Sep 28, 2016

A QK Success: Teresa Richards

 
Hard work and a little struggle pays off in the end. Don't believe me, ask Teresa Richards, our latest QK success!
Hi everyone! I'm thrilled to announce that I've signed with agent Mallory Brown from TriadaUS, as a result of a request made during Query Kombat this year. My entry was for a manuscript called Windfall, nicknamed My Boyfriend Rigged the Lottery, and made it to Round 4 of the competition. I received eight requests during the agent round.
One of the requesting agents was Uwe Stender, founder of Triada. After I got knocked out of the competition, I sent the requested material to him, along with the other agents. Then I waited. 
I worked on another writing project. I enjoyed the summer. I went on vacation with my family. I sent out more queries. I got my kids started back at school. 
By mid-August, I'd heard back from a couple of the other requesting agents with either rejections or requests for more material, but hadn't heard back from Uwe. Since Triada is well-known for its quick response times (their query guidelines state that if you haven't heard back in two weeks, then they didn't receive your query), I decided to follow up to make sure he'd received the material I'd sent him. He responded right away that it must have slipped through the cracks and that he'd take a look soon. I am *so* glad I followed up!
Two weeks later, he emailed and said that he'd passed it along to one of his agent assistants, Mallory Brown, who wanted to see the whole thing. Five days after that, Mallory emailed me with an offer of representation! She listed all the things she loved about Windfall and all the ways she'd connected to the story! After talking with her on the phone and hearing her enthusiasm, I was convinced she was the right agent for me and the perfect person to pitch my book to editors. 
And now it's official. I've joined #TeamTriada and am now rep'd by Mallory Brown!
*Commence freaking-awesome mildly embarrassing happy-dancing*
Of course, news this big requires a celebration. Since I did things a little backward and already have a book out with Evernight Teen, I'm going to celebrate with a giveaway! Up for grabs is an Emerald Bound prize pack, including a signed copy of the book, a metal Shepherd's-hook bookmark with emerald charm, and a custom-made Emerald Bound key chain. The giveaway will be live on my blog, http://teresarichardswrites.blogspot.com/ until October 4. Emerald Bound is a YA fantasy, so it's a different genre than Windfall. It's a dark retelling of The Princess and the Pea, in which the pea is an enchanted, life-sucking emerald. 
For those who are interested, here are my query stats for Windfall:
Queries sent out: 79
Partial requests: 10
Full requests: 4
Rejections: 46
No response: 33
The bulk of those 79 queries were sent out before Query Kombat. I had a much higher request rate on the queries I sent after incorporating feedback from the competition. If you ever have the chance to enter Query Kombat, or even just stalk the entries and read through the feedback they're getting, DO IT! 
Thanks again to Michelle, Laura and Michael for running this awesome competition and for the gobs and gobs of amazing judges and writers who took the time to read my entry and provide feedback. This success belongs to all of you and I am profoundly grateful! 
And now, if you'll excuse me, I must go finish my happy dance. 
_________________________________________________________________
Teresa Richards writes YA, but loves anything that can be given a unique twist. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has a degree in Speech-Language Pathology with a minor in piano performance. When Teresa’s not writing, she can be found either chasing after one of her five kids, or hiding someplace in the house with a treat her children overlooked. Her debut, Emerald Bound, was released in 2015 by Evernight Teen.
Links: 

Sep 26, 2016

Nightmare on Query Street 2016 Details

We're back with 25 agents and even more mentors!
 
It's Nightmare Time!

Don’t have a scary manuscript, DON'T WORRY. Just read on.
 

A brand new year, a brand new evil.
This contest, as it runs in the Halloween time, is all about FEAR.

The Details:

 
The submission window opens at 4:00 pm (EST) on October 14th. Don't send too soon or your entry will be deleted. There will be email confirmation. Please don't resend an entry unless you check with us. Sometimes the confirmation process gets overwhelmed. The window will close when we receive 250 entries or in two hours, whichever is first. 


Michelle and Mike and Laura will make thirteen picks each, and those picks will go up on our blogs from October 29th through the 30th. Before this, there will be a mentor round to whip that entry into shape. We've already got amazing mentors lined up, so know that your entries will be polished for the agents. 


We are accepting all age categories and genres, excluding picture books and erotica. But be sure to check our list of agents when it goes live to see if they represent your book's genre.

If you plan on participating in the contest, you have to be following all our blogs (MichelleMike, Laura). If you can't get the blog follow to work, just follow on twitter. You'll want to be on twitter for the party anyway. 


ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. DO NOT TRY USING MULTIPLE EMAIL ADDRESSES. THIS DOES NOT MEAN ONE PER WRITING PEN NAME. ONE AND ONE ONLY. 


It's pretty simple, actually.
But there's a catch. 


Along with your query and 250, you must write a SHORT paragraph (no more than 100 words) about your main character. This is the question you must answer: 


What is your main character's most stressful relationship? Who really makes them sweat? 


The Format:

 
Send all your submission to nightmareonquerystreet (at) yahoo (dot) com. Only one submission per email address AND person is allowed. 

Here's how it should be formatted (yes, include the bolded and everything!). Please use Times New Roman (or equivalent), 12 pt font, and put spaces between paragraphs. No indents or tabs are needed. 

Subject Line: NoQS: TITLE, Age Category + Genre (example: NoQS: GRUDGING, Adult Epic Fantasy)

INSIDE THE EMAIL:

 
Name: Michelle Hauck
Twitter Handle: @Michelle4Laughs (optional) 
Title: GRUDGING (yes, caps!)  
Genre: Adult Epic Fantasy (Age category and genre. YA/MG is not a genre.)  
Word Count: XX,XXX 

My Main Character's Most Stressful Relationship is:
 
My MC's most stressful relationship is with the potato supplier. With prices skyrocketing, the mc can't stop eating those suckers--fried, mashed, frenched--gotta have them. But everyone is trying to undercut our mc's purchase potential. (Please, spend some time on this! We will be looking at this to make up for gaps in the query and 250. It gives us a chance to know your characters better. It doesn't have to be horror-scary. It can be more subtle. Remember 100 words or less.)
 

Query:
 
Here is my fantastic query! DO NOT INCLUDE BIO OR COMPS PARAGRAPH. Try to stay in the 250-300 word range. Please put spaces between paragraphs and don't indent.
 

First 250 words:
 

Here are the first 250 words of my manuscript, and I will not end in the middle of a sentence, even if I hit 255 words. Do not abuse and send 256. Keep it fair for all. Use Open Office/Word to determine your official word count. 

Entries will be disqualified at our discretion for rule violation.
And that's it! Send in that email during the submission window and you're ready to go. There will be a confirmation email.
 

We're Tweeting under the hashtag #NoQS. As before, we'll have a twitter party once submission starts. Mentor and agent posts will follow before October 14th.
 

Good luck! And sweet nightmares!

Sep 1, 2016

Nightmare on Query Street



One...Two...We are coming for you.
Three...Four...There will be a slush war.
Five...Six...Get your query fixed.
Seven...Eight...Make your first page great.
Nine...Ten...Yes, we're at it again.

Nightmare on Query Street

The agents are ready.... are you? Face your Fear October 14, 2016