Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Agent Pitch Contest - Diana Fox (Fox Literary)

NOTE - My Pay it Forward winner will be announced Friday!

It's time for another agent twitter pitch contest!

Today, the pitch is being judged by Diana Fox from Fox Literary. You can follow her blog or catch her on Twitter.


Here are some other interviews to help you get to know her taste and style:
Literary Rambles
The Blog Realm

Winner:
Gets to submit manuscript!

When: Begins today, (Wed at 10AM EST) and ends tomorrow (Thursday) at midnight EST (I will close comments when it officially ends so if you get a comment in, you are counted.)

Why Twitter pitch? Because if you can't get your book in a Twitter pitch, you need to work on narrowing down the story and hook. You can check your character count either on Word (file, Tools/Word Count/Characters with spaces), on Twitter, or here.

Eligibility/Rules:
  • Your pitch MUST only be 140 characters to be counted so please check it twice! This includes spaces and punctuation so you might have to be creative. If your pitch is over 140 characters when I test it, it will not be eligible.
  • Your pitch can be for adults or children.
  • This is for unagented/unpublished book writers only. (if you've published articles or essays - you may enter!)
  • You can only enter ONCE so choose wisely!
  • You MUST be a follower of my blog (and I'd love to see you on Twitter too.). It's only fair to those who are .
What To include: In the comments you MUST leave the following information to be considered:
  • title of book
  • genre
  • your Twitter (140 characters) pitch
  • your email
Example:
Title - Untraceable
Genre - YA Survival Suspense
Email - sjohannes@bilaninc.com

Pitch - When her forest-ranger father disappears,Grace uses her survival skills to search the NC mtns & finds a secret group plotting against nature

References: Here are a few articles on writing short, one sentence pitches:

Nathan Bransford (agent)
Rachel Gardner (agent)
Query Tracker
Scribe Chat
140 character pitch

Winner(s) will be announced next week!

Good luck!

79 comments:

  1. Awesome contest! Thanks to you and Ms. Fox for running it!

    TITLE: THE GHOST WRITER
    GENRE: YA Ghost Story
    EMAIL: marcykate@gmail.com
    PITCH: Tessa denies the 1st letter. She rationalizes the 2nd. When the accidents begin, there's no ignoring the ghosts in the theatre next door.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Title: The Severed Thread
    Genre: YA Historical Fiction
    Pitch: When a young Viking warrior is captured by Baltic pirates and sold as a slave, his journey from foolhardy boy to valiant man begins.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Title: The Legend of Ghost Dog Island
    Genre: MG Historical Fiction
    Email: frmonette@yahoo.com
    Pitch: After hearing a strange legend surrounding an eerie swamp near her bayou home, a young girl seeks to uncover the truth about Ghost Dog Island.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Title: Olympus Gate
    Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
    Email: lockwood.audrey@gmail.com
    Pitch: A girl from a broken future travels back to ancient Rome to stop her sister's murder, confront the gods, and prevent the coming apocalypse.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Title: BLACKBIRD
    Genre: YA Fantasy Technothriller
    Email: kyle(at)skyledavis(dot)com

    Spy chick bypasses a top-of-the line security system to steal an object before the sorcerers do in this "Mission:Impossible w/ magic" tale.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Title: I AM THE SECRET
    GENRE: YA Fantasy
    Email: kathrynroberts at hotmail dot com
    PITCH:

    Shannon has no last name, no past, and her guardian never lets her leave home. So she runs away to find out what the world is like, to find love, but someone wants to kill her. Will she risk her new found love to fight off this evil and help save a people that need her help?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Title: Background Vocals
    Genre: YA Contemporary
    Email: chelseyblair (at) gmail (dot) com

    Pitch: 17-yr-old guitarist Meridian longs to return to Paris but she promises to stay in the town where she's an outcast until Natalie walks again

    ReplyDelete
  8. So excited about this contest!!!!

    Title: Magnetic
    Genre: paranormal YA
    Email: janaya75@hotmail.com

    Pitch: Seventeen year-old Carly Reynolds won’t get a gold star for being a hero. Particularly when the person she needs to save is already dead.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Title: Colors Like Memories
    Genre: YA UF
    Email: mrs.which(@) gmail.com

    Pitch: Julia killed the guy she loved, on accident—sorta. To save her friend’s life she’ll face her past, but some memories are better left buried.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Title: A Handful of Scars
    Genre: YA paranormal
    Email: berendsen70 at yahoo.com

    Pitch: A genie in a lamp is one thing, but Sidain finds 2 genies who are mortal enemies, and instead of 3 wishes, she gets a whole lot of trouble.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Title - 1790: On the Edge
    Genre - MG Historical Mystery
    E-mail - annbbraden (at) gmail.com

    In 1790 Vermont, a public hanging should mean one less criminal in the new democracy, but a young Abenaki knows what he saw. It was murder.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Awesomesauce contest!

    Title: The Sky Throne
    Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
    Email: cs_ledbetter@yahoo.com

    Pitch: When a boy's mother is attacked, he discovers she was never his mother. And now deities are hunting him and the siblings he's never known.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  14. Title: Phantom Fires
    Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
    Email: bethfred08@gmail.com
    Pitch: A phantom fire wants to steal the love of her life. To fight the flames, Bridget O'Malley must find the truth.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks so much for this contest!

    Title: In Limbo
    Genre: Historical YA
    Twitter Pitch: 15 yo Syl Houston fights to hold onto his relationship with the only black girl in school while Spanish Influenza takes lives around him.

    My e-mail address: marquita_hockaday@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for another great opportunity!

    Title: Spirits from the Vasty Deep
    Genre: YA historical/paranormal
    Email: strikingnotes (at) yahoo (dot) com

    Pitch: Ghostly crew wants revenge for a fire Olivia caused, forcing a reckoning with her haunted past. Blossom Culp meets Pirates of the Caribbean.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Title: Splashback
    Genre: YA Thriller
    Email: tarynal AT hotmail DOT com
    Pitch: Lottie wants to quit the sport that sucked away her life. Too bad an Olympics-obsessed man says she has to swim to save her missing sister.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous12:10 PM

    TITLE: THE REVENGE OF THE WOLF KING
    GENRE: YA Medieval Fantasy
    EMAIL: carmenferreiro@aol.com
    PITCH: Princess Ines's love for her whipping boy is put to the test when the king accuses him of the queen's murder and sentences him to death.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Title: FLICKER
    Genre: Sci-Fi YA
    Email: lizwritesbooks@gmail.com

    Pitch: A grl w/a bad ♥ learns shes being kept alive by an alien virus that gives her the pwr 2 bend reality &save the wrld from an insidious force

    ReplyDelete
  20. Title: SOME KIND OF TROUBLE
    Genre: Contemporary YA
    Email: elizabeth.arroyo5@gmail.com

    Pitch:
    After surviving a shooting with bad-boy Marcus, Arianna learns that love alone is not enough to save him from the streets.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Title: GAIA'S SECRET
    Genre: YA Fantasy
    Email: barbara.kloss@gmail.com

    Pitch: When Daria’s dad disappears, she must travel to a magical world to find him. Even if it means relying on the boy she hates to get her there.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  23. Title: BOYFRIENDS, SPIES, AND LIES
    Genre: YA Contemporary
    Email: jenduffey81@gmail.com

    If Carissa's oppressive parents weren't paying her boyfriend to be her bodyguard, art school would have been her perfect escape.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Title: BITTERSWEET MELODY
    Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
    Email: dorothyanndreyer@gmail.com

    Pitch: Muses aren't supposed to screw up their missions. So when Melody falls 4 her human case subject, she has 2 decide between him & immortality.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Another contest of awesome! Thanks.

    Title - Devolutionaries
    Genre - YA Dystopian
    Email - shallee.mcarthur [at] gmail [dot] com
    Pitch - Ash must sacrifice his ability to talk in order to hone the telepathic skills he needs to rescue his grandad from a Government experiment.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Title: Arrow of the Mist
    Genre: YA Fantasy
    Email: cdmercer [at] sbcglobal [dot] net

    Pitch:

    Lia must decipher an elixir and defeat the demon who poisoned her da via enchanted tree roots, before she surrenders her soul to the demon.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Thanks for the contest, Shelli. (Eventually, I'll learn how to do this pitch thingy....) :)

    Title: GEAS
    Genre: YA UF w/ Alt Hist
    Email: cardinal_law_76 (at) yahoo.com

    Pitch:
    Teen half-human pixie returns from kidnap… stranger than b4--must learn new powers, dodge HS dust addicts, & expose ancient pixie secrets.

    ReplyDelete
  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thanks for another great contest!

    Title: Dreaming Isis
    Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
    Email: miriam.caldwell (at) gmail.com

    Pitch:
    17-year-old Isis must choose between her mom’s acceptance or embracing who she truly is as she learns to control her newfound magical powers

    ReplyDelete
  30. Title: Edge of the Falls
    Genre: YA Dystopian
    Email: nazareanandrews@gmail.com

    Pitch:
    In a post-apocalyptic world full of danger and mysteries, can genetic reject Sabah find love or will she let the Commission control her life?

    ReplyDelete
  31. TITLE: Crystal Milk
    Genre: MG Fantasy
    Email: eprats1@gmail.com


    PITCH:

    Crystal is sick of her witch parents and their overbearing ways. So what's a girl to do? Date their mortal enemy, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  32. TITLE: Shadow Embraced
    GENRE: YA Urban Fantasy
    EMAIL: cheree@chereesmith.com
    PITCH:

    To control the creature threatening to take over her, 16-year-old Scar joins an underground fight club of witches, werewolves and vampires.

    ReplyDelete
  33. title- CHANGED
    genre- YA dystopian
    email- lindsaycummings20@yahoo.com
    pitch-

    After an ecological disaster caused by environmentalists, a girl uses enhanced vision to find where the Disappeared go in a walled-in world

    ReplyDelete
  34. This is a fantastic contest. Thank you both so much!

    Title: Alive
    Genre: YA sci-fi
    Pitch: When she discovers Eli's healing ability, Alex plans to bring her sister back to life. She never expects 2 uncover lies about her childhood.
    Email: tracey(dot)neithercott(at)gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  35. Title: Auntie June's Toe Jam Jamboree
    Genre: Children's Fiction
    Email:afoy76@gmail.com
    Pitch:
    With a smile that fits inside her wrinkles and berries ripe for the pickin’, a day with Auntie June is guaranteed to be foot stomping fun!

    ReplyDelete
  36. This is amazing! How exciting! I have just gotten my query ready to go but this is even better!

    Title - CELEBRITY STALKER
    Genre - Adult Chick Lit
    Email - jenniferdaiker@gmail.com
    Pitch - Jules relationships aren't exactly built on trust, or reality. Seeking advice from celebrities leads to trouble. Let the stalking begin.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Title - Brackets
    Genre - Contemporary YA
    Email - thatscottshoe@gmail.com
    Pitch - Four high school girls set up tournament style brackets to fight the bullies who’ve tormented them and find out who really rules the school.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Title: Alternate
    Genre: YA Sci-Fi
    Email: ebriggs23@gmail.com

    A teen hacker is drawn into a war between parallel universes when she meets an alternate version of herself from another dimension.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Title: Library Jumpers
    Genre: YA UF
    Email: bdrake@comcast.net

    Pitch: Yanked into a gateway book that links the great libraries, Gia finds that she's a long lost knight and must now fight to stop an apocalypse.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous8:25 PM

    Title: SKYBORNE
    Genre: Literary YA Sci-Fi
    Email: emma.hollingberry@gmail.com

    Pitch: The emperor forces a hardcore racer onto his assassin team and then pits her against the people who deserted her as a child in an inter-galaxy war she'll refuse to fight.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Title: No System At All
    Genre: Contemporary YA
    email: fussymonkey2@gmail.com

    When 1 dream vanishes, Colin opts for a realistic goal: being a rock star, with former Rock Goddess for a teacher he could pull it off.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Title: Trouble at Trinity
    Genre: YA Contemporary Suspense
    email: kendalashby@gmail.com

    Pitch:
    While undercover to find her brother's killer, Jaclyn soon discovers there's more to the curriculum at Trinity Prep than math and science.

    ReplyDelete
  43. TITLE: Nausicaa
    GENRE: Science Fiction
    EMAIL: tay dot sedai at gmail dot com

    TWITTER PITCH:

    Nausicaa dreams of seeing her city’s genocidal govt destroyed. Her only weapons: a meagre empathic ability and a thirst for retribution.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Thanks for having this contest!

    Title: WISTFUL
    Genre: YA Historical Romance
    Email: phanhnguyn1 at yahoo.com

    Twitter Pitch:

    After marrying an old viscount, Julie runs away n lives with the Bennetts only to fall in love with their son. Too bad he thinks she's a boy

    ReplyDelete
  45. Title: THE MATTER OF SOULS
    Genre: YA paranormal
    Email: stephaggie99 (at) gmail (dot) com

    Pitch: Riley's first mistake is not continuing on after dying. Now if she can't let go of her past, she'll find there are worse things than death.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Anonymous12:11 AM

    Thanks for the contest!
    Title: HONOR
    Genre: YA SF
    Email: mekj at earthlink dot net

    When his half brother is enslaved, Kiril, 16, decides to abandon family, homeworld, life and honor in order to rescue the little boy.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Title -Vestige
    Genre – Historical Romantic Adventure
    Email - allisinclair@hotmail.com
    Pitch - To stop the fatal powers of an Inca relic, Tess must learn if her ex or new love is a reincarnation of the soulmate she lost in a past life.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Anonymous12:38 AM

    Title: NOT SO LONG AGO, NOT SO FAR AWAY
    Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction
    Email: Slayzak(at)aol(dot)com

    Pitch:
    In the summer of 1977, Erika struggles to escape the questions surrounding her best friend’s disappearance. These are her unmailed letters…

    Wow! That was a great exercise I've never tried before. Thanks for the contest and all you do!
    .....Trisha
    http://trishaslay.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  49. Title: The Glass Prince
    Genre: YA Magical Realism
    E-mail: donealw@aol.com

    Pitch: When Snow White's cursed son starts stalking 17-year-old Clara, she knows her summer trip to New York will be more than she bargained for.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Title: Cloudburst
    Genre: YA Fantasy
    Email: christinelarnold@gmail.com

    Jemma Stone learns to control the elements and the raging case of telepathy she shares with her crush to stop the cult that wants her dead.

    ReplyDelete
  51. This reminds me of the "Twitch" contest BookEnds did: Twitter Pitch. Quite the challenge!

    Title: Façade
    Genre: Historical thriller
    Email: jordan at jordanmccollum.com

    Pitch: To preserve the tenuous peace, a Soviet diplomat must trust an American spy--and choose between being a good Soviet or a good daughter.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Title: Somniloquy
    Genre: YA
    Email: dreamstate at att dot net

    Every night, Abby dictates a story in her sleep. To save her sanity, she must find out what the story is and why she’s telling it.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Anonymous9:25 AM

    Title: Coveted
    Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
    Email: Tangynt at ymail doc com

    Pitch: A secret society called Libra has been hunting and killing Sources-human vessels of ancient power-for centuries, and Caleb Dunnelly is next.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Title: Starcatcher
    Genre: Futuristic Romance
    Email: DebraJess at gmail dot com

    Tamarja, a mind-wiped prisoner, discovers she holds the key to her lover’s revolution and remembers that she’s in love with another man.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Title – Walking with Sophie
    Genre – Children's Picture Book (0-6)
    Email – webblysosa@gmail.com
    Pitch – Take a walk through the imagination of an enchanting little girl. Tiptoe into Sophie's world once. Keep her in your heart forever.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Title: THE GATSBY GAME
    Genre: Mystery
    Email: annerallen.allen at gmail.com

    A Fitzgerald-obsessed con man dies in a star’s bedroom, igniting a MadMen-era Hollywood scandal—and a murder accusation for Nicky. Gatsby meets Catch Me if You Can.

    ReplyDelete
  57. MELISMA
    YA Urban Fantasy
    karenmkrueger(at)gmail(dot)com

    Tessa loses her ability to sing,goes to a world where music is magic,&discovers a secret that forces her to find her voice to save her life

    ReplyDelete
  58. What a fun idea! Thanks for doing this.

    Title: REDEMPTION
    Genre: YA Paranormal
    Email: julie@juliemusil.com

    Manny, modern Scrooge & top of HS food chain, faces 3 ghosts as he outruns arson charges, falls for his fire victim, & battles 4 redemption

    ReplyDelete
  59. Thank you for so many opportunities!

    Title: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Friendship
    Genre: MG Contemporary
    E-mail: janetsumnerjohnson (at) gmail (dot) com

    When selling her appendix on e-bay doesn’t work, ten-year-old Annie seeks other ways to save her best friend’s house from foreclosure.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  61. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Title of book: Anywhere

    Genre: Suspense

    Pitch: Faced with a sexual harassment suit, Nel doesn’t have space for Cal, a sexy vet, but she may need him when a murderer comes for her aunt.

    Your email: portia.stewart@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  63. Title: Of Oak and Dragons
    Genre: Urban Fantasy
    Pitch: An unexpected inheritance, a snarky rapier with delusions of grandeur, and a tall stranger put Leah in the middle of an ancient war.
    Email: beccoff(at)nwmo(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  64. Title: Beyond

    Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

    Pitch: The fallen angel of death has been called many things, but a super hero? I guess even the Reaper can change when the right girl comes along.

    Email: Phreaky-Phoenix@insight.rr.com

    ReplyDelete
  65. Title: Bloodstone
    Genre: Paranormal YA
    Email: brittanymelson@gmail.com
    Pitch: With power up for grabs and hearts at stake, two very unlikely dragon sisters will struggle stay alive as they fight fire with fire on the urban front line.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Great contest - thanks for this, it will help me for "elevator pitching" at two upcoming conferences

    Title: Ryan Says
    Genre: Romantic suspense
    Email: laura_hickman_213@yahoo.com
    A novel written about college friends exposed truths & when the author dies the friends investigate if he was murdered while romance blooms.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Might as well throw my hat in the ring.

    Title: Blood Runs
    Genre: Literary horror
    Email: Lynnholman@ymail.com
    Pitch: One night, the James’ three-year-old son vanished. Then, a year later, at their door is little Ollie, unaged and very hungry.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Title: Kingdom of Dreams
    Genre: YA Fantasy
    E-mail: angeldies at gmail dot com
    Twitter Pitch: A powerful spell’s stripping the land of its magic waking Mira after a long slumber. Scared & lost she must stop it b4 it kills everything.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Title: Never Alone
    Genre: Paranormal Women's Fiction
    email: dobeau@hotmail.com

    Pitch: When Jaston, a deceased Aussie chooses southerner Ellie to help him talk to his biological son, Jack, their paths become twined forever.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Thanks so much for this contest! 90,000 words down to 140 characters...that was a nice challenge :) Here's mine:

    Title: Infinitely
    Genre: Paranormal Romance
    Email: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

    The good news: Norah's personal reaper, Eli, is in love with her. So he saves her soul instead of taking it. Bad news? His boss isn't happy.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Anonymous8:09 PM

    Title-Firsts
    Genre-Contemporary YA
    Email-jsheaffer@hollins.edu
    Pitch-Coping w/ teen vicissitudes, Jerrica finds solace in her new, older stepbro & confuses lust for love, leading to a controlling relationship.

    ReplyDelete
  72. great contest, thanks!

    Title: WINDS OF CHANGE
    Genre: YA Fantasy
    email: elizafaith13@gmail.com

    pitch: Seventeen-year-old Avikar thought he was rescuing his sister from bandits, not a reptilian lord planning his race's annihilation

    ReplyDelete
  73. Anonymous9:26 PM

    Title: The Treacherous Trek
    Genre: Middle Grad/ Futuristic Adventure
    Email: truekingsley@me.com


    Shane Tool is determined to win The Treacherous Trek. Damien Dobbs can't stop him in his quest for Planet Five, but family loyalty might.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Anonymous9:31 PM

    Title: SPARK
    Genre: MG Fantasy
    email: campjb1@me.com

    Toby Will, AKA Toby Won't, is the only hope for a secret world behind paintings where famous characters from art live and breathe.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Title: Second Eden
    Genre: YA Fantasy/Dystopia/Utopia
    Email: abgafford@crimson.ua.edu

    Kat has always believed Elysia to be a prison rather than a paradise but after meeting Anthony she must decide if freedom is worth the cost.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Title: Abigail's Secret
    Genre: Historical Romance
    Email:e.michels.historicals@gmail.com

    Time'll tell if heaven or hell is where n which you'll find me If I knew then what I know now the love I found would bind me Abigails Secret

    ReplyDelete
  77. Title: Missing Starr
    Genre: YA contemporary
    Email:kellyhedine@yahoo.com

    Pitch: Evee Starr is the alias of a missing singer wanted for murder. Amnesic of the past 48 hours she must find the killer before she’s offed too.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Title: Silhouette
    Genre: Paranormal Suspense
    Email: kristinthetford@msn.com
    Pitch: 17 yr old Alana must unravel how an ancient dagger, chemical weapons, and 2 deadly men are connected before the world pays the price.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Title: Ravenous Dusk
    Genre: Urban Fantasy
    Email: aje237@yahoo.com
    Pitch: Necromancer Blake Killan’s job of de-possessing people for a living is turned upside down when she’s forced to become a vessel for ghosts for an infuriatingly gorgeous Reaper, and becomes tangled up in the politics of demons and the Underworld. And if her plate wasn’t full enough, she also has to helm a murder investigation that uncovers disturbing and deadly truths about those closest to her.

    ReplyDelete