Sunday, August 26, 2012

Gearing Up to Get an Agent

I will be helping behind-the-scenes as a first-round judge for the Gearing Up to Get an Agent's (GUTGAA) pitch contest. GUTGAA is a huge blogfest, complete with an agent-judged contest (11 agents are participating in the final round--UPDATE: There are now 12 agents slotted to participate, thanks to my wonderful agent, Weronika Janczuk), a small press pitch contest, critique opportunities, prizes for random participants, critique group matchmaking, and more! The fun begins August 31st and runs through mid-October. My friend, Deana Barnhart (one of the sweetest people alive), is the wizard behind the curtain.

Here's an abbreviated version of the schedule. For more info (and what you need to do to sign up), visit deanabarnhart.blogspot.com 

Friday, August 31st:
Prep for the Meet and Greet by completing a questionnaire.

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. 

Wednesday: 
BETA/Critique Group Connect - Deana will act as a matchmaker and help those interested in making some serious writer connections.

Friday:
Call for Pitch Polish Entries - Window opens Friday and closes Saturday at midnight. Deana will take the first 100 entries for next week's public pitch critique.

Giveaway Winner Announced - Every Friday Deana will randomly draw a participant's name and give them a prize just for being cool:)

WEEK 2 (Monday, Sept 10th - Friday, Sept 14th)

PITCH POLISH!
Monday:
Pitches Posted for Pitch Polish - 100 pitches posted anonymously. Participants invited to give constructive criticism.

Friday: 
Entry Window Opens for Agent Pitch Contest - First 200 entries accepted. Participants submit their query and the first 150 words of their manuscript.

Giveaway Winner Announced - Random participant given a prize.

WEEK 3 (Monday, Sept 17th - Friday, Sept 21st)

AGENT PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 1!
Monday:
Get Your Foot in the Door - The 200 entries for the Agent Pitch Contest will be divided into groups of 40 and posted on five different host sites and separated by genre. Each group will be visited by four anonymous judges who will each pick their top ten. The entries with the most votes will go on to Round 2 - The Agent Round. There will be 50 finalists!

Monday - Thursday:
Judge Trolling - The anonymous judges will comment on the entries and vote for you to move on.

Friday:
Finalists Announced
Giveaway Winner Announced 

WEEK 4 (Monday, Sept 24th - Friday, Sept 28th)

AGENT PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 2!
Monday:
The Agent Round - Deana will post the 50 finalist pitches on her 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 - First 100 entries accepted. Participants submit their query and the first 150 words of their manuscript.

Giveaway Winner Announced

WEEK 5 (Monday, Oct 1st - Friday, Oct 5th)  

SMALL PRESS PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 1!
Monday:
Get Your Foot in the Door - The 100 entries will be divided into groups of twenty and posted on five different host sites and separated by genre. Each group will be visited by three anonymous judges, who will each pick their top five. The entries with the most votes will go on to Round 2 - The Editor Round. There will be 25 finalists!

Monday - Thursday:
Judge Trolling - The anonymous judges will comment on the entries and vote for you to move on.

Friday:
Finalists Announced
Giveaway Winner Announced

WEEK 6 (Monday, Oct 8th - Friday, Oct 12th)

SMALL PRESS PITCH CONTEST: ROUND 2!
Monday:
The Editor Round - The 25 finalists' pitches will be posted on Deana's blog for the seven 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
Final Giveaway Winner Announce

Again, there's still time to sign up to participate. Head over to deanabarnhart.blogspot.com for more information.

15 comments:

  1. Katie...you won a prize over on my blog today, FYI. :)

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  2. I signed up for this. I'm excited for it. I didn't know you knew Deana. Is she a Utah native as well?

    Curious on the query and 150 word pitch. To clarify they are 2 different things right? Or is the query limited to 150 words? At Write On Con they called the pitch the part of your query without the you details and "hi agent" details. So I just want to be sure I'm preparing for the right thing:)

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    1. Okay, I just clarified with Deana, and you'll be submitting the meat of your query (just like how you described) and then the first 150 words of your manuscript. There is no word limit on the query.

      And, yes, I do know Deana! She is not from Utah, but she came out for the Storymakers conference back in May. She was in my Publication Primer critique group class given by Elana Johnson (that Ilima was in, too). :-)

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    2. Thank you Katie for clarifying that for me. I'm *sigh* reworking my query yet again.

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  3. Glad to hear you're in on the party! You'll get to visit my blog because I'll be hosting some of the entries one week. Yay!

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    1. Double yay! I know some of the nicest people. I'm excited to be a part of this with you and Deana. :-)

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  4. Hey, kathryn! It's nice to meet you. :) I had no idea this was going on. I've been out of the blog loop for a while. But this is seriously so cool!

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    1. Nice to meet you too, Ruth! I just checked out your blog. Yep, we're going to be fast friends. :-) You should sign up for the Meet & Greet with the GUTGAA blogfest! Just hop on over to Deana's blog.

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  5. Ooh cool another agent is getting involved. I'm diving in this year. Thanks for helping put this together. It's fun to meet you.

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    1. Nice to meet you too, Traci. Good luck with all the upcoming GUTGAA contests. I'm glad you're participating!

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  6. Hello Kathryn! I was nice to 'meet' you through Emily's email today. I'm so excited for GUTGAA, although I'm having a baby next Thursday so I'm not sure how it's all going to work out, but I'm committed just the same! Wanted to stop by and say hi and let you know that you can friend me on facebook if you want to be part of the group - https://www.facebook.com/jenniefire . Cheers!

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    1. Thank you! I'll be sure to hop on Facebook and befriend you. I'm so excited to get to know such a great group of writers better. Enjoy your time with your soon-to-be born baby. :-)

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  7. Can't wait for this. Going to be so much fun. ;0)

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    1. I know! I really am psyched for this!! Thanks for stopping by my blog. :-)

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