![\"writing\"](\"https:\/\/www.matthewcoxbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/writing-1024x753.jpg\")
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Greetings all,<\/p>\n
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Tiffany Hoffman, a\u00a0writerly friend of mine, who is running a new writer’s contest called #FicFest. The aim\u00a0is to bring manuscripts and literary agents together with writing submissions from five categories: Children\u2019s Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult.<\/p>\n
Manuscripts will go through a few rounds of voting and be filtered down to an equal number of finalists in each category (so there isn\u2019t a glut of YA for example). From the finalists, a pool of (I think the last count was nineteen) literary agents will be requesting partials and\/or fulls.<\/p>\n
The contest is\u00a0looking for complete<\/em> manuscripts (not manuscripts in need of editing \/ polish). Think of it like submitting your work to an agent directly, only with a wider net of a contest instead of the single fishing line of a query.<\/p>\n From the details, it looks like forty-five manuscripts will be considered finalists (nine of each category). Agents will be requesting partials\/fulls for any of the finalist manuscripts that pique their interest.<\/p>\n This seems to be a great opportunity to get your work in front of agents looking for writing in your genre. Entries aren’t open yet, but keep your eye on this site for more details:<\/p>\n https:\/\/writersnook87.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Interview<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the New Year, I posted a blog with my 2016 goals. One of those goals was to start my own writing contest. I\u2019ve been entering contests such as PitchWars and such for the last fews years, but I really wanted to design the type of contest I knew I\u2019d enter myself.<\/p>\n I remember my first contest, which was Brenda Drake\u2019s Pitch Wars in 2014. Through the process of submission, a fellow writer and I launch a webshow called \u2018Whiskey, Wine, and Writing\u2019. We interviewed the PitchWars mentors and the creator of the contest, and one of the underlying reasons they all participated each year was because of the joy in helping another writer realize their dream of signing with an agent and moving to publication.<\/p>\n In late 2015, I opened my own freelance editing business called Deep Water Editorial Services, and as I worked with clients, I realized how much I really loved helping other writers better their work and move toward their dreams. #FicFest is a fun way to keep doing that. To give other writers feedback and help get their manuscripts in front of the agents who can help make their publishing dreams come true.<\/p>\n I think our mission is to provide a fair and equal contest to all writers were one category does not over power another, giving every finalists an equal chance to get request from agents, and giving agents a real diverse spread to request from.<\/p>\n When we started looking for agents, I thought it was going to be hard getting them to participate. We wrote a letter to request agent participation which not only invited the agent to join but explained to them what #FicFest was, when the agent round was, and why this contest would be a good one for them to participate in. Then we waited. Within a week the confirmations started coming in.<\/p>\n The agents were just as eager to join as we were to host this contest. As of right now, we have 19 literary agents confirmed to participate in our agent round, and I\u2019m thinking that number may very well go up before July.<\/p>\n This is the beautiful thing about #FicFest. The only category we are NOT accepting is non-fiction. Every other category and genre is welcome. We accept Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult and Adult. EVERY genre is welcome as well. From contemporary to erotica. Our goal is to host a contest that gives a fair chance to each of the five categories, and every genre.<\/p>\n The submission process is fairly easy. While, I can\u2019t lay out what material must be submitting at this time, (The official submission guidelines will go live on my blog on March 20th), I can say that to submit, each person will have to send in a submission email with all the required material during the submission window, which is 12:00 AM EST on April 24th until 11:59 PM EST on April 25th.<\/p>\n Once the submission window closes; the #FicFest mentor teams will spend the next week reading through submissions and choosing their finalists and alternates. There are three teams for each category. Each team will be choosing three finalists to advance to the agent round, and one alternate. This means that there will be a total of 15 alternates and 45 manuscripts that move to the agent round. On May 4, 2016, we will announce the finalists and alternates via my blog and they will then begin working with their mentor teams to get their manuscripts ready for the agent round in July!<\/p>\n Unfinished manuscripts. Our mentor teams will be working with a total of 4 manuscripts (3 finalists and one alternate) and they only have 8 weeks for revisions before the agent round. If the manuscript isn\u2019t as polished and query ready as the author can get it, there is just no way it will be ready in the 8 weeks before the agent round. So, before submitting, writers should make sure that they are submitting a polished manuscript.<\/p>\n Do not submit a first draft, and do not submit a manuscript that you\u2019re not finished writing. We also will not take any manuscript that has already been a finalist in another 2016 contest. If you were a finalist for Sun vs Snow this year, for example, do not submit the same manuscript to #FicFest. And lastly, we won\u2019t accept any manuscript that has previously been slef-published.<\/p>\n Both. Many Picture Book writers already work with illustrators, or are illustrators. We will accept those that have illustrations and those that do not.<\/p>\n All submissions for the contest will be emailed to us at ficfest (at) gmail (dot) com.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n FicFest Schedule<\/strong>:<\/p>\n March 20, 2016 @ 12:00 PM EST<\/p>\n Guidelines & Theme Reveal<\/p>\n <\/p>\n March 27, 2016 @ 7:00 PM EST<\/p>\n Meet the Team Leads & Their Members!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n April 3, 2016 @ 6:00 PM EST<\/p>\n Agent List Announced<\/p>\n <\/p>\n April 17, 2016 @ 7:00 PM EST \u2013 10:00 PM EST<\/p>\n Q & A with Team Leads & Host<\/p>\n <\/p>\n April 24, 2016 @ 12:00 AM EST \u2013 April 25, 2016 @ 11:59 PM EST<\/p>\n SUBMISSION<\/p>\n <\/p>\n April 26, 2016 \u2013 May 3, 2016<\/p>\n Teams will choose their finalists\/alternate<\/p>\n <\/p>\n May 4, 2016 @ 10:00 AM EST<\/p>\n Finalists\/Alternate Reveal<\/p>\n <\/p>\n May 5, 2016 \u2013 June 30, 2016<\/p>\n Revisions<\/p>\n <\/p>\n July 8, 2016 @ 12:00 AM EST \u2013 July 14, 2014 @ 11:59 PM EST<\/p>\n Agent Round<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greetings all, I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Tiffany Hoffman, a\u00a0writerly friend of mine, who is running a new writer’s contest called #FicFest. The aim\u00a0is to bring manuscripts and literary agents together with writing submissions from five categories: Children\u2019s … Continue reading
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