Monday, March 25, 2019

Secret Agent Contest Early Info

Please note: This is NOT the call for submissions! The contest will open next Monday, April 1.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (please read carefully):

*To enter, please use THE SUBMISSION FORM HERE.
*THIS WILL BE A LOTTERY: The submission window will be open from NOON to 6:00 PM EDT, after which the bot will randomly select 50 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.
* You may submit A DIFFERENT MANUSCRIPT if you've participated in any previous Secret Agent contests in the past year.
* Only ONE ENTRY per person per contest. If you send more than one, your subsequent entry(ies) will be rejected.
* 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.

As always, there is no fee to enter the Secret Agent contest.

This month's contest will include the following genres:

  • Middle Grade -- especially adventure stories and historical fiction
  • YA contemporary romance
  • YA magical realism
  • Women's Fiction
  • Thriller/Suspense
  • Literary Fiction
  • General Fiction
Ask your questions below!


24 comments:

  1. Unfortunately, I can't get the submission form to post - it's just a blank page. The same situation as the previous agent contest. Probably a tech problem on my end, but am wondering if anyone else is experiencing this?

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    1. Hmmm, that's odd, Shari, and yes, probably on your end. :( Have you tried a) a different browser, and b) an incognito window to open it?

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  2. I THINK mine is YA contemporary romance. It has an invisible girl, so you'd think SF, but even an agent who read the whole book said it's not SF. That aspect of it, though it comes into play right away (the inciting incident) is actually miner. There's also mystery involved, but it is most definitely romance. I'm not quite sure what to call it. I want to enter, but I don't want to be "cheating" if my genre doesn't quite fit. Advice?

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    1. Thank you for your thoughtfulness! You should probably go ahead and submit, particularly if romance is the primary thing. Would it fit under paranormal romance, maybe? Sometimes it's tricky!

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    2. Thanks, Authoress. Not paranormal. It's basically contemporary mystery romance, or romance mystery. :)

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  3. Hi, if we miss this deadline, will there be another agent contest?

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    1. I don't have one on the schedule right now, but I'm hoping to hold at least one more this year.

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  4. Hey, great of you to be doing this again! My question: does "general fiction" include historical? Thanks!

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    1. Hi! So, that's a good question, because I'm not sure what "general fiction" looks like, other than, perhaps, the adult equivalent of "YA contemporary". And I could be wrong. I think historical is more of its own genre, though. I think I may be throwing this ball back into your court... :)

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  5. This might be a dumb question but it says YA contemporary romance, does that mean we can't submit basic YA contemporary at all? Does it count if we have a YA contemporary that has some romance, but not a lot? Ty!!!

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    1. No such thing as a dumb question! It seems to me that this agent is currently looking specifically for YA romance. (At least according to what's listed on the agency web site.) So submitting something that doesn't fit that category probably isn't going to spark the agent's fire. In this case, it's a very specific request.

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  6. Does general fiction include picture books or chapter books?

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    1. It does not; this agent does not rep those. Thanks for asking!

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  7. On the sub form page, it just says Stars April 1. Is anything else supposed to be visible? I'm using Chrome. THANKS

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    1. Leslie, were you able to submit? If Chrome is giving you a problem, try a different browser.

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    2. Yes, I was! Thank you :) Now the waiting...

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  9. I am also getting a blank form regardless what browser I'm using. I assume tomorrow at 10 a.m., we'll see the actual page live?

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    1. Hmm, not sure why that is happening. Have you tried using an incognito window?

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  10. Hello, I am double-checking before submitting because the form is only accepting 240 words not 250. I *really* want to get that last line in there ;)

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  11. Hi and thank you for hosting these events. Do you think the Thriller/Suspense category might include paranormal romance as a sub genre? Probably not, but they say it doesn't hurt to ask. Thanks!

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    1. Hi! And you're welcome. I'd say that, since Thriller/Suspense is listed, you should go for it. :)

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  12. So, when will the people who are selected know?

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