I'm a HUGE fan of writing contests. Especially for anyone who is looking for an agent. It's a great opportunity to get feedback on your work, to grow as an author, and to meet some awesome people.
My first contest I ever entered, I got pretty brutally beaten, lol. But you know what? I got something amazing from that experience. Two somethings actually. I met my first critique partners there, and now they are my best buds.
Even though I could've let that contest wound me for good, I decided to pick myself back up and enter more. And enter as many as I could. I've met some great people through contests and I've learned so much. And yes, I eventually found quite a bit of success through them, and I learned to relax and just HAVE FUN WITH IT!
Now I will step off my soap box, and give you the deets!
You have to sign up even if you won't be participating in all of it :) You can find the linky HERE.
And choose your badge of choice HERE
(Me likey this one.)
And if you could spread the word via Facebook, Twitter (hashtag #GUTGAA), or blog, that would be awesome!
And the schedule!
Straight from Deana, so I'm pretty sure it's accurate, lol.
GUTGAA SCHEDULE
Friday, August 31st:
Meet and Greet Questionnaire -
I will be posting a list of fun "get to know you" questions on my blog
for you to grab and use for our Week 1: Meet and Greet Blog Hop.
WEEK 1 (Monday, Sept 3rd - Friday, Sept 7th)
OFFICIAL START OF GUTGAA!!
Monday:
GUTGAA Meet and Greet -
We're starting off with a little get to know you action. On your blog,
post a mini bio about yourself along with answers to the questions I
posted on my blog (see above if your confused). Don't like those
questions all that much? That's fine. Make up your own. Either way, we
just want to get to know you!
Wednesday:
BETA/Critique Group Connect - Anyone interested in making some
serious writer connections can come to my blog and post in the comments
section what they're looking for and I will try my best to make a writer
connection for you.
Friday:
Call for Pitch Polish Entries - Are you looking for some pitch
help? The Pitch Polish may be what you're looking for. You will have
until Saturday, Sept 8th at 11:59 PM to get your pitch sent to
deanabarnhart(at)gmail(dot)com. I will take the first 100 entries I get
(if I get that many).
Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)
WEEK 2 (Monday, Sept 10th - Friday, Sept 14th)
PITCH POLISH!
Monday:
Pitches Posted for Pitch Polish - I
will be posting all 100 pitches on my blog for critique. They will be
posted anonymously and I will expect ALL comments to be constructive. It
is possible for you not to like something and still be helpful. But I'm
sure you lovelies know that:)
NOTE:
If your pitch didn't make it into the anonymous Pitch Polish, I welcome
you to post your pitch on your blog for helpful feedback. I will be
posting a linky list for this so those that want can visit as many blog
pitches as possible.
Friday:
Entry Window Opens for Agent Pitch Contest -
To enter the agent judged pitch contest you will need to email your
query and first 150 word entry to deanabarnhart(at)gmail(dot)com. I will
take entries until 11:59 PM or until I get 200 entries. I will post the
format directions on this day as well.
Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)
WEEK 3 (Monday, Sept 17th - Friday, Sept 21st)
AGENT PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 1!
Monday:
Get Your Foot in the Door - For
those that made it into the Agent Pitch Contest (assuming there are 200
entries), your pitches will be divided into groups of 40 and posted on 5
different host sites: My Blog, Robin Weeks, Falling for Fiction, Emily R King and Jaye Robin Brown.
I will do my best to separate the entries into genres. Once the posts
go up, each group will be visited by 4 anonymous judges who will each
pick their top 10. Those entries with the most votes will go on to Round
2 - The Agent Round. If there is a tie, judges from the other host
blogs will come in and pick their favorite until one comes out on top. There will be 50 finalists!
Monday - Thursday:
Judge Trolling -
The anonymous judges can comment on any entries that they would like,
but if they want you in they will say something along the lines of, "I
vote for you to move on."
Friday:
Finalists Announced - I think this is pretty self explanatory:)
Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)
WEEK 4 (Monday, Sept 24th - Friday, Sept 28th)
AGENT PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 2!
Monday:
The Agent Round - I will post the 50 finalist pitches on my blog for the 11 agents to read through.
Monday - Friday:
Agent Trolling -
As agents read through the pitches they can comment on any that they
want. If they really like your entry they can request a partial or full
through the comments as well.
Friday:
Entry Window Opens for Small Press Pitch Contest -
To enter the small press judged pitch contest you will need to email
your query and first 150 word entry to deanabarnhart(at)gmail(dot)com. I
will take entries until 11:59 PM or until I get 100 entries. I will
post the format directions on this day as well.
Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)
WEEK 5 (Monday, Oct 1st - Friday, Oct 5th)
SMALL PRESS PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 1!
Monday:
Get Your Foot in the Door - For
those that made it into the Small Press Pitch Contest, (assuming there
are 100 entries) your pitches will be divided into groups of 20 and
posted on 5 different host sites. I will do my best to separate the
entries into genres. Once the posts go up each group will be visited by 3
anonymous judges who will each pick their top 5. Those entries with the
most votes will go on to Round 2 - The Editor Round. If there is a tie,
judges from the other host blogs will come in and pick their favorites
until one comes out on top. There will be 25 finalists!
Monday - Thursday:
Judge Trolling -
The anonymous judges can comment on any entries that they would like,
but if they want you in they will say something along the lines of, "I
vote for you to move on."
Friday:
Finalists Announced - I think this is pretty self explanatory:)
Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)
WEEK 6 (Monday, Oct 8th - Friday, Oct 12th)
SMALL PRESS PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 2!
Monday:
The Editor Round - I will post the 25 finalists pitches on my blog for the 7 small presses to read through.
Monday - Friday:
Editor Trolling -
As editors read through the pitches they can comment on any that they
want. If they really like your entry they can request a partial or full
through the comments as well.
Friday:
Winners Announced For Agent and Small Press Pitch Contest - Again, I'm thinking this is pretty self explanatory:)
Final Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday I will be randomly drawing a participants name and giving them a prize just for being cool:)
That's it! Super excited and hope to see you in the contest!
Expelliarmus!
20 comments:
I signed up for this without realising just how much awesomeness was involved - I'm excited now! :D
I signed up weeks ago. But now I'm not so sure ...
By the way ... 11:59 PM ... what timezone?
I'm in like Flynn :)
Looking forward to something new :)
(Last year, I was just thinking about blogging :)
Now, look! I'm drooling and crawling... all by myself :)
I'm trying to decide if this is worth signing up for for me. I'm not in a position to be pitching to agents, querying or finding CPs. I currently have two WiP, one in the first round of edits and the other still in the writing stage.
It look like an excellent blog fest, but I don't want to waist my own time, and other people's, by signing up for something my novels aren't ready for.
"Judge Trolling" - my first laugh of the morning!
I'm already in too. Working on my query right now! Well not right now, but you know what I mean.
Thank you for this. It gave me the push I needed to enter.
I didn't realise it was quite as massive until the schedule went up!
I posted about it today too, and I'm excited. Don't know if my WIP will be ready in time, but I'm going to give it a go!
Oh! And all the times are EST. :)
I did this last year and it was how I meet A LOT of my best blogging friends :) I love Deana! This contest is one of the best. How are you going to participate since you already have an agent?
I can't wait to help with this blogfest. I think contests are great, but I was already publicly spanked once this year, so I think I'll wait a while before I do that again. :) Querying in private is more my style.
I am all signed up. It's a bit overwhelming though--so much going on! Can I keep up with Deana's awesomeness.
Can't you just put in a good word for me with yours without me actually having to finish this WIP?
I've been excited about GUTGAA and had my badge all gussied up on my sidebar only realize I hadn't added myself to the linky.
D'oh!
Glad I got that corrected. I'm very stoked about this and I appreciate you sharing the importance of being active and participating. After all, I'm not aware of anyone - personally - who reached the success they wanted by sitting still and doing nothing.
Thanks for this! I'm now participating too! :-)
Woooooow this sounds AWESOME! I'm in no position to pitch, but that beta match is very very tempting...
Okay. I caved. I've officially signed up! I won't get to do much following the first two weeks, but I will definitely enjoy participating where I can :)
This seems awesome! Any genre limitations or is it open to all?
Some Dark Romantic
So exciting! I can't believe all the awesome opportunities Deana has lined up. I'm off to sign up.
I signed up! I'm excited, and more than a little bit nervous!
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