Agents, Summer, and Contests

Not to morph into Dr. Obvious, but summer is flying by.

As temperatures rise, many agents whimper ‘no maas’ and close their doors to submissions until fall. They take this time to connect with family, watch the ice melt in tall glasses, and give priority to signed authors.

Not a problem. It gives us time to crack our collective knuckles and polish queries, first pages, and finish that wip. And the summer contests can provide different venues for creativity.

July was a good month at Savvy Authors. Several agents including Emmanuelle Morgen, Vickie Motter, Laurie McLean, and Tamar Rydzinski took 3-line pitch submissions and asked for more pages.

WriteOnCon will sponsor their second annual online writer’s conference August 16 – 18. The sheer number of participating agents, editors, and authors is jaw dropping stupendous.

Today (yes, right NOW!) Operation Awesome holds the Secret Agent contest. One-line submissions only. Truly, um, awesome.

This month, let’s prepare for the agents that return in the fall from their well-deserved break from wild-eyed writers.  

It is the first paragraph of your query, a combination introduction, hook, and storyline that needs to grab their eye. Those 25 to 30 words don’t give much time to snare the reader with much of a storyline but a word of two can make it fresh.

Critique for Hook, Introduction, and Flow. Submit that all-important first paragraph of your query for critique by our followers to cdcoff(at)gmail(dot)com.