Hello all,
And here we are, first day of May… I swear it was Christmas just last week?
I hope everyone liked my graphs and charts 🙂 And now, for the every last stage of #Nestpitch 2014 –– the results of the Scorecards. But before I move on to them, let me quickly remind you that this blog will continue to post updates on other #pitching comps, hold interviews with authors, writers, editors, agents and publishers and generally keep everyone up-to-date on the comings and goings of the fun and funny world of writing, so don’t abandon us!
OK, on to the Scorecard results.
The ten reserve pitches were all re-read by the slushies and myself & scored out of 50, with a max. score of 20 for the pitch and 30 for the first 300* words. Those scores were then added up and divided by 8 to give an average. The top three average scores are listed below, in no specific order. with the title, the category / genre and their pitch… pssst! Agents! — look below, there might be something you like 🙂
The three top pitches are not in any particular order and in fact, two of the pitches got the exact same score and the third was only one point difference.
Title: The Mark of the Wielder
Genre: YA Fantasy
Word-Count: 68,000
Pitch: Spurred on to avenge her friend’s death, eighteen year old Journey Stanton seeks to massacre the Wielders. Her only problem- she just became one.
Title: Dandelion Wishes
Genre: Picture Book
Word Count: 599
Pitch: 4 year-old Gia and her mother marvel in the changing seasons from their hilltop, until dandelion wishes disappear, and with them Gia’s sense of magic. She finds it again in her first experience of snow.
Title: ZANNA AND THE ELEPHANT
Genre: Picture Book
Word count: 555 words
Pitch: Clashing parents aren’t fun. But Zanna has more pressing problems: How to dispose of the growing elephant in her house? Will Zanna’s tricks be enough, or will everything collapse with a big Crash-Bang?
Can I say I’m thrilled two PB’s got through to be featured! And I have to admit, they were two of my favourites — Congrats to all three Authors; here’s hoping an agent sees your pitches and asked for more 🙂
And now for the other seven (7) pitches — in no particular order, will be listed as I believe it’s important to acknowledge good work.
Title: MAGE OF CLIFFPORT ; Cat/Genre: Adult Fantasy ; Word-Count: 93,000 words
Title: KNEE BITERS ; Cat/Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy ; Word-Count: 81,000 words
Title: THE POINT ; Cat/Genre: (A) Women’s Fiction; Word-Count: 89,000
Title: THUNDER BORN ; Cat/Genre: Young Adult Fantasy ; Word Count: 92,000
Title: THE UNBELIEVABLE MISADVENTURES OF AVERY MANN ; Cat/Genre: MG Contemporary Fantasy; Word-Count: 69,000
Title: BUTTERFLY GIRL ; Cat/Genre: Upper MG / Magical Realism ; Word-Count: 44,000
Title: XO ; Cat/Genre: Adult Contemporary ; Word-Count: 89,000
Yes it’s a short post, but the last one was on the longish side so it all balances out in the end. Now show your love and make a comment on the featured
pitches; and if you’re one of the pitch-ee’s — do this >>>>
Seriously, congrats on a great job and honestly, you’ll see from the scorecards/comments that a lot of the final decisions came down to subjectiveness 🙂
Best of luck guys! I hope the scorecards and feedback will help you identify which areas are working well and which could do with a little sharpening.
And now, please excuse my indulgence in some shameless self-promotion:
The Nestpitch blog up for BEST BLOG Site 2014 (Australia) & there’s also a Peoples Choice Award. Voting is open to everyone worldwide & is anonymous
, so I’ll never know if you voted or not (but if you do, thank you, I know some of you have already voted, & this is greatly appreciated). If you can spare a minute and would like to vote, here’s the link:
http://www.writerscentre.com.au/community/best-australian-blogs-comp/peoples-choice/
TheNovelAbode 
I loved all three of these, but Dandelion Wishes has a special place in my heart. If you’re an agent reading this, you should definitely request more – the prose was beautiful. ❤
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Me too Cass, I really loved all three & both PB’s clicked with me, though, it was so hard to make that final selection 🙂
And Agents, take note of Cassandra’s recommendation, she’s right!
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Thank you so much for everything. This was a terrific experience and I learned so much from it. The amount of work and reading donated is both staggering and generous. My thanks to everyone who made it possible ~Lisa Kraft
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You’re more than welocme Lisa, I’m glad you had fun and learned a lot… and yes, everyone in the Nestpitch Team were and ARE awesome!
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I had tears when I saw the email that I made the reserves and was out of my skin when I saw I made the top three. I am so grateful I was given a second chance. Not often in the writing business do people get second chances. Thank you so much for mine. You rock!! 🙂 Lakin Wooliver
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Oh- I was The Mark of the Wielder 🙂
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You’re welcome Lakin,
I hope the feedback and scorecards help and I really do hope agents notice your pitch, remember though & this is good advice for everyone, if you have 35-words, use them. Use then wisely, but use them, help the reader make a connection with your story, main character and/or voice and certainly use them to help link your pitch to your first page 🙂
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Thank you so much. The feedback has been very helpful!
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Just got back from vacation to find in my email that my PB, Dandelion Wishes, got so much love here. You all warmed my heart and made my week! What a wonderful experience NestPitch has been for all of us! I really appreciate not just the notice, but the detailed critique I received. it is really going to help me in my writing! Now to try to stop using exclamation points. Oh, what the heck, one more!
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You’re welcome Katey,
I’m so glad #nestpitch was such a positive experience for so many, using your words… “you all warmed my heart…”
Best of luck & stay in touch, it’s a wonderful PB concept and those first 100-words had me wanting to read the rest, & I’m sure an agent will feel the same way soon enough too.
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