Saturday, September 1, 2012

Win an Editing Workshop

Note: We are hosting TWO awesome (unaffiliated) contests today. If you're looking for the Pitch Madness Entry post, please go here.

Welcome to a new pitch contest with a new, different sort of prize.

Entranced Publishing, a new electronic publisher of YA and romance, is offering up an eight-week online editing workshop (beginning September 17th) to five lucky winners. These five winners will be chosen via a pitch contest here at YAtopia, held in the comments of this post.

The workshop will be hosted by Managing Editor Eden Plantz, who will take participants on an in-depth tour of their own manuscripts from an editorial perspective. At the end of the workshop, Eden will discuss the finer points of querying and will help each author craft a strong cover letter.

In addition, Executive Editor Ashley Christman and Eden will review all entries and will be requesting an as-of-yet undetermined number of manuscripts to be given priority in their slushpile.

The contest is open to YA and NA writers. One entry per person. Post the following information in the comments of this post.

- Name
- Email
- Title
- Age-range & Genre
- Word-count
- Hook (100 words or fewer)

Good luck!

Leave any questions about this contest in the comments.

41 comments:

  1. Rachel Schieffelbein
    rachelmarybean@yahoo.com
    FLESH-EATING ZOMBIES AND EVIL EX-GIRLFRIENDS
    YA horror
    35,000 words

    Erwin is in hell. Locked in his high school, surrounded by zombies. With him is his ex, her new boyfriend, and the girl who's helping him forget her, along with a handful of others-including a seven-year-old girl. It becomes clear the school is unsafe, but not everyone agrees. He realizes he can't save everyone and must decide whether or not to go, and who he's willing to leave behind.

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  2. Kristina Perez
    kristina@kristinaperez.com
    WRAITH
    NA Fantasy
    120,000 words

    20-year-old Lyra Vega is falsely convicted of murdering her parents and exiled to a parallel world where she must fight for survival, track the real killer, and not fall in love.

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    Replies
    1. Hey Kristina, we met on WriteOnCon... looks great, hope I get a chance to buy and read!

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    2. Please send a brief synopsis and your full ms to me, Eden [At] entrancedpublishing [dot] com

      Delete
  3. Kelley Harvey
    contactme(@)kelleyharvey(.)com
    DEVASTATION
    YA Romantic (Soft)Sci-Fi
    95,000 words

    At sixteen, Lexa Castiel, sprouts giant-ass wings and learns she's half alien, but that’s the least of her problems. Two hottie hybrids, Gabe and Nathaniel, vie for Lexa's attention and want to teach her to fly. That ain't happenin'. A puke producing, debilitating fear of heights renders her wings as useless as teats on a boar hog. When genocidal aliens bent on conquering the planet abduct Lexa for her healing DNA, she’s trapped on their ship, a dark labyrinth filled with bizarre creatures, some helpful, some downright deadly. She’ll have to overcome her phobia to save herself and the world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd like to see this. Please send your synopsis and full MS to eden [at] entrancedpublishing [dot] com

      Delete
  4. Wendy Knight
    wendyjo99@hotmail.com
    Feudlings
    YA Urban Fantasy
    88,000 words

    Arianna has been hunting Shane since she could throw her first spell. Now she’s falling in love with the nemesis she is prophesied to kill – until Shane tries to kill her first.

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  5. Eliza Tilton
    elizafaith13@gmail.com
    BROKEN FOREST
    YA FANTASY
    70,000 words

    When Avikar’s sister is kidnapped, he goes on a desperate quest to save her from the shape-shifting lord who plans to marry her, but the closer he gets to rescuing her, the harder she falls for her captor, never realizing the wedding she think’s will end in bliss will only result in her death.



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  6. Tessa Devan
    tessadevan at hotmail dot com
    UNDERCOVER
    YA Thriller
    55,000 words

    Sixteen-year-old P.I. agency intern, Jayna Kumar, pisses off the wrong people as she investigates her best friend's murder, a death the police have ruled a suicide. Will Jayna catch the killer before the killer catches her?

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  7. Name: Kaitlin Adams
    Email: jkaitlinadams@gmail.com
    Title: THE SHOW MUST NOT GO ON
    Genre: YA Dystopian
    Word Count: 70,000

    In Easten, pride is everything, and a parent’s status depends on their child’s talent. If sixteen-year-old Lori Gibbs impresses the Talent Show judges, her parents move into the Palace for life. If she doesn’t impress, she’ll hang.

    Lori can fly, and with that comes her parents’ expectations for her to impress. But during registration, she bonds with another contestant. Davis's talent is holding his breath, and while he thinks he’ll impress, Lori knows he doesn’t stand a chance.

    She devises a plan to save him. But if she gets caught, she’ll hang quicker than her parents signed her registration form.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jen McConnel
    jenmcconnel@hotmail.com
    PRIESTESS OF MOAB
    NA Historical/Paranormal
    65,000

    Ruth is a priestess to the great goddess, Astarte. She's lived in the desert temple since childhood, and has never thought of leaving. But when the strangers from Bethlehem come, everything changes. Ruth falls in love, but a cruel twist of fate robs her of her husband and her home at the temple. All that is left is her sharp-tongued mother-in-law, Naomi. Can two women with nothing in common forge a family? Both of their faiths will be tested, but the goddess watches over her children.

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  9. Name: Laurie Litwin
    Email: hagergirl@yahoo.com
    Title: GRIPPED
    Age-range & Genre: (Edgy) Contemporary Young Adult
    Word-count: 58,000

    Taylor has it all. But she hasn’t become the 'it' girl without a little help from her best friends champagne, zinfandel and chardonnay.

    Taylor's an alcoholic.

    One frigid December night, drunk and pissed off after an argument with her arch-frenemy, she gets behind the wheel of a car and slams into a tree less than a mile from home, leaving her near death. When she wakes up, her secret comes out. She’s an addict. The truth is, she can’t survive without alcohol, and she’d rather die than give it up.

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  10. Sally Poyton
    spoyton@art-sally.net
    Through Mortal Eyes
    YA Fantasy with a Fairy Tale Theme
    80,000 Words

    Ruby's life consists of studying, working, and looking after her incompetent stepmother and infant half-brother. All this changes when she find a book, 'The Hunters Tale' where the hunter is on the trail of the dangerous Little Red Riding Hood. Ruby starts to see a resemblance between a plague of baby death in a book and an epidemic that is killing infants in real life. She needs to work out whether they are related, are the deaths caused by disease or the work of a fairytale villain?

    Can Ruby find the answers in time to save her baby brother?

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  12. Aimee L. Salter
    aimeelsalter@gmail.com
    LISTEN TO ME
    14-18 year olds, YA Contemporary with a time-twist
    89,000

    When Stacy looks in the mirror, alongside her own reflection she can see and talk to her future self: Older Me.

    Older Me’s been in the mirror since Stacy was six. Now seventeen, Stacy’s beginning to wonder if she wants to become a fat-and-bedraggled 29-year-old.

    As Stacy pulls away, hoping for more independence, and possibly a different future, Older Me is forced to admit she’s been lying. A lot.

    Stacy learns that following Older Me’s advice might have cost her the love of her life.

    Older Me wants her to believe that's a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd love to see more. Please send your synopsis and full MS to eden [at] entrancedpublishing [dot] com.

      Delete
    2. Great choice! I've beta read this one and I loved it.

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    3. Thank you so much! I will do that right away!

      Delete
  13. Becca Christiansen
    rachristiansen (at) live (dot) ca
    A BRAVER THING
    YA contemporary
    60,000 words

    Still broken from his grandmother's recent death, Tristan Tennant moves to England to attend boarding school. He's shocked to discover, upon arriving, that the heir to the throne, Prince Malcolm of Wales, also attends Edgerton Academy. Prince Malcolm was his grandma's greatest fascination, so meeting the prince now feels like meeting a distant mythical figure. But he's not so distant: the two boys begin a tentative, shy romance.

    Everything is gorgeous until the death of Malcolm's father. Now Tristan's boyfriend isn't just the heir -- he's the king.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kate Larkindale
    katelarkindale (at) gmail (dot) com
    THE BOYFRIEND PLAGUE
    YA contemporary
    84 000 Words

    Shaken by her sister’s cancer, her mother’s desperation and abandoned by her friends, Livvie finds comfort and an attraction she’s never felt before with Bianca. When their relationship is discovered, Livvie and Bianca become victims of persecution and bullying. At home, her mother’s behavior escalates to new levels of crazy and her sister begs for help to end the pain once and for all. While searching for the strength to make her life her own, Livvie must decide how far she’s willing to go for the people she loves.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Amr A.
    searthy@gmail.com
    HALF SOUL
    Young adult epic fantasy with a romantic twist
    95,000 words

    Being an aether bender, seventeen-year-old Alex is the only one aware of the curse inflicting Gensolia, a world where everyone is cursed to be born half dead and destined to live with no love. Souls are shattered at birth.

    Alex discovers that the curse can’t be reversed, but it can be cured. He finds that an ancient evil is cloaking the cure. The only way to cure his dying half soul is to banish this ancient evil from the world, or else his soul will be lost forever.

    In order to do that, Alex has to go on a dangerous quest to retrieve an ancient wand. As that wand is the only weapon powerful enough to defeat this evil.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd like to see your full MS. Please send it to eden [at] entrancedpublishing [dot] com.

      Delete
  16. Sarah Kay Steele
    sarahkaysteele@gmail.com
    Jade
    YA Contemporary Fantasy
    70,000 words

    Em Perkins loved everything about summer-- two parental-free weeks at her aunt and uncle’s cottage, an escape from her ex-boyfriend, no one pressuring her about school, and some chance encounters with Finn, the boy from down the beach. But when a mysterious bag of jade stones reveals her summer fling to be the only remaining High Priest of another realm, Em realizes helping him find a way home might just mean saying goodbye forever.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Name: Amanda Foody
    Email: akfoody@gmail.com
    Title: RELIC
    Age-range & Genre: 13-19, YA Fantasy
    Word-count: 85,000

    Eighteen-year-old Princess Far has struggled her entire life to hide the memories of her past lives. But when a group of dark magicians invades her kingdom and her memories become the key to ending their quest for bloodshed, Far must decide if protecting her people is worth exposure, especially if those same people will nail her to a fiery stake the moment they discover her secret.

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  18. I would like to see the following thus far (more shall be announced later and the workshoppers at the end):

    A Braver Thing
    The Boyfriend Plague

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  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  20. Forgot to add, email me at publisher@entrancedpublishing.com

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  21. Stacey Trombley
    SPTrombley88@gmail.com
    Whispers of Disaster
    16-20, YA fantasy
    65,000 words


    Taylor is tired of secrets.

    After seventeen years of being surrounded by whispers, bizarre rumors, and nasty looks, she refuses to go on without knowing why everyone is so afraid of her.

    Digging into her father’s mysterious past gets her an inside look at a secret group of people. The Maaylina. With these people she discovers a great legacy. Until she learns they believe they are ordained to cause terrible disasters to the world. Fires, accidents, chemical spills: the works.

    Taylor considers them murderers. When she refuses to join she finds herself on the run, hunted by her own family.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Name: TL Sumner
    Email: tlsumner (at) live (dot) com
    FORBIDDEN SECRETS
    YA Fantasy/Paranormal (15 yrs +)
    Word Count: 95,000

    Focused on getting a full-ride to run track in college, Kyra Siefert doesn’t have time for distractions like her magnetic attraction to Aidan MacGregor. Bound by a strict code of honor, Aidan hides a powerful secret from Kyra; he’s the son of Scottish immortals.

    In this Romeo & Juliet meets Highlander, Kyra becomes the pawn for one rogue immortal pursuing a sacred amulet protected by Aidan’s clan, and another seeking to settle a centuries-old blood feud. Aidan must choose: betray his family or protect the girl he’s forbidden to love. But Kyra’s hiding a secret too. One with deadly consequences.

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  23. Such wonderful pitches! We are going to continue requesting manuscripts throughout the day and will announce our workshop participants at the end.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Susan Taitel
    Qooze@sbcglobal.net
    RANDOM ACTS OF NUDITY
    Contemporary YA (15+)
    79,000

    Fifteen-year-old Viola was devastated after her first love dumped her. Just as her broken heart begins to mend, a sex tape featuring Vi and her ex goes viral.

    In the course of a day, she transforms from a quiet honors student to the school’s biggest joke.

    Things start looking up when she falls for a boy from a neighboring school, who doesn't know her reputation. She's not sure if she can trust him with her heart, not with the truth a mouse click away.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Meagan
    meagrivers (at) gmail (dot) com
    VICTOR & VIOLA
    New Adult, contemporary
    69,000

    When Victor wakes up to his ex-best friend Viola reading at the foot of his bed, he tells her to get lost and goes back to sleep. In the morning, he gets a call: Viola’s dead.

    Now Viola’s ghost is following him, taunting him, driving him mad. His friends think he’s losing his mind. She won’t tell him why she’s haunting him. It’s up to Victor to figure out what he did wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm actually reading this one at the moment and I love it!

      Delete
  26. Heather Smith
    heather-m-smith@comcast.net
    Griffin’s Song
    Ages 12+, YA Adventure
    87k Words

    Fifteen-year-old Sarah Whitman never wanted the life or marriage her parents had planned. When her parents are murdered, Sarah becomes a captive aboard the most dangerous pirate ship of the decade, the Griffin’s Song. The captain has an unlikely sense of honor, and refuses to kill her while she’s a child - but that means her time is up in one year.

    Unwilling to resign herself to this fate, Sarah relies on her ingenuity and skills she’s learned from the pirates to find a way to escape. This race against the clock will end by the day she turns sixteen.

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  27. Thank you everyone for participating in this pitch event! There were a lot of great pitches and we regret that we couldn't request fulls from more people. Here are our winners for the workshop.

    Susan Taitel - Random Acts of Nudity
    Amanda Foody - Relic
    Sarah Kay Steele - Jade
    Sally Poyton - Through Mortal Eyes
    Laurie Litwin - Gripped

    Congratulations! Winning workshop participants, please send your pitch in the body of an email to eden[at]entrancedpublishing[dot]com, with "workshop winner" in the subject line.

    ReplyDelete
  28. If you would like to hear more from Entranced, please don't hesitate to follow us on facebook at
    https://www.facebook.com/EntrancedPublishing
    or on twitter with the tag @entrancedpub.

    Thank you all for participating!

    -Melody from Entranced

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  29. Is this closed?

    I was just ready to post mine and saw Eden's comment.


    Maribeth

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  30. It is closed, but if all of our winners do not email me by the 10th, we will need to choose someone else to take their places in the workshop. If you'd like to post your pitch for secondary consideration, feel free.

    When all 5 spots are officially filled, I will post to let everyone know.

    ReplyDelete