As promised, we bring you the official contest thread for our first ever agent-judged contest!
Meet the awesome agent who's agreed to be our first judge!
Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency! 
Sara is the Associate Literary Agent at Nelson Literary Agency. She's actively and enthusiastically acquiring new clients!
Nelson Literary Agency specializes in representing young adult and middle grade, science fiction and fantasy, romance (all genres except category or inspirational), commercial fiction, women's fiction (including chick lit) and high concept literary fiction.
Sara is particularly interested in "contemporary YA and MG novels - stories set in the real world, preferably with a multicultural or historical aspect." And would also "love to work on more science fiction and fantasy books." She loves "fantastical stories - especially when they are unique and beautifully written," and says "My favorite young adult reads in 2010 were ASH by Malinda Lo and THE DUFF by Kody Keplinger."
For those of you that don't write YA, Sara also likes romance books that are "super sexy and intelligent" and commercial fiction that has "a unique story and superior writing."
Some of Sara's clients and their upcoming books include:
Miranda Kenneally - SCORE (Sourcebooks, December 2011)
Allison Rushby - SHOOTING STARS
Jennifer Shaw Wolf - BREAKING BEAUTIFUL
And now for the best part, THE PRIZE. Sara has offered to review the first 30 pages of the manuscript whose pitch she liked the most!
How it works:
This contest is for COMPLETED POLISHED MANUSCRIPTS ONLY. If you wouldn't want an agent to read it yet, don't enter.
You have 140 characters to pitch your novel. NO ABBREVIATIONS--if the word is "When" please do not give us "whn". You may use numbers (16 instead of sixteen) but no abbreviated words. We have a great post with examples of elevator pitches in the archives, but remember, 140 characters ONLY. This includes punctuation and spaces. If you can not fit it in a tweet (hence the term "twitter pitch"), your entry will be disqualified. It's tough, but you can do it.
We will only accept entries in the genres that Sara Megibow represents. (See her bio above.)
While following our blog and spreading the word about the contest is not required, and won't get you any extra points, we would greatly appreciate it. The more the merrier!
Please put your entries in the comments of this post as follows:
Name:
Email:
Title:
Genre:
140 character pitch.
Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm ET Saturday, May 7th 2011. Any entries submitted after that time will be disqualified.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS about the contest, please ask them in the announcement thread from Monday. We would like to keep this post for entries only.
Only one entry per person.
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By: Kristi Helvig,
on 5/6/2011
Blog: Kristi Helvig YA Author (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Kristi Helvig,
on 5/6/2011
Blog: Kristi Helvig YA Author (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: sara megibow, twitter pitches, agent contest, contests, elevator pitch, Add a tag
88 Comments on Contest of Epic Awesome With Agent Sara Megibow!, last added: 5/8/2011
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Name: Theresa Paolo
Email: [email protected]
Title: Unchartered Territory
Genre: YA
Pitch: Dean is homeless, bitter and alone but when he meets Anna he realizes that he’s not the only one trying to come to terms with the past.
Name: Jessie Andersen
Email: [email protected]
Title: AT WHAT COST
Genre: Contemporary YA
Pitch:Teen mom or abortion? Seems like a no-brainer until everyone offers Maggie their opinions. Now she has to choose: obligation or freedom.
Name: Nina Smith
Email: [email protected]
Title: Shiny Things
Genre: Fantasy
One disgruntled writer, one unstable muse, one shifty faun and one fairy armed to the teeth. Welcome to Shadow. Don’t get killed.
Name: Martha Lancaster
Email: [email protected]
Title: TWO DEGREES FROM ZERO: A SNOWBOARDING ADVENTURE
Genre: Middle Grade
Pitch: What are the odds that a cool Burton snowboard could ruin a ski vacation for an impulsive teen who is plagued by survivor’s guilt?
Name: Amie Kaufman
Email: amiekaufman (at) gmail (dot) com
Title: CURSED
Genre: Humorous middle grade fantasy.
It started with a chicken stampede and ended with a curse that Samuel can't shake. If he can't break it, his family will be broken instead.
(What a fun competition! Twitter pitches are tricky stuff! I've spread the word on my blog.)
Name: Dawn Buthorn
Email: [email protected]
Title: Zebra Sisters
Genre: MG
Pitch: Lena is determined to send her newly adopted sister back to Rwanda until tragedy forces both girls to let go of their painful pasts and accept each other as sisters.
Name: Kalen O'Donnell
Email: kalenodonnell(at)gmail(dot)com
TITLE: Dust to Dust
GENRE: YA CONTEMPORARY FANTASY
The youngest in a magical family cursed to kill each other, Micah was last to know who cursed them — and the first to want to fight back.
Name: Heather McCorkle
Email: hmccorkle(at)wildblue(dot)com
Title: TO RIDE A PUCA
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
Pitch: During the 12th century invasion of Ireland, Emily must master her druid power to keep the last of her kind from behind annihilated.
Name: Becky Mahoney
Email: ringhappy @ comcast . net
Title: THE HUNGRY GROUND
Genre: YA Fantasy/Paranormal
When the population of a nearby city vanishes overnight, aspiring detective Kalinda joins the search party. But the city isn't empty.
Name: Donea Weaver
Email: donealw(at)aol(dot)com
Title: The Glass Prince
Genre: YA Contemporary Fantasy
Pitch: When a family heirloom binds a girl to a curse, she must work with Snow White’s immortal (and obnoxious) son to break it, or die trying.
Name: Kerensa Brougham
Email: kerensabrougham-at-gmail-dot-com
Title: DEBRIEFING THE DEAD
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
To save her nephew, Hyacinth must beat Demons, rob Satan, and defy Angel of Death. But when she meets a sexy ghost, things get complicated.
Name: Amber Hackstadt
Email: amhackstadt (at) hotmail (dot) com
Title: Unnatural
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pitch: Imagine in our world being a super hero is normal, cities are built in the clouds and the cliché the sky is the limit doesn’t apply anymore.
Name: Heidi Hormel
Email: Heidi(at)HormelWriting(dot)com
Title: P-Wow & Demons
Genre: Romance (Paranormal)
A Southern belle gets what she doesn’t want—stalked by paparazzi and discovered by demons—when a superstar with “issues” asks for her help
Name: Dorothy Dreyer
Email: [email protected]
Title: BITTERSWEET MELODY
Genre: YA paranormal romance
Pitch: Rule #1 of being a muse: Don't fall in love with your case subjects. Too bad Melody's such a screw-up; it could cost her her immortality.
Name: Charlie Holmberg
Email: [email protected]
Title: WEIRS
Genre: Fantasy
The Carnal have been sacrificed to the Sun for ages. Now, with the Reapers at her back, Teague must break her curse or meet the same fate.
Name: John Zeleznik
Email: [email protected]
Title: WINTER'S DISCORD
Genre: YA fantasy
An attempt on Ben’s life stirs an old conflict, forcing Ben and his friends to deal with issues of loyalty, friendship and responsibility.
Name: Pamela Roach
Email: pamela(at)pamelaltodd(dot)com
Title: KISMET
Genre: YA Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Pitch: Cali has always been average, but now a Greek god has her in his sights – and the gods aren’t known for their patience, or their morals.
Name:Tanya Hanamaikai
Email:[email protected]
Title:THE KYRATHIM
Genre:SciFi/Fantasy
Scorned teen is adopted into a cult making angel warriors only to find that her new family may not have humanity’s best interests at heart.
Name: Sherry Auger
Email: [email protected]
Title: Willow Brook
Genre: YA paranormal
pitch:
Janet's town is dissapearing,sees 6 year old hung as witch in 1600learns she's a witch,how can she save the town and herself in time?
Name: Audrey Lockwood
Email: lockwood(dot)audrey(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: Olympus Gate
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
Pitch: A girl from a broken future travels back to ancient Rome to stop her sister's murder, confront the gods, and prevent the coming apocalypse.
Name: Laura Pauling
Email: laurapauling (at) yahoo (dot) com
Title: HEIST
Genre: MG
Fiasco must solve a famous art heist to free his dad from jail, but each trip back to the crime screws up life in the present.
Name: Sara Riouch
Email: [email protected]
Title: THRICE BORN
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Pitch:
Armed with magical bangles, liquid courage and sheer desperation, witch-in-training Andra struggles to save her twin from a gruesome death.
Name: Elaine Smith
Email: [email protected]
Title: HUMAN, BEING
Genre: MG Sci-fi
Pitch: Thursday's organs are reversed and her injuries fade overnight...she must be alien. The agents think it. She knows the truth.
Name: Ellen Rozek
Email: ellenmrozek(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: The Recruited
Genre: YA
Pitch: Two teenage killers end up working for the government to bring down an American terrorist organization trying to take over the country.
Name: Erin LaVallee
Email:[email protected]
Title:The Eyes Beneath
Genre:YA
140 character pitch.
Unlikely teen lovers are thrown in peril at a Civil War reenactment field trip when an ancient demon sets his sight to possess one of them.
Name: Stacey Wunsch
Email: [email protected]
Title: The Prime
Genre: MG
Ben,13, dies and becomes the Prime. He must get himself & others through hellish purgatory to protect future generations from enslavement.
Name: Laurie Muench
Email: [email protected]
Title: Call Us Legion
Genre: YA
Possessed by spirits and haunted by madness, Bram descends a tortured path where deception and murder unite in a savage struggle for power
Name: Sarah Click
Email: [email protected]
Title: The Prophecy of a Gatekeeper
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Ali is next in line for the Gatekeeper of Hell. Refusal means demons will consume humanity. Accepting means she will end humanity herself.
Name: Kristine Rudolph
Email: [email protected]
Title: The Myth of Jake
Genre: Women's Fiction
Maggie Carlton wrote a book about her dead best friend. Then she slept with him.
Name: Jessica Mazone
Email: [email protected]
Title: Forsaken
Genre: YA Dark Fantasy/Paranormal
Pitch:Blood is the entrance to everything. Seth has found the strongest line of curandera blood in Miranda Rios, all he needs is for her to choose.
Name: Taryn Albright
Email: tarynalAThotmailDOTcom
Title: SPLASHBACK
Genre: YA contemporary
Pitch: Burnt out but still top ranked, Lottie wants to quit the sport that ruined her life. Too bad swimming is the only way to save her sister.
Name: Ruthanne Reid
Email: [email protected]
Title: THE SUNDERED
Genre: YA sci-fi
Pitch: A world that hates you is pretty bad; survival based on slavery is worse; but nothing tops having to choose between the survival of someone else’s species or your own.
Name: Charity Bradford
Email: [email protected]
Title: Sendek
Genre: Science Fantasy
Science or magic? One woman struggles to bring the two halves of her life into balance in the midst of aliens, dragons, and a hot new love.
Name: Kerri Carpenter
Email: [email protected]
Title: Question of the Day
Genre: Women's Fiction
Pitch: A 28 year old begins to question her own life as she hosts a Question of the Day blog. What is it really going to take to make her happy?
Name: Nathan Major
Email: theuselessgod(at)gmail.com
Title: The Might of the Steelgods
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Pitch: Proclaimed “The Destroyer of the World” at birth, sixteen-year-old Cevan is constantly on the run in a steampunk world that wants him dead.
Name: Leiann Bynum
Email: slbynum3(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: Superteens in Training
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Pitch: Five 16-year-old girls of various races develop a bonding friendship while dealing with the stress of becoming secret teenage superheroes.
Name: PK Hrezo
Email: [email protected]
Title: X Dare and The Quest for the Gatekeeper
Genre: MG Fantasy/Sci-fi
Pitch: 13yo X Dare excels at 1 thing: video games. But that skill will only go so far once he's transported to a planet with bugs the size of cars.
Name: Misty Waters
Email: mistydawnwaters(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: Oracle
Genre: YA high fantasy
Pitch: Sloan got a new destiny for her birthday that doesn’t include high school. An entire realm awaits her return and a king wants her dead.
Name: Michelle Mason
Email: mfaszold(at)hotmail(dot)com
Title: ESCAPE FROM THE UNDERGROUND CITY
Genre: MG Adventure
Pitch: Trapped. Literally. In a city buried underground. To rescue everyone, Ethan must conquer the Deep Caves and the secrets they conceal.
Name: Elizabeth Arroyo
Email: elizabeth(dot)arroyo5(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: Some Kind of Trouble
Genre: Contemporary YA
Pitch: Arianna finds herself in some kind of trouble after a car chase with Marcus (involving bullets) leaves her forgetting she doesn’t like him.
Name: Amey Zeigler
Email: [email protected]
Title: Swiss Miss
Genre: Chick Lit
Pitch: Lainey deletes a chain e-mail, triggering a cascade of misfortune just as she starts a coveted internship in Switzerland with a hot boss.
Name: Amy Shelor Dye
Email: [email protected]
Title: White Lightning
Genre: YA
140 Character Pitch:
Haunted by thoughts of a less than epic existence after a big move to a small southern town, Sallie soon finds she has far more to fear.
Name: Bekah Snow
Title: Hunted Humans
Genre: MG Science fiction/Fantasy
Pitch: Twins Haley and Wyatt are sucked into a dimension where aliens use human bone cells for genetic experiments. And they're next.
Name: Matt Williams
Email: [email protected]
Title: Source
Genre: Sci-fi
Pitch: No one said survival was easy, but when the teeming colonies of Earth run out of water, Sheila and Andrew will do whatever it takes to save the ones they love!
Name: Nicole Singer
Title: Windfarer
Genre: Fantasy
Pitch: A seafaring star-mage and mountain-born dragonrider unite against a ruler who plans to avenge a long-dead woman and extinguish the stars.
Name:
Email:
Title:
Genre:
Pitch: No one said survival was easy, but when the Earth Colonies run out of water, Sheila and Andrew will do whatever it takes to save their loved ones!
Name: Matt Williams
Email: [email protected]
Title: Source
Genre: Sci-fi
Pitch: No one said survival was easy, but when the Earth Colonies run out of water, Sheila and Andrew will do whatever it takes to save their loved ones!
Name: Sarah Heacox
Email: sarah.heacox(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: Snow Big Deal
Genre: MG Contemporary
High-speed downhill antics, epic prank war, and the biggest rivalry sixth grade's ever seen: don't underestimate the kid in the wheelchair.
Name: Allison Schellong
Title: Tell Me This
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Pitch: A teenage girl must help a family of highly intelligent beings stay hidden from a man seeking revenge for answers they refused to give.
Name: Peter Teixeira
Email: [email protected]
Title: A Promise To Azfal
Genre: Commercial
Pitch: Jassim can either sign with his favorite soccer club, or fulfill a promise by joining the priesthood and uncovering church secrets.
Name: Rachel Glenn
Email: [email protected]
Title: THE PARANORMALISTS
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Pitch: Faerie attacks, terrifying visions and one mysterious boy. Will Grace Stewart solve this dangerous mystery before it destroys her world?
Name: Caitlin Darrell
Email: caitie(dot)darrell(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: ROBYN HOOD
Genre: Historical YA
Pitch:
Disguised as a man, Robyn seeks revenge on the Sheriff of Nottingham for her father's death with help from her fiery partner in crime, John.
Name: Miranda Kenneally
Email: mirandakenneally @ gmail.com
Title: BEST. DAY. EVER.
GENRE: YA Contemp
Pitch: For school "Shadow Day," 17 yo Savannah jokingly says she wants to be a singer. Never imagined she'd get to shadow bad boy of country music.
Name: Dawn Buthorn
Email:
Title: ZEBRA SISTERS
Genre: MG Contemporary
Pitch: Lena is determined to get her newly adopted sister sent back to Rwanda, until tragedy forces both girls to look beyond their differences.
Name: Delano Roberts
Title: Phantasmagoria
Genre: Middle School
Pitch: 13 year old Oliver falls down a well to another dimension where he has caught the eye of the nightmare stealing Virtuosus on his way home.
Name: Ann Braden
Title: Swimming With Tchaikovsky
Genre: YA Magical Realism
Pitch:
When a Russian journalist is kidnapped for exposing corruption, rescue is impossible until Sally’s music conjures visions of Russia’s past.
Name: Penny Wright
Email: [email protected]
Title: Destiny's Minions
Genre: Middle Grade
Pitch: Owen has always hated the idea of destiny. Unfortunately Destiny is the new headmistress at his school and she doesn't like him much either.
Name: Sara Baker
Title: Soul To Keep
Genre: YA-Dark Paranormal Romance
When Aamira's manic-depressive mom tries to kill herself, Death intervenes. If she can face the past, they can save her mom from Purgatory.
Name: Chris Scena
Email: chrisscena(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: The Tertiary
Genre: Urban Fantasy
A Federal agent with magic items must stop an evil Russian sorceress from obtaining an evil artifact that could destroy the world.
Name: Alicia Caldwell
Email: aliciacald(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: Quintessence
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
The Walker sisters are tricked into becoming witches, obligated to perform an earth saving ritual, and destined to die. Phew--what a week.
Name: Jami Gold
Title: The Resurrected
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Pitch: A reformed con artist is the only one who can stop an immortal from enslaving humanity, but she would have to sacrifice her husband and son.
Name: Angela Scott
Email: [email protected]
Title: Desert Rice
Genre: YA
Pitch: Hiding her identity as a girl is one thing. Hiding from the law, another. Being only twelve-years-old trumps it all.
Name: Nicole Zoltack
Email: Nicole.Zoltack(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: Hidden in Shadows
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pitch: Lorna isn't your average assassin. A newfound paranormal ability and love threaten her life's goal - to avenge her father's murder.
Name: Malin Larsson
Email: malinm(dot)larsson(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: Shadow on the Road
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Biker wizard Mikael Storm tracks his stolen familiar, but traces are thinning and people on the road aren’t who they seem - not even Gemma.
Name: Allison Schellong
Title: Tell Me This
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Pitch: A teenage girl must help a family of highly intelligent beings stay hidden from a man seeking revenge for answers they refused to give him.
Name: L.H. Dougherty
Email: [email protected]
Title: SPARK
Genre: YA
Ever been told you're destined for greatness? Did you believe it? Ben doesn't believe or want it, but what he wants never seems to matter.
Name:Sage Hyden
Email:[email protected]
Title:LORIDIAN
Genre:Fantasy
Pitch:To save his brothers, Anthony must cross a desert in the company of thieves and rebels. Inspired by roman history and indian mythology.
Name: Cethan Leahy
Title: The Rise and Fall Of Florence Follicle
Genre: MG Comedy Fantasy
140 character pitch.
A girl has problems of the dead dad, talking books and local missing persons variety. Worse still, she is having a bad hair week.
Name: Laurie Muench
Email: [email protected]
Title: Call Us Legion
Genre: YA
Possessed by feuding spirits, plagued with extraordinary powers, Bram Mathers—the reluctant exorcist—must save the day.
Name: Ella Schwartz
Title: Gateway of the One
Genre:MG Fantasy
Pitch:
Videogamer and spunky friend might be the chosen ones. But to prove everyone wrong, and be allowed back to Earth, they must save the world.
Name: Catherine Drake
Email: catherinedrake11(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: The After List
Genre: YA
Pitch: To cope with her brother’s death, Grace takes on his life’s unfinished to-do list, unearthing a family secret he took with him to his grave.
Name: Catherine Drake
Email: catherinedrake11(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: The After List
Genre: YA
Pitch: To cope with her brother’s death, Grace takes on his life’s unfinished to-do list, unearthing a family secret he took with him to his grave.
Name: Elisabeth Aikins
Email: elisabethaikins(at)gmail(dot)com
Title: For Her Love of the Game
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pitch: A softball pitcher uses secrets to mend her broken arm, a game of truth or dare to hide her doubts and baseball to heal her heart.
Name: Jess R. Sheaffer
Email: [email protected]
Title: Firsts
Genre: Contemporary YA
Pitch: Coping with teen vicissitudes, Jerrica finds solace in her new stepbrother & confuses lust for love, leading to a controlling relationship.
Name:Debra Corbin
Email:[email protected]
Title:Relationships Only Lead To Pain
Genre:Romance/Heartbreak
Pitch:Tina was in love with the most popular kid in school,Chase,but she was dating a glee club loser named James.What will she do,follow her heart or keep tearing her heart in pieces.
Name: Erin Butler
Email: erinmel00(at)gmail(dot)com
Title:The Witch's Curse
Genre: YA
Pitch: A neglected teen runs away to seek memories of her long dead father and what she uncovers entangles her into a centuries old witch's curse.
Name: Laurie A. Green
Title: The Outer Planets
Genre: SF Romance
When a hunted journalist seeks refuge aboard a research vessel, she encounters the one man who could blow her cover but salvage her heart.
Name: Bethany Morrow
Email: [email protected]
Title: THE LAST LIFE OF AVRILIS
Genre: YA Literary Sci-fi
Pitch: Avrilis can save a young man's life but with changes threatening the sacred time-loop, she'll be making them both fugitives on two planets.
Name: Sharon Johnston
Email: [email protected]
Title: Mishca
Genre: YA Speculative Fiction
Pitch: Mishca thought her birth parents would be a fairytale, but her journey is plagued by nightmares as someone has a different destiny in mind for her.
Lea McFalls Zeqiri
UNCLASSIFIED
YA Dystopian
16 Ezra should be assimilating, but her period proves biochip, a goner. Raped, pregnant, & marked for destruction, she fights 1Globe alone.
Name: Sandra Cormier
Email: sfcormier(at)rogers(dot)com
Title: A DIFFERENT WINTER
Genre: Literary YA
Pitch: When Rebecca's busy dad dumps the family in Mallorca in 1974, she deals with an alcoholic mom, a futile crush & also has to learn Spanish.
Name: A. J. Spindle
Email: ajspindle(at)yahoo(dot)com
Title: Bennett Nelson and the Maker of the Stones
Genre: MG Fantasy
Pitch: When the one man keeping the island safe goes missing, 12 year old bennett Nelson sets out to find him.
Name: Marlene Moss
Title: Gate Series: Stone of Orenda
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pitch:
Grieving teen follows father to Tirasvara and is immersed in her newfound duty to protect that world from one who would destroy the gateway.
Name: Jenn Nguyen
Email: phanhnguyen1 at yahoo.com
Title: JUST A CON
Genre: YA contemporary romance
One Sentence Pitch: 16-year-old con artist in training Megan Benson scores a place in the Keller mansion only to realize too late that she genuinely likes them.
Name: J. Perry Kelly
Title: Quantum Fires: The Sibyl Reborn
Genre: Soft Science Fiction
Pitch: "Erin Brockovich" meets the "X-Files" when an environmentalist finds the key to our eco-doom allows our parent race to take over our bodies.
Name: Laurie Muench
Email: [email protected]
Title: Call Us Legion
Genre: YA paranormal thriller
Possessed by spirits and haunted by madness, Bram descends a tortured path where deception and murder unite in a savage struggle for power
Name: Holly VanDyne
Title: The Talented Hand of Sophia
Genre: YA Paranormal Mystery
When Sophia writes Heaven & Earth align in a freaky magical way. Can she keep her secret and her life when her diseased fingers won’t work?
Name: Chase Baldwin
Title: THE DARK HOUR OF AUTUMN
Genre: YA
On Halloween night, an evil enchantment transports a group of trick-or-treaters to a haunted parallel world. Dylan and Parker must survive in this world of ghosts and monsters to rescue their friends, who have been kidnapped by an evil witch.