This is 2016’s final 7th on 7th, where I take a blog subscriber’s seventh page and show you how I’d improve it for the upcoming #pg70pit contest. See the #70pit16 contest schedule here. See more about how to enter the contest here.
In the first 7th on 7th, I talked about wordiness, breath units, and cleverness.
Page 7: MG contemporary (first person)
Winning Entry: YA romantic fantasy (third person, two POVs) Continue reading
In 2015, we had 42 total winners, with 21 featured here and 21 more spread out among the co-host’s blogs. I checked in with the winners to see if they had any news to share!
The entry window for #70pit16 opens in one month! July 1 for MG, July 2 for YA, July 3 for Adult.
Were you a winner in 2015? Let me know how you are doing by emailing querylara (at gmail).
As the Sun Burns the Ground—Amanda McCrina‘s Blood Road will be out for publication in Fall 2017. Amanda got her deal the traditional way, through the slush! Read about her experience with online pitching here. Find out more about her book deal with agent Lane Heymont here. Amanda will be a slush reader for this year’s pg70pit!
Cool Blue Reason Empties on the Page—Aften Brook Szymanski‘s YA psychological thriller is coming out in July with BookFish Books.
You’re a Sky Full of Stars—Kristin Smith has a book deal with Clean Teen Publishing for another, YA novel, Catalyst, which will be released November 2016. Click the cover to add to Goodreads!
I’m the Best Mistake You’ll Ever Make—Katy Pool is now represented by Alexandra Machinist at ICM Partners. Her entry got four requests during 2015’s pg70pit.
I Know a Cat Named Easter—Rachel Richardson: “I’ve signed with Jennifer Udden of Barry Goldblatt Lit. We’re revising my novel for submission & my old page 70 is now on like page 100! :)” Her entry got five requests during 2015’s pg70pit.
The Flowers Sleeping in her Hands—Rachel Moser-Hardy is now represented by Jaida Temperly at New Leaf Literary.
Today Never Happened Before—Heather Brewer is now represented by Rebecca Angus of Golden Wheat Literary.
Like Real People Do—Sheena Boekweg is now represented by Jessica Sinsheimer from Sarah Jane Freymann Literary.
More than Just a Dream —Wendy Parris was a 2015 PitchWars finalist and is now represented by Mary Gaule at Mary Evans, Inc. Wendy’s entry got two requests during 2015’s pg70pit.
Have a success story? Email me and I’ll include it on the Alumni Page!
“I did in fact receive a full request thanks to Pg70pit! She has my full MS now and is considering it. Thanks so much for hosting an incredible contest—it was a wonderful experience! I enjoyed pg70pit so much. I cannot wait to see what pages make the final cut this year.” Kyrie McCauley‘s Love is a Battlefield got three requests during 2015’s pg70pit and was later chosen for Pitch to Publication! “Many fulls out for consideration, but no big news … yet!”
G. Kaup‘s Dream Weaver I Believe manuscript was later chosen for the 2015 PitchWars contest! “I loved pg70pit because I got exposure to more than just my first lines, which can be so hard to get just right. Even though no agents requested it during the contest, it was nice to have feedback from you all that the voice is great. I knew I was at least doing something right. :)”
Hema Penmatsa‘s Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme partial request was upgraded to a full. She also received several other full requests and is now working through a Revise and Resubmit for the manuscript. We hope she’ll have great news to share soon!
Kristin Walter‘s You’re the Lace in My Shoe got five requests during 2015’s pg70pit. “I got several requests from the contest but then decided my book needed a new ending, so I’m working on it again and hoping those agents are still a teensy bit interested!”
Hilary Harwell‘s Living Life By The Drop got two requests during 2015’s pg70pit. Hilary was a 2015 PitchWars finalist and a 2016 MG/YA Pikes Peak Zebulon Contest Winner.
But Darling, Stay with Me has been reworked by Heather DiAngelis from a new adult novel to YA. “I’m still in the early stages of querying, but I’ve had some full requests already, and I’m feeling optimistic!”
Mary Dunbar‘s Little Supernovas in My Head received one full request during 2015’s pg70pit. “I had several requests for fulls during the querying process, but none of them worked out. However, I’m almost finished with a new manuscript, and I hope to begin querying it this fall.”
“I think mentioning the competition in my query has definitely helped, so a massive thank you for running the whole thing and choosing my entry as a winner.” David Hall’s I Was Not Magnificent received one request during 2015’s pg70pit. David has fulls out with several agents.
Ray Morris’s Puff the Magic Dragon received two requests during pg70pit. The responses to his pages were kind and helpful, with one turning into a request to see future work. He has a few fulls and some partials out with other agents.
In one week, I’m leading a webinar: Self-Publishing vs Traditional. Get free access by signing up for The Writer Reveille, a weekly digest to wake up your writer warrior within.
Here’s my open call for pg70pit slushies!
#pg70pit is a unique contest in that entries are selected by voice alone. While other contests are better suited for commercial fiction which hooks by the first page, #pg70pit is a contest intending to highlight strong, diverse, or “quiet” voices.
If you think you’ve got the writing and revision chops to be a slushie, read on!
Remember: the contest itself is open to any writer with a complete and polished novel-length work, for age categories MG–Adult.
Constest slushies, however, must have either:
*Acceptable publishers:
Why these rules? We need slushies who can recognize a strong literary voice, and I don’t have time to vet everyone personally. There are so many excellent pitching contests for commercial fiction; I wanted to offer a pitching contest for quieter stories. #pg70pit is the result.
Reading the slush is a volunteer position. Entries come in July 1 for MG, July 2 for YA, and July 3 for Adult. All entries must be read and judged by July 5th at 7pm EDT. I estimate that each slushie will be assigned fewer than 60 entries (60 pages).
By hitting “submit,” you recognize that this is a blind contest—you pledge to not enter this contest yourself in 2016, and you pledge to pass any entries you recognize onto another slushie.
For 7th on 7th, I take a blog subscriber’s seventh page and show you how I’d improve it for the upcoming #pg70pit contest. See the #70pit16 contest schedule here.
THE ORIGINAL PAGE
– his musculature hugging them. He could be a model for the cover of GQ or Men’s Health. I felt my eyelashes fluttering involuntarily – was I batting my eyes flirtatiously, or just trying to focus? And then our eyes met…and locked. I could have sworn his eyes changed colors like a mood ring. It felt like we had gone through eternity together. I felt the strongest connection between this stranger (and yet not a stranger) and me. Then he lowered his eyes quickly and stated, “Walking and texting can kill you. I apologize. It’s just dangerous…you could’ve run into that door,” he smirked.
Lara Willard 