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Hey everyone,

Winners of the last free-tique round were just declared.  If you did not receive an email, do know that Snoop enjoyed your answers and he hopes to hear from you again in the next free-tique round.

Now look out July!

Add bookmark:

Just wanted everyone to know that Snoop has finished QUIZ THE WHIZ responses, and his #2 pencil is a tiny little stub now.  If you did not receive an answer, and you turned in your quiz on time, do let Snoop know by forwarding your original email.  Thanks, everyone, for participating and look out for the next free-tique round coming up in June!

Happy writing!

Cynthea

QUIZ THE WHIZ is your opportunity to send Snoop your most troubling 250-word sample from your FICTION children’s book manuscript, and then YOU create the quiz for Snoop to complete. That’s right. You can ask the bunny up to to 3 multiple-choice questions (no more than five choices per question) about your manuscript such as …

After reading this sample, did you …

• A) want to throw yourself in front of a moving vehicle because it was so bad.
  
• B) fall asleep.
• C) call your agent and tell them about the hottest writer in town.
• D) want to become my agent.

After reading this sample, did you think this work was …

• A) a picture book
• B) a middle-grade novel
• C) a teen book
• D) porn.

Naturally, your questions can be much more specific and serious than the samples.

Here are the complete rules.

1. PASTE your sample and questions (3 questions max - five choices max per question) into your email
2. In the subject of your email, type … QUIZ THE WHIZ: followed by age level (PB, ER, CB, MG, YA), word-count, and MS TITLE). Example: QUIZ THE WHIZ: PB, 500 words, SNOOP EATS MANHATTAN
3. You have until May 15th, 11:59PM CST to email Snoop your quiz.
4. One quiz per person, please.
5. Send your email to SNOOP AT CYNTHEALIU DOT COM
6. Wait patiently for a response.
7. Break any one of these silly rules, and Snoop will eat your email.

Happy quizzing,

Cynthea and Snoop!

Hey everyone, In this special free-tique round, Snoop puts on his white coat and stethoscope and steps into his office. You may ask him anything about fiction children’s writing or your work. Your question must also be specific–something Snoop can answer with one quick peek and a...

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UPDATE: The title for the book has been decided. It is….THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA. Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest.  With over 500 entries, it was a stunning success.  Snoop and I hope you had a great time playing. Here are the results (well, most of the...

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THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED. Just an update: Thanks to everyone for their title submissions. The contest is closing soon (4 PM - CST TODAY). Keep them coming! I have nearly 500 entries. You’d be surprised that some of the “bad” titles are actually quite good. Don’t afraid to...

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THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED Hi everyone, I need a new title for my book ASAP, and I’m bad at titling. So to drum up as many ideas as possible, I am offering a Free-tique if your title is used. Heck, I’ll even give away half-page tiques to any title that I send on to my editor….Of...

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Hi everyone, the crits are complete. If you did not receive yours for any reason, feel free to forward me your original email again and let me know.   Stay tuned for another free-tique round next month! Add bookmark:

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I’m still working on the quick-crits. They’re supposed to be quick, but with so many entries it’s hard to be THAT quick!  I hadn’t expected to get nearly one hundred entries! Yowza. Have patience–your crit is coming soon. Thanks! Add bookmark:

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THIS FREE-TIQUE ROUND IS NOW CLOSED. IN WRITING NEWS: First, a big thanks to those of you who wished Baby Liu a warm welcome to the world. Your messages were lovely, the presents divine, and the good vibes were very much appreciated! With that said, I can’t wait to get back into writing-mode,...

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And our random winner of a free-tique is….

LINDSEY LEAVITT, YA, SEAN GRISWOLD’S HEAD

This concludes the results of our free-tique contest! We’re sorry we couldn’t respond to everyone for this contest, but Snoop and I promise we’ll be back to our old games like OFFICE HOURS and RLGL in the near future where everyone will get a chance at some quick feedback.

Happy writing!

Cynthea and Snoop

Snoop would like to announce the results for the Free-tique Contest with Agent Jennifer Jaeger of ABLA!

FINALISTS - (you have won a quick-crit)

(IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

• Sarah Tregay, YA, A KISS IN PARIS
• Steve Arnold, YA, PLIMOTH COLONY, IOWA
• Steve Arnold, YA, TRIPLE THREAT
• Gregory Stephen Fields, MG, BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE
• Cherie Colyer, YA, BLOOD TIES
• Miriam Spitzer, MG, THE EXTRAORDINARY INCREDIBLE PANSY SMITH

HONORABLE MENTION - (you have won a quick-crit, too)

• Maya Creedman Ho, MG, UNLUCKY FOUR
• Bette Anne Rieth, MG, REBEL SCHOOL

WINNERS (you have won an agent crit from Jennifer Jaeger and a free-tique from C LIU)

Again, in no particular order. It was just too hard to pick out one over the other.

• Zoe Lea, YA, I AM NOT WEARING PINK
• Bill Capossere, PB, HERE COMES THE WIND
• Kimberly Wehner, YA, KNUCKLEBONE

And our RANDOM WINNER of a free-tique is….

LINDSEY LEAVITT, YA, SEAN GRISWOLD’S HEAD

This concludes the results of our free-tique contest! We’re sorry we couldn’t respond to everyone for this contest, but Snoop and I promise we’ll be back to our old games like OFFICE HOURS and RLGL in the near future where everyone will get a chance at some quick feedback.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE CONTEST

Snoop was very impressed with all the entries, particularly for those contestants who let Snoop know this was their first submission to anything ever. He is so proud of all of you, and he hopes this contest is not a source of sorrow for anyone. You should be pleased with yourself for getting your work out there and taking the brave step to be judged by one very critical rabbit. Everyone should keep in mind that all decisions made in picking finalists were completely based on one bunny’s opinion (with Cynthea’s help) and a failure to final does not mean anything for your submission. In the real world, our road to publication will be similar. We’re looking to impress a single editor (or more)! And we’ll face many “not right for me’s” along the way. So with that said, even though your manuscript wasn’t a match for Snoop, that doesn’t mean it isn’t right for someone else. The same holds true for Finalists–a nod from Snoop doesn’t always mean a yes everywhere else either. (Snoop would like to think otherwise, but we all know he has a very inflated ego.)

Now…housekeeping details. If you’ve won something, you should receive the crits within the next couple of weeks. If you do not receive them by November 19th, feel free to harass Snoop at SNOOP AT CYNTHEALIU DOT COM. Please do not harass our dear agent Jennifer. Snoop will be handling inquiries related to crits.

Also, if anyone has any questions or wants to wish the people listed here a hearty congrats, feel free to post your comments. I will open this post for public comment.

Happy writing!

Cynthea and Snoop

Stay tuned for the results!

UPDATE: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Free-tique contest with agent Jennifer Jaeger of Andrea Brown Literary Agency is open for Entries!
Why do you want to enter?
1) It’s a chance to see how you stand among your competition FOR FREE.
2) If you pass Snoop’s muster, it’s another way to get yourself in front of a notable literary agent QUICKLY!
3) It’s just plain fun, y’all.

Submissions are open from now until 11:59PM (CST) Friday, October 26th.

PRIZES:
Snoop will sniff out the ones he’d love to chew the most (these would be the best in his mind), and then pass up those manuscripts to the esteemed Jennifer Jaeger as finalists. From those finalists, Ms. Jaeger will pick winners.

Our finalists will receive a quick-crit from Snoop (answers will be similar to Why? Why? Why?).

And our winners will win a traditional free-tique from Snoop AND an agent critique from Jennifer Jaeger.

Finally, Snoop will also draw a RANDOM winner out of the hat to win a traditional free-tique. So everyone gets a chance to win something.

RULES:

1) You can enter up to three manuscripts (25 pages max for novels or chapter books. Fulls for PBs). All FICTION categories, except poetry (rhyming PBs are okay), for children’s writers. Any genre. No dummies. No screenplays.
2) You must be unagented, unless your agent only handles adult fiction.
3) The work you submit must be uncontracted (DUH!).
4) The work you submit should be FINISHED.
5) If the ms you are submitting has been out to editors, it should not have been rejected more than five times already.
6) If you’ve submitted the manuscript to ABLA, you must let me know a) if you’re still waiting on a response from the agent b) which agent you queried and c) if it was rejected, which agent rejected the work. (This is to help Jennifer avoid any conflicts of interest. So please be smart about this, people, and disclose this information with your submission.)
7) If you WIN or FINAL or are the Random Winner, you agree your name will be announced on www.cynthealiu.com. We will include the MS TITLE and genre of your work. (This is so other contestants wil not die from curiosity.)

HOW TO SUBMIT (PLEASE READ IN FULL):

1) ONE manuscript ATTACHED per email. (for example, if you are subbing three works, send three emails). 25 pages max for novels or chapter books. Fulls for PBs.
2) Title the subject line of your email like so “CONTEST: GENRE (PB, ER, CB, MG, YA), WORD COUNT, MS TITLE.” (e.g., “CONTEST: YA, 45,000 words, What My Bunny Doesn’t Know”
3) In the body of your email, include a brief bio. No need to make this fancy -we won’t be critiquing it. Just say what you write (PBs, ERs, Chapter Books, MG, YA), and list any relevant stuff you want Ms. Jaeger to know about you. Your bio will only be used for reference, not for judging. So if you have no credentials, don’t worry about it. But at the minimum, tell us what kind of children’s fiction you write ( e.g., MG and YA, only PBs, etc.,).
4) If you’ve subbed the ms to ABLA, please tell us the history it has with ABLA (see RULES) and include that in the body of your email.
5) Please send all submissions in WORD or WORKS format to SNOOP AT CYNTHEALIU DOT COM.
6) Email it to Snoop before 11:59PM (CST) on Friday, Oct. 26th. No exceptions.
7) Failure to follow any of these rules means Snoop will eat your email, and you can forget about winning anything. So PAY ATTENTION.

Winners will be announced Monday, November 5th (barring any major catastrophes).

GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE!

Hi everyone, this is just your big heads up. Snoop, an esteemed literary agent and I, will be hosting a writing contest in October. So get your manuscripts ready! To keep up with updates an announcements regarding this contest, don’t forget to sign up for my free-tique list.

See you in October!

SNOOP SAYS:

Contest? Contest? YUMMY!

IN WRITING NEWS:

I’m sending a big shout out to tiquee Tracy Holczer for her Sue Alexander Award win with SCBWI!

Congrats, Tracy!

Snoop says:

Whoot! Whoot!

Question: So a fellow tiquee has asked, “is winning a free-tique round a credential for a query letter?” Good question.

Answer: As much as Snoop would like everyone to believe that he is world-famous, Cynthea must deflate his ego and say, “No, you should not include any mention of your success in a free-tique round in your query letters.” Not only will it make you look desperate for a street credential, but you’ll have many agents and editors going, “What the heck is a free-tique?” Along with that, you should also avoid mentioning Cynthea or Snoop’s name in your query letters unless you have Cynthea or Snoop’s permission to do so. In fact, this applies for ANY AUTHOR you happen to know. The exception to this rule is you’ve read the author’s books, believe you write something similar, and are making contact with an agent or editor because you feel the agent or editor might like your book simply on the grounds of taste. In no way should you imply to the agent or editor you know the author on a personal level unless the author is referring you specifically.

ABOVE ALL, please remember YOUR PITCH and YOUR WRITING should speak for itself. In the children’s book writing field, that is really all you need. NO STREET CREDS REQUIRED. No lie!

For more information on writing a great query, read post, anatomy of a query letter. Happy subbing,

Cynthea

SNOOP SAYS:

You mean I’m not a street cred?!

A SPECIAL FREE-TIQUE round will be opening on Wed, August 8th. But if you want to participate, you’ll need to jump on my freetique list between now and then (that’s August 8th, 11:59 PM) to find out the details. There will be a special contest to qualify and this one should be fast and fun and informative for those writers who want to know if their work can grab the attention of an agent or editor (or Snoop’s!) from page 1.

Good luck!

Cynthea and Snoop

Steve Arnold! You have won the free-tique drawing, conducted by Snoop! Congratulations!

Enjoy the weekend, everyone.

IN WRITING NEWS:

Well, I promised one and here it is. A free-tique round is open, but before you spazz and madly try to locate the file you want to send, READ THIS FIRST.

All you need to do this time is just add your email address to my free-tique list. You will automatically be entered in a drawing sponsored by Snoop. The winner will be announced no sooner than Friday, 5PM (CST), June 29th. And remember, CHILDREN’S FICTION work only, any genre.

Good luck and have a great week!

SNOOP SAYS:
A bonus meal is coming! YAY!

IN WRITING NEWS:

There has been a lot going on in C-LIU-land and I am going to need to go into a deep state of concentration.  Free-tiquees waiting to redeem slots may turn them in during this time. However, the usual speedy turnaround may no longer be in effect. In addition, I am happy to extend expiration dates if asked. Now excuse me while I hole myself away. I may re-emerge now and then to say Hi and let you know I am still alive.

Take care, everyone! I’ll miss ya.
SNOOP SAYS:

I, on the other hand, am no longer taking submissions. I have a feeling Cynthea will be keeping me very, very busy. GAH!

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