Get Published Weekly Roundup: August 21, 2017

Book Barcode By Thepwnco [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Change made: from color to black and white.
Welcome to the Get Published Weekly Roundup! In this week’s GSF Roundup we highlight agent hiring and promotion news, notices of approaching writing and submission deadlines, highlights from the past week’s Manuscript Wishlist, and a few more tidbits at the end about comparative titles and public domain photos. We also discuss strategies for dealing with the imminent zombie apocalypse heralded by today’s total solar eclipse. Oh, wait, that’s on our other blog.
 
We’d love to hear your feedback. Please let us know what you think in the comments and if there are certain types of information you would like to see in the Roundup. Also feel free to tweet at us (@freelancingrads) with any ideas or questions. Have a great writing week!

Agents: New Hires & Promotions

Dorian Maffei, Junior Agent at Kimberley Cameron & Associates

Dorian has been promoted to Junior Agent. She is seeking:

Fiction: Magical Realism, Fabulism, reimagined Fairy Tales, Speculative Fiction, literary Science fiction, upmarket Women’s Fiction

“She values work that provokes a deep-rooted connection after the last page, and explores the peculiar within the mundane.”

Dorian is only open to submissions that are requested through Twitter pitch parties, conferences, or #MSWL. Click here for the agency’s submissions guidelines. Follow her on Twitter @DorianMaffei.

Sarah Bolling, Agent at the Gernert Company

Sarah jumped from editorial (at Norton) to representation. She is seeking:

Fiction: fiction blending literary ambition with genre sensibility, especially featuring diverse characters, far-flung locales, or inventive narrative structure

Nonfiction: Memoir, Pop Culture, Psychology, Sociology, and Style

Sarah is accepting queries at info@thegernertco.com. Check here for submission guidelines on her company’s site.

Submission Deadlines

Writers, you have, like, ten days? Two weeks, I guess, in one case:

Pitch América Pitch Contest—Submissions due 11:59 pm Sunday, September 3rd (Blog Contest—Agent review, possible representation)

Who: Latinx writers 

What: 35 word pitch and first 500 words of a manuscript, any genre, from any age group, as long as it is written in English. Winners will be posted for agent review and request.

The contest is aimed at pushing forward the effort to diversify publishing and have more #ownvoices and diversity projects out there. Visibility is extremely important, and Latinx kids deserve to see these stories, as well as being able to write their own someday.

To Submit: Submit entries to pitchamericasubmissions@gmail.com. For guidelines and formatting, click here.

Dappled Things 2017 Jacques Maritain Prize for Nonfiction—Submissions due Thursday, August 31st  (Annual Contest, $$ prize, publication)

What: Nonfiction essays of any type, excluding reviews or interviews, that would fit in the context of a Catholic cultural and literary journal. Winner receives $500 (all essays accepted by the journal are eligible for the prize; 2nd and 3rd place receive $$ awards as well).

Maritain was an influential 20th century Thomist philosopher and Catholic convert whose work covered a wide range of topics, including metaphysics and epistemology, ethics and politics, and—significantly for us—literature and art. His book Art and Scholasticism has been a major influence on Dappled Things’ own approach to aesthetics.”

To Submit: For guidelines and submission online via Submittable, click here. For more information about the prize and journal, click here.

Poets and Patrons Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest—Submissions must be postmarked by Friday, September 1st, (Annual poetry contest, $$ prize)

What: Shakespearean or Petrarchan sonnets. Winners receive $$ awards.

Poets & Patrons was founded in 1954. It is dedicated to supporting poetry development in the Chicagoland area. Poets & Patrons is an excellent vehicle for defining your work, meeting with other fine poets for unique critiques, and exploring with others the power of well-crafted verse. 

To Submit: Send two copies of one poem to Barbara L. Eaton, 416 Gierz Street, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA. For more information and submission guidelines, click here.

What Agents Want

This Week on Manuscript Wishlist #MSWL…

Kortney Price, Literary Assistant at Holloway Literary
Among other #MSWL tweets this past week, Kortney specified setting in one of her requests, tweeting: “early 1900’s New York as a setting in any genre.”  Source Tweet

Seeking Fiction: 

Middle Grade: Adventure or survival stories; Mysteries; Science Fiction; Contemporary; Horror

Young Adult: “Geeky” or “Artsy” YA Romance; psychological Thriller; Magical Realism; Dark Historical Fantasy; Science Fiction and steampunk

Adult: Science Fiction; Fantasy; Paranormal

Old buildings, antiques with ghosts, time travel, ancient curses and did we mention time travel?”

How to submit: Kortney is accepting submissions via email at submissions@hollowayliteraryagency.comClick here to read the full submissions guidelines on her agent page on the company website.

Follow Kortney on Twitter @kortney_price.

Meredith Bernstein, Agent at Meredith Bernstein Literary Services
Meredith is seeking a book that will rescue her from these crazy times. She tweeted that she is: “seeking books with a quirky voice like Eileen or Eleanor Oliphant or Goodbye Vitamin. In a crazy world, I need a fun read. Save me!!” Source Tweet

Seeking:

Fiction: Commercial and Literary Fiction (women’s and men’s); Young Adult Fiction; Mysteries and Thrillers (series and stand-alone); All Genres of Romance; Nonfiction

Nonfiction: Memoir; Women’s Issues and Health/Medicine; Parenting; Psychology; Business; Spirituality and Inspirational Works; Science; Travel

How to submit: Meredith is accepting submissions via an online form, click hereClick here to read the full submissions guidelines on the company website.

 
Follow Meredith on Twitter @mgoodbern.
Rachel Crawford, Agent at Wolf Literary Services LLC
Rachel, however, seems to want a little more horror in her life. She tweeted: “a super dark literary novel about girl stalking on social media.” Source Tweet 

Seeking:

Fiction: Literary and Upmarket Fiction and Young Adult.

Non-fiction: Tech; Futurism; Psychology; the Environment; and Pop Science.

“She’s interested in stories that defy genre conventions and play with reader expectations, and particularly enjoys eco-fiction and near future narratives, as well as anything with a scientist protagonist. She’s looking for international fiction, stories that explore big ideas through compelling narrative, and manuscripts from traditionally underrepresented voices. She loves stories about women by women.”

How to submit: Rachel is accepting queries via email at queries@wolflit.com. Click here for submissions guidelines on the company website.
 
Follow Rachel on Twitter .

Ejusdem Generis – Comparative Titles! Public Domain Photos!

Comparative Titles — showing that you know your market & audience
  • “How to Write a Competitive Title Analysis” by Nina Amir (click here)
  • “Prep for Publishing: Know Your Comparable Titles” by Kristi Tuck Austin (click here) — this article includes a free, useful google sheet where  you can collect all your research (click here, then click “File,” then click “Make a Copy,” name it and save it to your own Google Drive)
  • But what about in a query?? Here’s one agent’s perspective: “How To Use Comp Titles Effectively In Your Query Letter” by Maria Vicente (click here
#NoPermissionsRequired!! Check out this great resource from the New York Public Library:
  • An incredible visualization that allows you to browse all the public domain images by century created, genre (menus,maps, prints, engravings, photographs, postcards, watercolors, and more), collection, and even by color (red, green, blue, orange, yellow, brown, white, black, and gray). See it here: http://publicdomain.nypl.org/pd-visualization/
  • If you want to search the public domain content found in the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections by keyword, click here, type in a keyword in the search box and enter, then on the left check off “Show Only Public Domain.” Then all content that is free for you to download and use will appear for the keyword you entered. There are also a number of filters in the left-hand menu, like topic, genre, and place among others, that you can use to narrow your search.
  • REMEMBER: Even if no permission is required for you to use content, most of the time you must attribute it to its source! When you find the photo you want to use in the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections, click on the “Cite This Item” tab to find the correct attribution information. If you put your cursor on the photo above, you’ll see that this photo of a work by Salvador Dalí is cited this way: “The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Art & Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library. “Portrait of Emilio Terry (detail).” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1935. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-0f6b-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.”

 


Grad Student Freelancers (GSF) is dedicated to helping authors take care of the details of the publication process. Part of the process includes sifting through huge amounts of information to find important news, events, and tips that can give you an edge in the publication process. Every week GSF will provide three lists of curated information focused on helping writers get published. Our goal is to gather what’s important from the web in the past week, so you can focus more on your writing.  

Leave a Comment