Monday, July 18, 2011

Giveaway Week, Day One of OH MY HECK, IT'S WRITEONCON!

There is no better way to start a week. Let me illustrate:



Okay, do we have your attention? Good. WriteOnCon has teamed up with TheReadingRoom.com to bring you a VERY special contest to kick off the 2011 Conference.



A first 500 MG/YA words contest. Grand Prize is $1000 AND a chance to have your work considered for representation from literary agent, Catherine Drayton. I AM NOT KIDDING.

When? Contest opens today, and submissions close August 18th. Winner will be announced Thursday, September 8th during a special LIVE WriteOnCon Chat.

Why? Because we love you.

So here's how it works.
1. Starting today, email the first 500 words of your completed MG/YA manuscript to competitions@thereadingroom.com.
2. After the conference, a team of individuals will vote on all entries and narrow the submissions down to the TOP 5.
3. The TOP 5 submissions will be posted on TheReadingRoom.com where EVERYONE can vote.
4. Requirements? You must be a member of The Reading Room to enter. Click here to take care of that.

The grand prize winner will receive $1000 cold, hard cash in the form of a gigantic check in the form of a regular-sized check AND a chance for Catherine Drayton to consider your work for representation.

Amazing, right?

So, really, the only question left is, what would you do with $1000? We're talking about it on twitter! Help us spread the word by answering the question with this link: http://bit.ly/KiakO and hashtag: #ifIhad1000 and be sure to tweet @ Catherine Drayton! Her handle is @cjdrayton.

Sample tweet: "#ifIhad1000 I'd fill my fridge with bacon! What would you do with $1000? http://bit.ly/KiakO @cjdrayton"

Click here to read TheReadingRoom.Com Official Competition Rules.

28 comments:

Gina Ciocca said...

That IS amazing! Thanks Elana!

Matthew MacNish said...

I'm not sure if my revisions will be done in time for me to enter, but I'm off to join the Reading Room anyway, because it sounds awesome.

Like your videos.

Natalie Aguirre said...

Sounds like an amazing contest. What a great way to start WriteOnCon.

Stina said...

You gals crack me up every time. Now to cancel the bacon stand I had planned this week. :P

Misha Gerrick said...

That's an awesome competition, but once again, I don't have a finished ms to enter. :-/

Miriam Forster said...

I would buy a new laptop with a thousand dollars. I miss mine. *cries*

Hey, I'm totally planning to come to Writeoncon (mostly to look for critique partners) but since my book sold, I'm a bit at loose ends. Do you guys need any help or anything I can provide?

Christine Fonseca said...

Ahhh! Will my revisions be done in time? Man, I hope so!

Jemi Fraser said...

Wow!!! You were right - it's a fantastic secret. You guys are amazing :)

storyqueen said...

The bacon, DEAR GOD, THE BACON!!

Laughed so hard. What a great way to start a Monday.

Love you, Elana!

Shelley

June G said...

My goodness! This is amazingly generous of you all. Thanks so much!

Mary Ann said...

Wish I had something ready, but thanks for the Monday morning lol!

Ishta Mercurio said...

O.O

That's all I have to say.

Leslie S. Rose said...

Holy contest, Batman. Awesome.

Heather said...

Beyond awesome! You ladies have out-done yourselves this year!

Jessie Humphries said...

That video is sweeet. Especially the bacon stand. How did that not work?

Marsha Sigman said...

Screw the $1000 dollars, I want that bacon stand.lol

Not really. But I do love bacon.

ali cross said...

Dude, I would have totally come to your bacon stand.

Thanks WriteOnCon peeps for the awesome contest!

Bethany Elizabeth said...

What a cool opportunity! Thanks WriteOnCon!

Stephsco said...

If I'm optimistic, I could have my revisions done by 8/18, but I doubt I'd be satisfied enough to call it "completed." Good luck to everyone else who enters!

Unknown said...

I've never really wished I wrote a genre that I don't. Until now. (Okay, I still don't. I love my epic fantasy.) What a great opportunity!

Lisa_Gibson said...

Great contest! I'll have to help spread the word. :)
Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover

Leigh Ann said...

You ladies are so incredible! Can't wait to enter.

K.V. Briar said...

Hee hee that video was awesome :) I'm so excited for this opportunity, thank you so much for posting this Elana!

*scurries off to polish first 500 word of Smolder*

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

wow, that's an impressive competition!

Jessica L. Celaya said...

Wow! Thanks for posting about this. It sounds like an awesome contest.

Laura Pauling said...

Okay, I finally watched the video and I totally CRACKED up when you were sitting at the table selling bacon for 50 cents. Total Awesomeness! :)

Theresa Milstein said...

I saw this on Lisa and Laura's blog yesterday. I joined Reading Room. I read the rules. Then I proceeded to write an actual 500-word pitch. Someone politely told me to send the first 500 words of my manuscript.

So, yeah, I got this one in the BAG!

Unknown said...

I'm a little confused/concerned about something I read in the official rules. Maybe you can shed some light on it.

It sounds to me submitting our 500-word entry gives TheReadingRoom.com rights to that submission. How would this influence us owning the rights to our book? We lose the rights to our first 500 words, but keep the rest? That seems odd, and I can't imagine an agent/editor would be pleased with us not owning the first part of our manuscript.

Here is a copy of the rule in question: :

Competition entries and material submitted in connection with any competition (whether written, audio, electronic or visual form, or a combination of those) or any photographs, video and/or film footage and/or audio recording taken of competitors are assigned to TheReadingRoom.com upon submission and become the property of TheReadingRoom.com which may use the material in any medium in any reasonable manner it sees fit. Copyright in any such material remains the sole property of TheReadingRoom.com.

All such entries and material remain the property of TheReadingRoom.com (subject to the limits contained in the Privacy Statement).

I'd love a little clarification. TIA

Lois

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