nor very familiar with those genres. I've gotten so used to it that I take it for granted in many ways, but it is scary for people who write those kinds of books because it gives the impression that few people read them and almost no agents are actually looking for them! I'm guessing that's because the kind of agents (and readers) who are looking for those books (many of whom are probably older and more traditional) are probably not active online, and wouldn't participate in a contest like this. (At least, I hope that's all it means!)
Also, I just wanted to say that it's nice to know that someone else feels 'plot-challenged'! Plots have always been the hardest part for me as well. But the good news is that it's definitely become easier as I've gotten older. In fact, the last few ideas I've had for novels came to me with everything together right from the start -- including the plot! And that's something that never used to happen to me; I'd have a beginning and an ending and some vague ideas about a bunch of cool stuff that happens in the middle . . . ;) So maybe the same thing will happen to you, and finding the plot will become easier with each book. :)
I'd like to see this "fine-tuned" by genre or even sub-genre. Of course Authoress has a life, so we can't expect an On-The-Block auction every month, but how cool would that be to 'compete' against our own genres?
ReplyDeleteI noticed in the adult entries (not many here), at least three were thrillers. If the pool of agents handled mostly adult genres, and more specifically thrillers, I think there would have been more bids.
I feel badly for the adult entries that made it to the top 24 only to get a 'pass' at the end of the day. I think OTB would've been more successful for all involved if the contest was strictly for YA only, MG only, or Adult only. JMO.
That being said, I enjoyed watching how this played out. Kudos, Authoress. It was difficult to concentrate on work instead of constantly peeking at my laptop while the auction continued.