Hi all, Often when I’m reading a novel, and come across a mistake, wrong word… whatever, assuming it is traditionally published, I may become annoyed, but I am rarely annoyed at the author – it’s the publisher and their editorial … Continue reading
Hello all, I mentioned on my last post that I was looking at changing the name of this blog and after what seems dozens of various options and at least as many variations of each option, I have settled on TheNovelAbode. … Continue reading
Hello all & welcome to 2016!
I know it’s been a while since I posted & I apologise for that, between a memorial, anniversary, 11 immediate family birthdays, Christmas & New Year, I’ve been run off my feet.
First things first.
St. Nicholas Day Workshop for PB & MG authors.
To my complete surprise, shock actually, not a single person sent in their first 150 words for the workshop – Yup – Not kidding!
Given:
a) feedback is crucial for improvement
b) there were two successful authors (in those categories) willing and able to offer feedback, authors who make a living out of their craft full-time.
c) the *pitch period* was just around the corner
d) and… although it was not advertised given it was going to be a bonus surprise, a well established, successful, award-winning publishing house editor, with more than 30 years experience in PB & MG, was also going to offer feedback… with the potential of actually requesting full manuscripts…
I am quite disappointed that no aspiring author in the PB/MG category thought a workshop might be of some value. But there it is – or rather could have been!
Anyway, moving right along.
– And on the same wavelength. #Nestpitch 2016.
Again another apology – I have success stories to post for #Nestpitch2015, however, for the reasons above, plus the authors who have been successful are currently extremely busy, there has been no time to ‘chat’ and let everyone know the good news – I promise this will come soon!
As for #Nestpitch 2016, I have made a decision and it has not been an easy one. After much consideration and deliberation I have decided to NOT run #Nestpitch2016
The main reason for this year Easter falls early, with Good Friday being March 25th.
Given 2-3 other pitching comps will be running either just before, during or just after this time period, and given the issues we had in 2015 with submission cross-over (and lost submissions), I feel that this is too much to ask from author’s, agents and from those of us behind the scenes.
I am planning to still run Post-it-Forward with Rhiann Wynn-Nolet (assuming people are interested) in early March as I feel this will help authors prepare for other pitching comps.
#Nestpitch is NOT dead, but rather in hiatus & will return in 2017 !
The lack of interest in the December workshop & the availability of some of my #Nestpitch Team Members contributed to my decision; however I also have a personal reason. After A LOT of thinking and re-thinking, I have decided to self publish my WF. This has not been an easy decision, especially given the number of agents who requested partials or fulls. However, because of the the subject matter & the genre & category, there were only about 25-30 agents who best matched my MS. I sent out (in total) 23 submissions. From those sent I received requests for seven partials and five fulls. Three of the fulls resulted in R&Rs, however those R&Rs did not result in offers. I knew if I did not get an agent offer by September 2015, the novel would not have a hope of being printed before the end of 2017. If you read point (iii) below you’ll understand why 2017 was the latest I wanted this story to be published.
I decided to try a handful of smaller publishers directly. I sent my MS to 7 and got an offer from a small publishing house. I was thrilled. But then something else happened. I’d seen/heard/read of several of my author friends who’d signed with smaller publishers… only to have the publishing house close. I am a supporter of small press – BIG TIME – but it concerned me nevertheless. And as it turned out, I too felt the sting of a small publisher fail – not for this MS but for another piece.
Just as I was in negotiations to sign, a small press contacted me – one who’d accepted a short story of mine (for an anthology) in Nov 2014. First they said it was to be printed in early 2015, then mid 2015, then late 2015… then in October 2015 I was advised the anthology was cancelled.
I considered this and what if the same thing happened to my novel? So I decided to go it alone – even as I knew this was perhaps the toughest, bravest and likely silliest course of action – even so, it felt *right for me.
Some of you know of this novel. Some of you have been BETAs for me. Those who don’t, I have made this decision because of the above and also because:
(i) I believe in the novel, the storyline & my skills
(ii) I have had enough encouragement and positive feedback from various agents to know that I am not kidding myself
(iii) Because of the subject matter (which, while mostly set in modern-day Melbourne Australia, also deals with the Russian Revolution & the murders of the Romanov’s – and the 100 year anniversary of their executions is July 2017), I believe now and this coming year, is the time to strike with this particular novel.
I have employed the services of Kate Foster & Lauren McKellar as editors. Kate & Lauren are authors in their own right and well established editors with a bank of authors they have worked with. Kate will edit it first in Jan-2016 and then Lauren in April 2016. I elected to have two editors because I feel the more eyes the better. In fact, I have already employed the services of two editors in the past. One with just the beginning of my MS and another to do a general read-through – I believe in professional eyes!
Between Edit#1 & #2 I will be re-reading and asking a few of my BETAs to re-read, and then again after Lauren is done, May will be spent re-reading. I have also employed the services of an awesome Melbourne Illustrator, with amazing talent and a wonderful reputation as an illustrator, for the cover – Sunshine Herbert.
I have purposely chosen an all Australian team, this was important to me, not only because of spelling/grammar/colloquial terminology, but also because these ladies will better conceptualise my images and therefore either offer better suggestions or make greater improvements. Plus, I do think it’s important to support local people wherever possible -we are a large country in mass and volume but small in numbers & we need to support each other.
I am planning to have the novel ready for a launch date in 29th September 2016 and 
instead of #Nestpitch2016, this year I will run a series of “my path to self publishing” blogs where I will discuss everything from BETAs, to covers, to marketing, costs, to preparing for failure as well as success. I have been given permission from Kate, Lauren & Sunshine to discuss fees in generalities (every job is different after all). The figures will be very strong guides and will offer excellent potential cost markers for those of you looking to follow the same route. I will also be posting links to their sites as well as sites for other professionals I have used and/or would be happy to recommend, both in Australia and the US.
I will begin the SERIES in Feb-2016 and will be as honest as I possibly can about time frames, financial costs, marketing strategies, editing and other services and so forth.
I am doing this because I feel:
(i) many people are turning to Self Publishing with unrealistic expectations
(ii) no real idea what the process is
(iii) not enough structure/planning
(iv) have a lack of professional people at their dispossal – rather than scammers
(v) no realistic concept of time-frames/time management
For example, I met with an aspiring author in September-2015 who was finishing her first novel. She intended to self publish it; and wanted it out before Christmas. As that stage only one BETA had read it and her *close friend was going to edit it. (Close friend is not and has never been an editor of any kind)
She had no marketing strategy, had never heard of Netgalley, or Smashwords, intended to use stock-standard free-clip-art for her front cover and wasn’t even sure what an ISBN was or why she needed one.
As for a marketing campaign and professional reviewers, she had no idea she needed to create a marketing strategy, saying “Doesn’t Amazon market it for me?” or who/what professional reviewers were and why they need to be sent pre-copies of a novel at least 3 months in advance.
I listened with interest and then proceeded to burst her bubble, while offering advice, connections, links etc. to people and sites that could/would help her. This is what got me thinking about writing a regular “my path to self publishing” blog post update – all the way up to and including the launch party.
For this reason, after this blog has been posted, and as of Feb 2016, I will be changing the name of this site. #Nestpitch is NOT dead, but rather in hiatus, even so, this blog has become so much more than the sum of one pitching comp. It has become a place to workshop, to read interviews with agents, authors, editors, to read reviews… and now it will be the place where I place my soul up to the Self Publishing God’s and hope I’m not too humbled into submission 😉
The new name eludes me for now. I’m attempting to be clever (because there are few 
things I am more vain about than my mind – truth!), but given I named my first cat Blackie (she was all black) and thought it was very clever, this new name could take a while. OK I was nine at the time, so perhaps that makes Blackie seem more witty – still if anyone has any suggestions – bring ‘em on!
And before I go, a quick note to remember David Bowie & Alan Rickman.
I had planned on posting this blog days ago, but those two deaths 
have had an impact on me; as I know they have had on so many, many of us, and I needed time to let their losses sink in…& be accepted by both my brain and my heart.
Farewell boys, I never knew you yet I loved you both! Messrs Rickman and Bowie were so much more than Snape & Ziggy, yet for many, these are the images which first form of these two wondrous talents.
Will we remember Ziggy Stardust & likely the oldest and coolest Emo ever – ALWAYS – RIP fella’s
Hello all & a special hello to all the Picture Book & Middle Grade author’s out there – because it’s time to send in your first 150 for the workshop! If you follow my blog then you’ll know what I’m … Continue reading
Hello all, As promised I have something special lined up for those of you who are Picture Book and/or Middle Grade authors. I’m calling it St. Nicholas Day 1st 150 Workshop. Many of you will know of the Post-it-Forward pitching … Continue reading
Nestpitch2015 has been a lot of work and a lot of fun. It’s also been a wonderful opportunity to ‘meet’ a lot of talented people from across the globe.
The Teams have worked hard, both whittling down the submissions and then working with their authors.
And now is the Agent Round –WooHoo!
A special thank you to all the agents who have given or their time – without you guys there would be no #nestpitch.
Each Team has Mentored a group of talented authors for the past month or so and now it’s time to show off our simply smawesome submissions.
You’ll find each teams submissions on the links below.
Agents, let your tempting chocolate treats flow.
Authors, get ready for the best part of the Nestpitch cycle
And twitter/blog followers, feel free to show your support via facebook, twitter or leave a supportive message here for your favourite submissions.
Here we go!
| #TeamPlotBunnies | |
| #TeamEvilBunny | |
| #TeamUnbreakable | |
| #TeamBasketCase | |
| #TeamEggslent | |
| #TeamHotCrossBooks | |
| #TeamSugarRush | |
| #TeamOneBasket | |
| #Team2Beat |
And don’t forget to check out the Unmask the Agent comp. It starts in a few days & there’s a $20 Amazon gift voucher up for grabs!
Hi all,
Yes, that’s right – Round#3 for #Nestpitch2015 is here!
Over the coming days and weeks all #Teams will be working with their authors to help them polish their submissions so, although we might seem a little quiet, we’re all busy little bees in the background.
On May 11th I will be posting each author’s entire Pitch but for now, it’s all hush-hush (‘cos we’re working on ‘em).
Each Mentor Blog will be featuring their team picks, although for now, all you’ll see is the title, category and genre. For more info on each Mentoring Team go to:
#TeamEvilBunny http://sharonmjohnston.com/
#TeamUnbreakable http://www.sharonbayliss.com/
#TeamPlotBunnies http://amandafoody.blogspot.com.au/
#TeamBasketCase http://thecakenovelist.blogspot.com.au/
#TeamEggslent http://www.stacey-nash.com/
#TeamOneBasket http://scwrite.blogspot.com.au/p/writeinclusively.html
#TeamHotCrossBooks http://laurenkmckellar.com/
#TeamSugarRush http://bookishblurb.com/
#Team2Beat https://nikvukoja.wordpress.com/
So; here we go, cone of silence may need to be enforced here, but to wet appetites, in no particular order, here is a list (40 in total) with category, title & genre.
| Category | Title | Genre |
| Adult | Dead Wrestlers | Speculative |
| Adult | Poor Boy Road | Mystery/Thriller |
| Adult | Frame of Mind | Thriller |
| Adult | RAINBIRDS | Literary Fiction, Coming-of-Age |
| Adult | We Eat This Gold | Upmarket |
| MG | MOONGARDEN | SciFi Re-Tell (Secret Garden) |
| MG | The Comic Adventures of Ruby Bella Brown | Contemporary |
| MG | Pond Scum | Contemporary Humor |
| MG | Mikey Goes to Maine | Humor |
| MG | THE ADVERSITY TREE | Magical Realism |
| MG | Fairy God-Mother Boy | Fantasy |
| MG | THIS SCARY MANOR BLOWS | LIGHT HORROR |
| NA | Like Stitching Coffee Cups | Romance |
| NA | FROST | Urban Fantasy |
| NA | The Trouble With Tennyson | Urban Fantasy |
| NA | Breaking Up with Bedford | Contemp Romance |
| NA | SILENCE | Contemporary |
| NA | Unspeakable | Romance |
| YA | WOUNDS HEAL, SCARS REMAIN | Contemporary (Christian) |
| YA | THE STAINED GLASS SUN AND MOON | Contemporary |
| YA | Cessation | Speculative |
| YA | The Clearing | Paranormal |
| YA | Little Black Box | contemporary |
| YA | RIPPLE IN THE SEA | historical |
| YA | SUN AND BONE | Psychological Thriller |
| YA | My Secret Life as a Teenage Assassin | Thriller |
| YA | A Parcel of Rogues | Fantasy |
| YA | The Caterpillar Girl | Soft Science Fiction |
| YA | THE UTOPIANS | Thriller |
| YA | Straw Salt Gold | Fantasy |
| YA | The Mortician’s Boy | Horror |
| YA | The Curse of Jenny Greenteeth | Thriller |
| YA | Trebled Times of CeCe Santos | Contemporary |
| YA | Killer Potential | Literary Thriller |
| YA | The New Girl | psychological thriller/horror |
| YA | The Koshers | Contemporary |
| YA Rom | Our Reasons | Contemporary Romance |
| YA Rom | IT HAPPENED ON THUNDER ROAD | Romance w/ Magical Realistic elements |
| YA Rom | Every Broken Piece of Me | Contemporary Romance |
| YA Rom | Between Sound and Silence | Sci-Fi Romance |
Oh wait! Before I go, don’t forget; “Unmask the Agent” is running again – more info soon!
*there’s a $20 Amazon Voucher up for grabs and you don’t need have submitted to Nestpitch, all you need is a bit of a detective spirit and to know your (our) agents!
Thank you to everyone who submitted, we have been blown away with your talent and creativity! – #Nestpitch2015 is now CLOSED
To all who submitted, keep an eye out in the next week as Teams will be requesting more material and any author may get requests from more than one Team
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE – YOU’RE ALL SMAWESOME!
So have you prepared your emails, checked them twice… ‘cos we want your pitches, both naughty and nice…
Oh wait, that’s the wrong jingle isn’t it? You know what? It’s my blog and I’ll mix jingles if I want to – 🙂
Time to hit that SEND button – because the Submission Window for #Nestpitch2015 is NOW OPEN! I have created an auto-reply (sorry it says vacation reply that was the only option), therefore everyone should get a reply confirming their submission has been received. I will be checking JUNK MAIL also (just in case). If your email ends up in junk mail, I’ll move it over & send you a quick reply. Please note, a second email from the same email address in the same day WILL NOT get a second auto reply.
Submission Window Closes Good Friday (Friday 3rd April 2015)
10pm Aust. Eastern Standard Time
7am USA New York Time
12 noon London UK Time
For Complete Guidelines please refer to the post a few weeks back which you’ll find in the recent posts list along the side, however I have also included a brief overview below:
How to submit your Pitch:
Email address: nestpitch@outlook.com
Please follow the guidelines. Last year some people put their first 300 words at the top or mixed up the order. Please do not do this. There is a reason for the order and failure to follow the below will likely mean your submission will not pass Round#1 (refer below).
Send the following in your email:
In the Subject line: Nestpitch2015 Sub and your name/author name
In the body of the email type these words:
By submitting this pitch + first 300 words I agree to allow the Nestpitch blog and/or any other affiliated blogs to post my submission on an open forum for the purposes of critique and feedback. I understand this can be for the life of the blog(s).
Manuscript Title:
Category/ Genre:
Word Count:
35-word Pitch:
QU (in your MC’s voice), if your MC was an Easter Egg, what flavour would s/he be?:
*First 300-words of your MS:
*1st 300 = if your MS has a prologue, then your 1st 300 starts from your prologue. Also, finish at the end of a sentence. This is 300-word MAX, so your last word is 300-words. If your sentence finishes on 292-words, submit that. If your sentences run into 30 or more words, then you might want to rethink the length of your sentence(s). Broken sentences do no one favours.
Example of a Submission:
Subject line: Nestpitch2015 Sub – Nikola Vukoja
By submitting this pitch + first 300 words I agree to allow the Nestpitch blog and/or any other affiliated blogs to post my submission on an open forum for the purposes of critique and feedback. I understand this can be for the life of the blog(s).
Manuscript Title: Easter Bunny goes to Vegas
Category/ Genre: MG/ Fantasy
Word Count: 26,000
35-word Pitch: After losing all his eggs in a card game to March Hare, the Easter Bunny heads for Las Vegas where he plans to win enough money to buy back the world’s Easter Eggs.
If your MC was an Easter Egg, what flavour would s/he be? I’d be every flavour, colour, shape and size imaginable; I’m the Easter Bunny… geez!
First 300-words of your MS:
Easter Bunny Blah Blah…
Send your submission to: Nestpitch@outlook.com (please note the submission close above, submissions emailed after the submission window closes will not be accepted)
Formatting: Either Times Roman or Arial (we are aware that there may be issues with some email accounts regarding font, please do your best to use either Times Roman or Arial, or something as close as possible to these two). No indentions. Single spacing. One space between each Paragraph.
Prologues: Your prologue is where your first 300 words begin.
Word Count: Rounded to nearest 1000. For example, 86,000 not 85,798 and 72,000 not 72,221
*And remember, its one submission per Author, in any genre for the following categories MG, YA, NA, Adult. No picture books, memoirs, chap or chapter books, or short story anthologies & only NOVEL FICTION (not novella). – & please do not forget we want Category & Genre.
As with last year, your manuscript must be polished and as grammar/spelling perfect as is humanly possible. And, aside from twitter pitches, critique groups and workshops, your pitch + first page(s) cannot have been featured in another pitching to agents style contest in the last 12 months (#PitchSlam 2015 is an exception, please read guidelines and/or ask questions if in doubt).
OK, so that’s all the technical stuff out of the way. Now for the fun!
We are all super excited to see what lands in the email box of the next 48 hours & can’t wait to get our hands on your words! Good luck to everyone … and remember… everything is subjective and everything has a home; somewhere. #Pitch comps are but one way to find an agent and/or move forward with your writing career.
Play nice, its fun but its also a lot of work for the Team, all of whom have given of their time for free, and the impression you want to leave is a positive, professional one; so again… play nice 🙂
For those who don’t know what Nestpitch is, here’s a quick run-through.
There’s a special Easter tradition throughout central and northern Croatia – making Easter Nests for the Easter Bunny. On the afternoon or eve of Easter Saturday children go out into the garden and collect leaves, grass, twigs, flowers and then make a “nest” for the Easter Bunny – that’s where he places hisEaster-Egg-Presents. The children go to bed that eve wondering if the Easter Bunny will like or love their nest, because the best nest gets the best and biggest eggs!
And that’s the basis of Nestpitch, but the ‘nests’ are the author’s pitches and the ‘Easter Bunnies’ are the agents
– get it? Great!
How does Nestpitch work?
This year we have changed things a bit, therefore even if you participated in Nestpitch 2014 you will still need to read the below.
This year we are NOT accepting Picture Books
. We are accepting MG, YA, NA and Adult FICTION ONLY. I had someone ask if we are accepting memoirs or similar- the short answer is NO. This is a FICTION ONLY pitch + 1st 300 for manuscript length fiction only. We are accepting all genres within these categories. If your novel is either Erotica or Christian, please state this. For example: Adult Romance (Erotica) or YA Historical Romance (Christian).
We support diversity and strongly encourage authors with GLBT, geographic, cultural and/or social diversity within their manuscripts to submit. Having said this, we DO NOT support sexual violence, violence against children, bigotry and racism, paedophilia and/or animal cruelty. While it is true that violence and cruelty features within some genres, horror for example, or racism in a historical fiction set in the time of slavery, we will not accept manuscripts that support or promote, directly or indirectly, racism, misogyny, rape, sexual, physical or emotional violence.
One submission per author only please.
Teams: This year there are nine Teams made up of one Mentor & two Slushies. The Teams are listed here:https://nestpitch.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/nestpitch-2015-teams-simply-smawesome/
Guidelines:
The Pitch window will be open for 48 hours, thereby allowing everyone, regardless of where you live in the world, to prepare and submit a pitch.
The Pitch will be made up of three parts.
(i) a 35-word pitch
(ii) answer to a question (in your main character’s voice)*
(iii) the first 300-words of their manuscript
*QUESTION: If your MC was an Easter Egg, what flavour would s/he be? Keep your answer to NO MORE than 15-words.
How to submit your Pitch:
On April 1st the submission window will open. Please follow the guidelines as set out below. Last year some people put their first 300 words at the top or mixed up the order. Please do not do this. There is a reason for the order and failure to follow the below will likely mean your submission will not pass Round#1 (refer below).
Send the following in your email:
In the Subject line: Nestpitch2015 Sub and your name/author name
In the body of the email type these words:
By submitting this pitch + first 300 words I agree to allow the Nestpitch blog and/or any other affiliated blogs to post my submission on an open forum for the purposes of critique and feedback. I understand this can be for the life of the blog(s).
Manuscript Title:
Category/ Genre:
Word Count:
35-word Pitch:
QU (in your MC’s voice), if your MC was an Easter Egg, what flavour would s/he be?:
*First 300-words of your MS:
*1st 300 = if your MS has a prologue, then your 1st 300 starts from your prologue. Also, finish at the end of a sentence. This is 300-word MAX, so your last word is 300-words. If your sentence finishes on 292-words, submit that. If your sentences run into 30 or more words, then you might want to rethink the length of your sentence(s). Broken sentences do no one favours.
Example of a Submission:
Subject line: Nestpitch2015 Sub – Nikola Vukoja
By submitting this pitch + first 300 words I agree to allow the Nestpitch blog and/or any other affiliated blogs to post my submission on an open forum for the purposes of critique and feedback. I understand this can be for the life of the blog(s).
Manuscript Title: Easter Bunny goes to Vegas
Category/ Genre: MG/ Fantasy
Word Count: 26,000
35-word Pitch: After losing all his eggs in a card game to March Hare, the Easter Bunny heads for Las Vegas where he plans to win enough money to buy back the world’s Easter Eggs.
If your MC was an Easter Egg, what flavour would s/he be? I’d be every flavour, colour, shape and size imaginable; I’m the Easter Bunny… geez!
First 300-words of your MS:
Easer Bunny Blah Blah…
Send your submission to: Nestpitch@outlook.com (please note the submission window below, submissions sent prior or post those times/dates will not be accepted)
Formatting: Either Times Roman or Arial (we are aware that there may be issues with some email account regarding font, please do your best to use either Times Roman or Arial, or something as close as possible to these two)
No indentions. Single spacing. One space between each Paragraph.
Prologues: Your prologue is where your first 300 words begin.
Word Count: Rounded to nearest 1000. For example, 86,000 not 85,798
Selection Process: Last year we contacted all submissions that had made a mistake or left something out (listing only category or genre for example). This year we will not be so lenient. Aside from formatting issues, authors will be expected to follow the above. All submissions will be read by me (Nikola) first to ensure each submission has followed the above rules/guidelines.
There will be three rounds before final selection.
a. Round #1: To get past #1 the authors must be able to follow guidelines.
b. Round #2: This year each Team will select an initial 5-8 submissions and then request more pages/material. Based on the additional pages/material, each Team will drill their selection down to between 4-5 to go to the next round. Note: authors may receive more than one request from more than one Team.
c. Round #3: On having picked their final 4-5, each Team will then critique the first 2,500-words and ‘get to know’ the author(s). This is a 3-fold process. Being selected does not necessarily mean being featured. Teams will want to know the author(s) are willing to accept feedback etc. The Teams will work with their authors for 3 weeks, offering feedback, sharpening pitches, & suggesting improvements. After this, the authors have a full week to re-read their MS in full & make any final changes; before the agent round.
From the Slush-pile Picks. My Team #Team2Beat, will be hunting through the slush-pile and the reserves, looking for gems that have been missed. We will have the option of selecting between 1-5 pitches (at our discretion) to feature. This is basically a bonus-pick so, you may just get an email after the date, but if you do, you’ll be expected to work twice as hard as the other author’s as you’ll have less time – so be ready!
Additional Rules:
a. Only manuscripts which HAVE NOT been featured in another online competition are eligible to enter. This DOES NOT include workshops, critique groups or similar. It also DOES NOT include twitter or any other tag-line style pitches either. Please feel free to ask if you’re in any doubt.
(i) If you have submitted the same manuscript to #Pitchslam, due to the time-line cross-over, we are accepting these submissions. However, if your submission goes to the final stage of either or both competitions, please advice us and the host of #Pitchslam.
b. Submissions MUST follow the submission format. We accept that sometimes emails de-format fonts and tabs, what we don’t want is people forgetting to put CATEGORY & GENRE (for example) or not answering the question; that sort of thing.
All pitches that have followed the rules (round#1) will then be forwarded to each Team. After the internal cat-fight, erh discussions will take place and each Team will select their top 4-5 author submissions (round#3). Expect to also see teasers and cryptic clues via Twitter & Facebook (*don’t forget to follow the Mentors and Slushies, lots of fun to be had!)
My Team #Team2Beat will be the Bandit Team. I bet all of you have a brother or sister who always stole your favourite Easter Eggs – well that’s what we’ll be doing – sort of. We will be looking for hidden or missed gems. They could be from the slush-pile or from #round2 & we’ll feature them. #Team2Beatmay have as few as one submission featured or as many as five – it all depends on how many diamonds in the rough we believe have been missed.
This year there will again be an Amazon Gift voucher Prize for the submission with the highest number of requests and another for matching the Agents with their Masks (more on that at agent reveal).
Dates:
Agent Reveal: 27th March
Submission Window Opens April Fools Day (Wednesday 1st April 2015)
10pm Aust. Eastern Standard Time
7am USA New York Time
12 noon London UK Time
Submission Window Closes Good Friday (Friday 3rd April 2015)
10pm Aust. Eastern Standard Time
7am USA New York Time
12 noon London UK Time
Secret Agent Bunny Mask Reveal: April 9th
Teams send out requests for 1st 2,500 words Sunday 12th April
Authors reply by Tuesday 14th April
Final Selection Sunday 10th May (Mother’s Day)
Agent Request open Monday 11th May to Tuesday 12th May 2015
Unmask the Agent: Wednesday 13th May 2015 (Amazon Voucher)
Agent Request(s) sent out to authors Wednesday 13th May 2015
Authors to send requested pages to Agents by Friday 15th May 2015
Winner of Most Requests: 20th or 21st May
Stats: 28th or 29st May
Nestpitch2015 Close: 31st May (follow up blog with success stories as they come)
One last thing. Please remember to be respectful and considerate when communicating with out Mentors, Slushies and Agents. Rude, vulgar or insulting comments, tweets or emails will not be tolerated, in other words, please nice folks!
Helpful Guides: Novel Word Count:
Although we are not going to eliminate anyone who does not match the below, we recommend you try to follow as closely as possible the suggested word-count. The to – from word-count is a guide only and takes into consideration genre variations (for example fantasy genre novels tend to be on the longer side)
ADULT: 70,000 – 115,000
NEW ADULT : 60, 000 – 90,000
YOUNG ADULT: 50,000 – 80,000
MIDDLE GRADE: 25,000 – 45,000
Useful Tools/ Things to Avoid:
Common Punctuation Errors: (selected examples taken from March 20, 2015)
Incorrect: To become fluent readers students must read outside school hours.
Correct: To become fluent readers, students must read outside school hours.
“To become fluent readers” is an introductory infinitive phrase and should be followed by a comma.
Incorrect: If you want to write well you must be prepared to practice the craft.
Correct: If you want to write well, you must be prepared to practice the craft.
“If you want to write well” is an introductory clause and should be followed by a comma.
Incorrect: The boys, who vandalized the public gardens, are in police custody.
Correct: The boys who vandalized the public gardens are in police custody.
“Who vandalized the public gardens” is essential information because it identifies which boys are meant. It should not be set off by commas.
Incorrect: Circumstances required the children to live in a homeless shelter, nevertheless they kept up with their studies.
Correct: Circumstances required the children to live in a homeless shelter; nevertheless, they kept up with their studies.
Also correct: Circumstances required the children to live in a homeless shelter. Nevertheless, they kept up with their studies.
A comma splice results when two independent clauses are joined by a comma. The main clauses here are “Circumstances required the children to live in a homeless shelter” and “nevertheless, they kept up with their studies.”
The word nevertheless is a conjunctive adverb. Its function is to provide a transition between two thoughts, but it is not a joining word like and or but. A comma splice can be avoided by placing a semicolon after the first clause or by ending the first clause with a period or other end stop and starting a new sentence with a capital letter.
Incorrect: The spelunkers found, that the caves were closed to protect the bats.
Correct: The spelunkers found that the caves were closed to protect the bats.
The noun clause is “the caves were closed to protect the bats.” The clause functions as the direct object of the verb in the main clause, found.
Clauses: Main clauses that are not part of a compound or complex sentence require an end stop. When a period or other end stop is omitted, the result is a “run-on sentence.”
Incorrect: The rushing waves capsized the boat indifferent gulls wheeled overhead.
Correct: The rushing waves capsized the boat. Indifferent gulls wheeled overhead.
The simplest way to correct a run-on sentence is to put a period at the end of the first clause and capitalize the first word of the next one.
Multiple Exclamation Points!!!
Incorrect: Before my astonished eyes, the house sank into the tarn!!!!
Correct: Before my astonished eyes, the house sank into the tarn!
On the rare occasions that an exclamation mark is needed, one is sufficient. Remember this rule, more than one Kitten… always. More than one exclamation mark… never.
Quotation Marks.
Incorrect: Our staff is required to take three “safety” courses every year.
Correct: Our staff is required to take three safety courses every year.
In most contexts, placing quotation marks around a word suggests that the word is being used with a meaning other than the obvious one. Writers who enclose words in quotation marks merely for emphasis risk annoying their readers. No one likes to waste time trying to discern a hidden meaning where there is none.
There are more examples on http://www.prdaily.eu/PRDailyEU/Articles/10_punctuation_essentials_for_every_writer_18319.aspx
Below is a list of words I have selected which are often incorrectly used:
Affect vs. effectAffect is usually a verb, and effect is usually a noun. When you affect something, it produces and effect. To affect something is to change or influence it. An effect is something that happens due to cause.
Affluent describes something or someone has having a lot of money. It can also mean something is fluid or flowing in a large quantity, either literally or figuratively. A person who is wealthy is an affluent. Effluent is the liquid sewage that is released as waste.
Father and Further both mean at a greater distance, and they are used interchangeably in this sense. In the US farther is more often used to refer to physical distances, and further more often refers to figurative and non-physical distances.
To imply is to express something indirectly. For example, you might imply that it’s time for a guest to leave by saying that you are getting tired. To infer is to surmise or deduce. For example, if you were to tell a guest that you’re getting tired, the guest might infer that it’s time to leave. More broadly, infer means to deduce. For example, when the sky grows dark in the middle of the day, you might infer that it’s probably going to storm. Infer has been used in place of imply so often and for so long that some dictionaries now list it as a synonym of imply in a secondary sense. In edited writing, however, the traditional distinction is usually kept intact.
Lightening vs. lightningLightening (from the verb – lighten), where to lighten is to make light or lighter. Lightning is the flash of light associated with thunder.
Literally means exactly, in a strict sense, or to the letter. For example, “I am literally foaming at the mouth,” this literally means real foam is coming out of his or her mouth.
Figuratively means in a metaphorical sense—so when someone says, “I am figuratively foaming at the mouth,” we can infer that he or she is using the idiom foaming at the mouth, which means very angry, and that no mouth foam is actually present.
Something that is misinformed is based on bad information. Something that is uninformed is based on no information or inadequate information.
To oppress is to keep someone down by unjust force or authority. To repress is (1) to hold back, or (2) to put down by force. Suppress, means (1) to put an end to, (2) to inhibit, and (3) to keep from being revealed, such as suppressing evidence.
Peek, peak & piqueA peek is a glance or a quick look. It can also mean to glance or to peer at. Peak is a topmost point, such as a mountain peak. Finally, pique is to upset or excite someone, such as, to pique interest, you are exciting their interest not taking a quick look at it.
Recreate means to amuse oneself with an activity, and is a word in its own right. The verb re-create, meaning to create again, benefits from the hyphen. But because recreate is an exceedingly rare verb, there’s actually little chance of the two being confused, so many publications omit the hyphen and use recreate to mean to create again.
Whiny is an adjective meaning habitually complaining or like a whine.
Whiney is the same as whiny.
Whinny is the sound horses make & is synonymous with neigh.
The difference between wreath and wreathe is similar to that between breath and breathe. Wreath is a noun and wreathe is its corresponding verb.
Variations in British English and US English
As a general rule, the use of the letter ‘u’ in certain words differentiates the two types of English, for example Favorite / Favourite. The first being US English. Another example would be Color / Colour. Also the replacement of the letter ‘S’ with the letter ‘Z’ is a common difference between the two versions. For example Realize / Realise, with the first being US English.
Then there are words where US English has only one ‘L’ when – ed is added, for example Traveled is US English and Travelled is British English.
I found a good source of reference here: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words/british_american_english.htm
This site also highlights changes in ‘re’ and ‘er’ for example Centre/Center and other variations.
Sometimes words have a very different spelling as is the case with Jewelry / Jewellery. The first being US English.
I hope some of these will help you with your grammar and word selection and of course, if you have any questions about #Nestpitch please feel free to leave a comment or contact me on Twitter using either @nestpitch or @Nik_Vukoja
Come back in a few days to see our truly smawesome list of Agents!
Hello all,
Today is day-1 for Post-It-Forward 2015, and wouldn’t you know it, the Lovely Rhiann got her posts up before me! Mind you, I think it’s my fault, I said March 10th and Well, it IS March 10th here in Australia – time zones sheesh! Anyway, here we go 🙂
I’ve posted my list of pitches here & you’ll find Rhiann’s here https://rhiannwynnnoletblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/post-it-forward-2015-has-arrived/
This year we got a wonderful cross-section of categories & genre’s & I couldn’t be happier!
So how does it work?
The pitches will not have the author’s name or the title of the MS. This is a pitch-workshop & therefore the only thing that should count is the category/genre and the pitch. Rhiann & I will be offering feedback on our own and each other’s list, that way every single pitch will get at least two sets of new eyes giving feedback.
If you sent your pitch in to us within the time scheduled window & followed the (very basic) rules, you’ll find your pitch on either Rhiann’s or the Nestpitch blog. As the author you are welcome to volunteer your ownership of the pitch – that is entirely up to you. However, as part of the terms of entering, you are obligated to participate with feedback for other pitches. As stated: everyone who has a pitch selected & featured, must, within a week, comment on at least 2 other pitches – at least one on each blog – you have ONE WEEK to post at least one helpful comment on each blog. You can of course offer feedback on more than one pitch per blog, but that is the minimum.
Please note: the comments are moderated so play nice folks!
Fell free to tweet about your pitch and encourage others to participate, the more feedback the better for you and for everyone 🙂
The idea here is not only will the pitches below and on Rhiann’s blog get direct feedback, they will offer insight into that mystical and totally subjective creature known by the common name “the prefect pitch.”
Sometimes, seeing or reading something makes magic happen for the reader, a light-bulb or Eureka moment. If anyone gets such a moment, please feel free to share.
Nothing is more contagious than enthusiastic joy; it’s one of the few things where, the more you spread, the more you have.
The pitches will be distinguished by a number only, e.g. N-1 for mine and R-1 for Rhiann’s.
To comment you will read the pitches & comment something like:
R-7: “Loved the voice but I wasn’t sure who was the MC, I would suggest removing at least one of the character’s in the pitch and leaving it for the query”
Get it? Great – go forth and post-it-forward folks!
So here are my 10, now it’s your turn, submit your comment & I’ll feed it through – you’ll find my comments VERY SOON I promise! – & if you’re the author of any of the below or the ones on Rhiann’s blog, remember to drop by often over the next two weeks & to also comment on at least two pitches, one on each blog 🙂
N-1. Category/ Genre: Fantasy
35-word Pitch: Thalia’s writer will lock her forever in a compilation of forgotten rough drafts unless she changes story lines and travels inside the manuscript to steal an artifact for him. Her muse powers are in danger.
N-2. Category/ Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Romance
35-word Pitch: Honor and Courage are twins hiding their station-born abilities until Honor spills their secrets, then Courage disappears. To find him, rules-following Honor must join an Earth-born rebel who thinks rules are made to be broken.
N-3. Category/ Genre: Urban Fantasy (with erotic elements)
35-word Pitch: All Declan wants is to never kill again, which seems reasonable, except he’s the god of death. In a kingdom fueled by slavery and murder, the Hollywood rent boy must choose: conscience or holy war.
N-4. Category/ Genre: YA Contemporary
35-word Pitch: Karen Bleeker has a secret: She doesn’t think the world is ending. Her tin-capped, SPAM hoarding, Doomsday prophet father does. Karen must fight to protect him from being locked up while preserving their fragile relationship.
N-5. Category/ Genre: NA Multicultural Contemporary
35-word Pitch: Chinese-American, germophobic Mei must become a doctor and marry a Chinese Ivy Leaguer OR be shunned by her parents for dishonoring them. AMERICAN PANDA: MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING meets Amy Tan set at MIT.
N-6. Category/ Genre: Adult-Fantasy/Romance
Marin faces the unknown world of the Fae: traitorous aunt, new and out of control powers, and Danshue – evil fae – calling for her death. And one gorgeous bodyguard professing his love. Life needs more coffee.
N-7. Category/ Genre: YA Techno-thriller
35-word Pitch: The moment Fiona looked into Amirah’s spellbinding eyes, a sisterly bond formed. So of course she’d risk her life when the government comes to claim Amirah, who’s really a botched attempt at creating a super-soldier.
N-8. Category/ Genre: Commercial Fiction (New Adult Sci-fi Adventure)
35-word Pitch: When Allison finds herself forty years in the future, pursued by both sides of a twisted war, the last thing she expects is to meet her soul-mate and find a new family worth fighting for.
N-9. Category/ Genre: NA Fantasy
35-word Pitch: Being a ParaScience freshman is a nightmare come true when Hailey confronts tunneling earworms, carnivorous trees, a roommate from hell, a deadly love triangle and the dream creature that killed her family.
N-10. Category/ Genre: YA Contemporary
35-word Pitch: Seventeen-year-old Allison can barely walk after a violent gang rape. She must fight PTSD, her injured body, and pregnancy or risk losing what she has left of herself that the attackers didn’t destroy.
TheNovelAbode 