What a great 1st week!! The time has come to give away a little something to one of you fabulous people. If you look to the right sidebar under Helpful GUTGAA links, you will see the Prize Center. You can find the winners and what they've won there. Have a great weekend!
UPDATE: The submission window for the pitch polish is now closed. If you didn't get an email, then I'm sorry, but you didn't get in.
If you still want eyes on your query and first 150 words, scroll down and sign up on the pitch polish blog hop. This hop will not be anonymous like the one on my blog, but can be just as helpful!
Today's the day! If you're looking for some guidance on your query and first 150 words, you've come to the right place.
At 11 AM EST I will be opening up the window for you to send me your query and first 150 words. I can only take the first 100 correctly formatted entries. So please read the following information closely.
You must be signed up for GUTGAA HERE if you want to join in this Pitch Polish
Subject line in the email needs to read:
Pitch Polish Entry
Format required:
AUTHOR'S NAME
TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT
GENRE
WORD COUNT
Query...
First 150 words. If your 150 ends in the middle of a sentence, you may finish the sentence.
Please email the query and 1st 150 words to:
deanabarnhart(at)gmail(dot)com
Here are a couple of other things to take note of before sending off your query:
-If you do not make it into the pitch polish, no worries. After I have sent a confirmation email to those that made it through, I will update this post with a linky list. If you didn't make it in, have a blog and still want to get some pitch feedback, sign up on the linky list for a fun little Pitch Polish blog hop next week.
-Monday I will post the 100 entries that made it through on my blog for constructive criticism. Please no rude comments. If something in a pitch doesn't sit right with you, there is a professional to leave your opinion. "I'm not a fan." "This sucks." And other such comments are not helpful. The whole 'golden rule' totally applies here!
-If you make it in, you will be required to read through some of the other pitches and help them out. Again, golden rule please:)
-Check the #GUTGAA hashtag for updates for when the window opens and closes.
As always, if you have questions please leave them below in the comments section.
I'm so excited for this but it opens at 1am (Saturday), my time! Gasp!
ReplyDeleteI'm still torn whether to stay up and submit or try my luck in the morning...
It's a hard one.
I have mine sitting in drafts! *tapping foot* I am two hours behind...so ... four and half hours left LOL I am excited and hope that others will help me to perfect it *nervous jitters*
ReplyDeleteHi Deana -- I'm still a little confused about the length of the query for the pitch polish/contest. The "meat" of my query letter is a whopping paragraph, which looks so long compared to the little one-line pitches I've been using! Is a paragraph okay? Or should we stick with the bare bones, one-liner pitch?
ReplyDeleteThanks for Gutgaa -- you rock!
Generally the 'meat' of your query should be around 200 words. The whole things should sit between 250 - 350 words but of course that's just a general rule of thumb.
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ReplyDeleteThat makes it 3am here. Right smack in the middle of when my internet is down for maintenance. (Of course -_-)
ReplyDeleteReally glad this'll have a linky for those who don't get in the first 100. Though I'm going to try with my other half's gmail account.
Since, for some reason, signing onto gmail myself just never works. o_O
Whoa. What the foog happened there?
ReplyDeletePleae don't tell me the 'net is gonna hiccup now.
I'm supposed to have another hour!
Laughing @ Anonymously Yours comment. I've got mine saved in drafts, too. So worried I'm going to have a brain melt and screw up the time diff (I'm CST.) :P Just want to say Good Luck to ALL! It's been really fun meeting everyone this week.
ReplyDeleteHeather- I'm so sorry! If it wasn't so late in the game I'd make two windows, but I'm afraid it might just confuse everyone. I didn't do two windows for the pitch polish because I honestly wasn't (and still am not sure) how fast this will fill up. I will definitely take not for next year though:)
ReplyDeleteAnon- I'm sure they will:)
Jenn- When I say meat, I mean for you to take the query you would send to an agent and take out the Dear agent....
and the
My story is a ..... and I am qualified because....
What is left is what I want you to send:) What you send to an agent in this regard shouldn't be more than a page with the additional 'stuff' so it shouldn't be too long. Does that answer your question?
Aldrea- As I told Heather, I'm sorry:( But who knows, it may not fill up that fast. I'm definitely learning for next year:)
DD- I did those drafts too:) Good luck to you and everyone!!!
Totally cool Deana. The Boy has his brother over so they're watching the football and I'm sipping vaguely on my glass of wine and staring at the clock.
ReplyDeleteIt still looks like they'll be up for a while...
If the timer on my other half's gmail account doesn't flick it off before the spots fill up, then there's always the linky. So we're cool. ^_^
ReplyDelete@D.D. Falvo - that is my worry too LOL!! I set a timer on my phone.
ReplyDelete@Deana - I am horrifically bad at writing queries. A story? Easy, peasy! Query? I am like a monkey doing a math problem - and it shows LOL
@Heather - two hours :)
HA! You guys are cracking me up:)
ReplyDeleteAnd Anon- I'm totally feeling your pain! I am the WORST at queries! And even after you get an agent it doesn't end. There's the dreaded synopsis:(
Anon--Don't feel bad. When I recently first wanted to try to reach out to agents (and was clueless and researching how to do it)...I didn't even know what a "Query" was. I still suck at them.
ReplyDeleteI'm learning though...thanks to all of the great feedback from things like this! So thank you Deana for hosting this! =)
This sounds like a great learning opportunity.
ReplyDeleteIs the pitch polish only open to those participating in the upcoming pitch contests? I still have work to do on my manuscript, so I will not be participating in those contests, but I do have a query and I'd love this chance to get feedback from so many people.
Thanks again for setting up this whole huge thing, Deana. You've been amazing!
Deana -- thanks so much for your reply -- super helpful!
ReplyDeleteJodie- You're welcome! I really love doing it:)
ReplyDeleteConnie- Nope, your manuscript does not have to be finished for the pitch polish. Even if you aren't diving into the contests, you can still get some feedback on a query and first 150 you're working on.
I'm a bit confused. Your title says 1 am EST, but the post says 11 am est. I'm very antsy-pantsy and don't want to miss the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteAnd to everyone, I'm going to be responding to your comments on my blog from now on. I was doing it through a reply on email, but then I realized I was answering the same questions over and over again. It just works better this way. I hope it does for everyone else too.
ReplyDeleteTraci- It says 11. The font it changes to makes it kind of look like a 1 though. Sorry about that:) It is definitely 11AM eastern standard time. a little over an hour to go:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Deana. I'm so excited. Counting down this hour with anticipation.
ReplyDeleteYAHOO!!!! Sending good luck vibes to all those entering!!!!
ReplyDelete@Deana - synopsis?! (breathing into paperbag) *muttering* haven't even figured out a query and now I have to worry about a synopsis?? (paperbag again)
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to post to my blog, since I don't have a completed manuscript yet.
ReplyDelete@Misa - neither do I :) This is for help in polishing the query for when you are ready.
ReplyDeleteThanks again, for doing this Deana. I'm a little nervous but excited for this chance. Good luck to everyone :-)
ReplyDeleteAnon- I'm finding it's actually easier so don't worry to much about it yet. One step at a time, right?:)
ReplyDeleteMisa- Anon is right, you don't have to have a completed ms to join in the pitch polish. But you're welcome to do it the blog hop way as well. Your choice:)
Done and done! I literally pressed send the second it turned 8 am west coast time! :)
ReplyDeleteDone did it! @Jessie, I did the same thing. Good luck everyone! This is so much fun.
ReplyDeleteJust sent mine in--right on the dot at 11 AM Eastern, LOL. :D Fingers crossed for everyone!
ReplyDeleteJust realized there was a typo in my submission. *facepalm*
ReplyDeleteYeah! After hitting send just in time for 9am EST (I must have been having a Dr Who moment,)I got it right on the button this time!
ReplyDeleteGood luck to everyone. :D
I'm in, too!! Woot ~ :) Best of luck to everyone! Can't wait to read your pitches!
ReplyDeleteSo glad I was not the only one with my finger poised over the "send" button LOL I made it! Yay! Good luck and cannot WAIT to see everyone else's entries...
ReplyDeleteDarn, totally missed this one but I'll definitely scan through the entries and provide any helpful feedback that I can.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if my submission will make the first 100 or not, but will you please disregard my typo? Pretty please? I only spelled query wrong. Of all the words! I'm usually a stickler for typos but I had to race back from getting kids to school and right in the middle of a thunder and lighting downpour, too. So sorry!!
ReplyDelete@Tamara - Don't worry, I had a typo too. Isn't it amazing how hitting "send" makes you realize instantly? LOL. Good luck to you and everybody else! :)
ReplyDelete@deanna: writing a synopsis is darn easy compared to a query. There is no need to entice the reader to read more, it's simply a list of all the twists and turns your story takes. But queries... they're downright evil. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHey guys, the sub window is closed. If you didn't make it in (you would know if you got an email from me) you can sign up on the linky list above for the Pitch Polish blog hop that will go on at the same time as the PP on my blog.
ReplyDeleteAnd Cat- You are so very right! They still suck though:)
Where are all you guys seeing a synopsis? Were we supposed to include a synopsis??? What am I not seeing??? Oh God. *worried now*
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ReplyDeleteCrap. Totally forgot this was today. Congrats to everyone who made it! I have a quick question. For the pitch polish blog hop, what day is that starting? When should we post our pitches on our blogs? Thanks!
ReplyDelete@Jodi - breathe! Breathe! *hands you my paperbag* That's it. We didn't have to hand in a synopsis. Deana was just saying that once you get an agent, you have to do synopsis as well and I wanted to cry LOL It's cool! When you're done, can I have the bag back? I am a nervous wreck about my query.
ReplyDelete@Tamara - a few writers have already posted theirs. I went and took a peek, gave my two cents and hope to have it returned :)
Jodie- Oh crap, I guess I never should have spoke the word synopsis, huh:) My bad. No synopsis, I was just talking lol.
ReplyDeleteTamera- As Anon said, some have already posted theirs. The official start is Monday, when the one on my blog will be happening, but you can post whenever if you want to get a head start:)
Poo- I completely forgot this was going on today. Thanks for still putting up the linky list, Deana.
ReplyDeleteDeana, I have to say I am continually in awe of all that you are doing in GUTGAA. You're amazing.
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling this would have been at some ungodly hour in my time too, so no wonder I missed out. I'm okay with it though :D Good luck to everyone who entered!! Can't wait to see more from GUTGAA :)
ReplyDeleteHey all,
ReplyDeleteWe are hosting a pitch contest over at http://pineapplelightning.blogspot.in/.
Hi Deana,
ReplyDeleteEven though my entry made it into the pitch polish, I realized I made a mistake in my opening sentence. Is it too late to modify it?
You're probably going to address this in the post tomorrow, but I wanted to know if we're allowed to post comments on our own entries (to clarify questions or such), or if we have to remain completely anonymous.
ReplyDelete