While there are many ways in which a class or other group can prepare for a skype visit with an author, here are five basic tips to get you started: 1) Introduce the students to the author prior to the visit. The more familiar the students are with the author and their work, the more […]

  Welcome to Team Peppermint Forest! It’s been a long week of reading through all the amazing pitches. Our wonderful readers have narrowed the slush, and your team hosts have chosen seventy pitches for the agent round. To meet the slush readers and hosts go to this post here. And you can find out more […]

Title: The Candy Cane Conspiracy Age Category: Middle Grade Genre: Adventure Word Count: 85,000 Pitch: After aspiring journalist Angela sees too much on a school trip to the North Pole, she must bring down Santa’s global surveillance program before he wipes her memories. RISE OF THE GUARDIANS meets ARTEMIS FOWL. First 250 Word of Manuscript: […]

Title: Spooky Girl Age Category: Middle Grade Genre: Paranormal Word Count: 56000 Pitch: Fourteen-year-old-Abbey is not a happy camper. Stranded at a camp for troubled teens—pushed beyond her limits—Abbey discovers she’s more capable than she thought. But the camp’s unruly ghosts will be her ultimate test. First 250 Words of Manuscript: I hate dead people. […]

Title: Taco Girl Age Category: Middle Grade Genre: Contemporary Word Count: 36,000 Pitch: Eleven year-old Ariela Vega is used to graffiti and concrete, not the pine trees, rock walls, and zip lines at camp. Brandishing newfound gutsiness and poetic musical skills, she overcomes being outcast as “Taco Girl.” First 250 Words of Manuscript: Nicole Lewis […]

Title: Darkheart Age Category: Young Adult Genre: Fantasy Word Count: 71,000 Pitch: An arranged marriage becomes a life or death battle of wits when seventeen-year-old Jun turns out to be the key to her fiancé’s fortune and is kidnapped by a deranged pirate lord. First 250 Word of Manuscript: If Juniper Singh had known she […]

Title: Divine Architects Age Category: Young Adult Genre: Science Fiction Word Count: 80,000 Pitch: While correcting distorted timelines, seventeen-year-old Sara discovers her own future is linked to a technology-stealing criminal. Joining him will make her a murderer, but changing their future risks erasing her friends from existence. First 250 Word of Manuscript: The first time […]

Title: Silver and Ice Age Category: Young Adult Genre: Fantasy Word Count: 80,000 Pitch: A hunter discovers his mark is a mentally unstable army captain with a hypnotic voice–and the key to ending a decade long war. First 250 Word of Manuscript: I once chased a silvertongue up the twenty-third peak of the Devil’s Ridgeback […]

Title: The Hiders and the Seekers Age Category: Young Adult Genre: Fantasy (own voices) Word Count: 80,000 Pitch: Nakamura Kaori has until the blood moon to find her emperor’s killer. If she uncovers the truth, she will become empress of all of Saiya. But if she fails, she will join him in death. First 250 […]

Title: The Last Story Age Category: Young Adult Genre: Social Science Fiction (own voices) Word Count: 85,000 Pitch: Despite her Muslim heritage, Safie has blended into the Union, part of a world now divided along geographical and ideological borders. But when her best friend is murdered, she won’t any longer. Frankenstein character, reimagined. First 250 […]

Title: The Seven Skies Age Category: Young Adult Genre: Science Fiction Word Count: 95,000 Pitch: When Pippa’s taken captive by sky pirates, she must beat her long-lost uncle at his game of revenge or she’ll lose the starship that’s come to mean home. Picture Sansa Stark on the Serenity. First 250 Words of Manuscript: To […]

Title: Pantheon of Nearer Stars Age Category: Adult Genre: Science Fiction Word Count: 88,000 Pitch: After his client burns him, a rogue corporate spy is forced to serve the ruthless company he stole from; but when the client sabotages a groundbreaking fusion reactor, the spy races to prove his innocence. First 250 Words of Manuscript: […]

  The Pitch Madness 2017 submission window is now open! To submit your manuscript pitch into the contest, use this form on Brenda Drake’s post here. What is Pitch Madness? It’s a contest to win a request from one or more of the participating agents. (See who they are here.) The submission window is open […]

The Pitch Madness submission window will be open for 24 hours on February 24! What is Pitch Madness? It’s a contest held every March, where writers enter for a chance to win requests from the participating agents. Writers submit a 35-word (max) pitch and the first 250 words of their completed manuscript on submission day. […]