1st Round Judges for Agent Contest...REVEALED

This week is going to be so much fun! The reason? I get to reveal the 1st round judges for the agent pitch contest today! And Wednesday, I will be posting the agents participating!!! 

If you want to get in on the Gearing Up to Get an Agent Blogfest/Pitch Contests go HERE to sign up.

The schedule is HERE.

Badges are HERE.

Before I go introduce these amazing people to the blogosphere, I want to bring up two possible issues that may arise with this judging and how I am going to go about handling them.

1) Many of the 1st round judges are YA writers. Yes, this is the case. I know for those of you who do not write YA this may cause some trepidation, and for that I am sorry. Being just a minuscule writer in this industry myself, I have to utilize the tools and helpers that I come in contact with. Because I'm a YA writer, many of the agented authors I know write YA too. No worries, though. I do have a plan of action to combat the worry that may arise from this. My plan is to separate the pitches into groups based on the writer's target audience. For example, those with adult manuscripts will be grouped together, as will YA, MG and so on. I will do this, as well as grouping the genres together as best I can. Now, you must understand, with only five host blogs, this won't be a perfect science. So I repeat, I will do the best I can:)

2) Many of the judges may know some of those entering. To take car of this being a problem I am a.) making the entries anonymous and b.) going to try and separate the judge from any entries they recognize. 

I am very aware this may not work out perfectly and that no matter the planning I do, problems will arise. Because that may be the case, I ask that we can all go about this contest with the general understanding that myself and the judges have only the best intentions for the writers entering the contest and we want to make it as fair as possible. Please, if you have questions on this matter, put them in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them.

Now, without further ado, I present to you....

ROUND ONE JUDGES FOR THE AGENT PITCH CONTEST

(Listed in no particular order - They are all full of awesomeness)

As a reminder, these are the 20 judges who will be grouped into fours and spread throughout five different blogs who will each host forty pitches (query plus first 150 words of their manuscript). The goal is to pick their top ten to move on to the final round with the agents.

Angelina Hansen

Angelina C. Hansen eats and writes young adult and middle grade books everyday. In order not to gain all that weight (books weigh a lot, ya know) she likes to takes hikes in the woods where she conjures up all sorts of trouble for her characters. You can find  out what she's up to on Twitter: @AngelinaC.Hansen Website: http://www.yascribe.com/

Taryn Albright

Taryn Albright does almost every job in publishing (writer, freelance editor, lit agency intern, author assistant) for free. But such is the life of a teenager. When she's not reading or writing, she swims collegiately and checks the campus post office for care packages. Twitter: @TarynAlbright Website: http://www.tarynalbright.com/ 

Cindy Thomas

Cindy Thomas lives in NH with her husband and two sons. She adores all things blue, is a total bookish fan girl and has way too many pets. She'll read almost anything, but writes YA and is represented by Marcy Posner of Folio Literary Management.  Twitter: @CindyisWriting Blog: http://cindythomasbooks.blogspot.com/

Ryan Graudin

When she’s not writing and drifting around the globe, Ryan Graudin enjoys hunting through thrift stores and taking pictures of her native Charleston, SC. Her novel LUMINANCE HOUR, the story of a Faery who falls in love with the prince she’s forced to guard, is due out with HarperTeen in 2013. You can learn about all of these things and more at http://ryangraudin.blogspot.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at @ryangraudin

Kelley Lynn

Kelley Lynn's dog, allows Kelley and her sister to live with her in a suburb of Milwaukee, WI. An engineer by day, and writer whenever she can find the time, Kelley Lynn is releasing a YA Fantasy in March 2013 from Sapphire Star Publishing and is represented by Brittany Booker of The Corvisiero Agency. Twitter: @KelleyLynn1 Blog: http://getbetweenthebookends.blogspot.com/

Lori M Lee

Lori is a YA writer represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary. Twitter: LoriMLee Website: http://www.lorimlee.com/

Elizabeth Briggs

Elizabeth Briggs writes YA sci-fi, lives for Comic Con, and volunteers with dog rescues. She's represented by Kate Testerman of KT Literary and interns for Jill Corcoran of Herman Agency. Twitter:@lizwrites Blog: http://elizabethbriggs.blogspot.com/

Melodie Wright

Melodie Wright lives in Palmer, Alaska, with her family. She's a teacher and a writer repped by Tricia Lawrence of EMLA for her YA fiction, and a soon-to-be-named agent for her adult fiction. Twitter: @rewrighter01 Blog: http://foreverrewrighting.blogspot.com/

Bethany Crandell

Bethany Crandell lives in San Diego with her husband, two daughters and a chocolate Labrador who has no consideration for personal space. She loves chunky guacamole and generous hugs. Her debut, SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS will be released by Running Press in spring 2014. Twitter: @rookieriter Website: http://www.bethanycrandell.com/

Cassie Mae

Cassie Mae is a total peanut butter cheesecake addict from Utah, who likes to sing along to High School Musical and quote Harry Potter with her best buds. She writes humorous YA Contemporary Romance, and is repped by Brittany Booker of the Corvisierso Agency. Twitter: @CassieCook2 Blog: http://readingwritingandlovinit.blogspot.com/

Angie Sandro

Angie Sandro was born at Whiteman Airforce Base, Missouri. Within six weeks, she began the first of eleven relocations throughout the United States, Spain, and Guam before the age of eighteen. For her thirteenth birthday, she visited Japan, Korea, Philippines and Okinawa which developed her love for learning about other cultures.

Traveling the world inspired her imagination and allowed her to create her own imaginary friends. For Angie, writing is as necessary as breathing. She is represented by Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. http://anjeasandro.blogspot.com/ https://twitter.com/AngieSandro http://www.facebook.com/pages/Angie-Sandro/253044268078356

Beth Hull

Beth Hull lives in northern California with her husband, two kids, and cat. Three of her favorite words (in alphabetical order) areblackbird, haruspex, and lackadaisical, and she overuses parentheses. She writes YA and is represented by Brandi Bowles of Foundry Literary + Media. Twitter: @tbethhull Website: http://bethhull.com/

Lisa Chickos

Lisa Ann Chickos is a zookeeper and environmental educator by background, and she has been kicked, cornered, bitten and chased by nearly every animal she loves. She surfs (poorly), snowboards (moderately) and utilizes commas (proficiently). She also digs young adult fiction, and she is represented by Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates. Twitter: @LisaAnnChickos Blog: http://lisachickos.blogspot.com

Ilima Todd

Ilima Todd is a homeschooling mom of four by day, writer by night (usually late late night) rep'd by Jennifer Skutelsky of Veritas Literary. She writes YA sci-fi and fantasy with lots of kissing while listening to the M83 station on Pandora. Sometimes she thinks her husband is a sleeper-cylon but doesn't think avocados are the greatest invention ever. She knows it. Twitter: @ilimaktodd Blog: http://ilimawrites.blogspot.com/

Jenny Morris

Jenny Morris lives in the Pacific NW with her husband and two young padawans. She writes Young Adult Fiction and is repped by Brittany Booker with Corvisierio Literary Agency. Twitter:@jennysmorris Blog: http://jennysimaginaryworld.blogspot.com/

Julie Murphy

Julie lives in North Texas with her husband who loves her, her dog who adores her, and her cat who tolerates her. When Julie's not writing or trying to catch stray cats, she works at an academic library. Side Effects May Vary (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray 2014) is Julie's debut novel. Twitter: @andimjulie Website: http://www.juliemurphywrites.com/

Krista Van Dolzer

Wife of one, mother of three, writer of several unpublished things. Fan of BYU football and sideways smiley faces. Represented by Kate Schafer Testerman of kt literary. Twitter: @KristaVanDolzer Blog: http://www.motherwrite.blogspot.com/

Alex Villasante

Alex Villasante didn't always know she wanted to be a writer. She's got an MFA in Fine Art to prove it. The fact that she was a storyteller eluded her until she moved to the wilds of Pennsylvania and began painting with words. She writes YA Fantasy and Paranormal Mystery and anything else that gets the muse going. Alex makes her home with her husband, two children and a pair of cranky rabbits. She's represented by Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency and blogs almost faithfully at magpiewrites.blogspot.com Twitter: @magpiewrites

 Angela Cook

Angela is a young adult writer, represented by Eric Myers of The Spieler Agency.  She lives just outside of Detroit with her husband and two children. Twitter: @AngelaVCook Blog:http://www.angelavcook.blogspot.com/

Kathryn Purdie

Kathryn Purdie grew up spouting Shakespeare on the stage and playing folk songs on her guitar, but it wasn’t until she had three children that she discovered her passion for creative writing. Now she channels her artistic energy into the pages of her young adult fantasy novels, where she gets to act out all the parts and write swoonworthy love songs for her characters. Kathryn is represented by Weronika Janczuk of Lynn C. Franklin Associates. Twitter: @KathrynPurdie Blog: http://www.purdiewriting.blogspot.com/

***

Pretty amazing right! I feel privileged to be working with every last on of them! And I can promise you, they feel the same to be able to pay it forward to those entering this contest. 

During the 1st round of judging, the above judges judge will go incognito with some very interesting names they've picked out for themselves. So be prepared, folks, to be entertained when the time comes.

So I ask you: ARE YOU EXCITED YET?

Me too!

See you back here Wed. for the agent reveal!