St. Martin’s Press “New Adult” Submissions Contest Sponsored by #YAlitchat

St. Martin’s Press “New Adult” Contest:Sponsored by #YAlitchat

St. Martin’s Press is actively looking for great, new, cutting edge fiction with protagonists who are slightly older than traditional YA and can appeal to a younger adult audience. Since twenty-somethings are devouring YA, St. Martin’s Press is seeking fiction with a YA sensibility that can be published and marketed as adult; kind of an older YA or “new adult.”

They are hoping to find what they’re looking for from the pool of #YAlitchat writers on twitter! I’m personally thrilled that they’ve recognized the talent among us and to be a part of this amazing endeavor.

The contest begins Monday, November 9 and ends Friday, November 20, 2009. Submissions will be taken online and read by JJ of the St. Martin’s Press editorial department and Georgia McBride, Founder and Host of #YAlitchat!

St. Martin’s Press “New Adult” Contest Submission Rules
1. One submission per author.

2. All works must be complete, edited, proofed and ready for submission upon request by St. Martin’s Press

3. Protagonist must be at least 18 years old though early 20’s. However, age of protag is not as important as overall story and appeal to adult market.

4. Submission must include author first name, valid email address, 2-3 sentence hook/pitch and first paragraph of story ONLY. Any additional content will be discarded.

5. Please only post submissions on submissions page. If you have a question, please let me know and I will do my best to get it answered for you on my blog or via email.

6. Please read interview with JJ, Editorial Assistant from St. Martin’s Press prior to submitting your work. In it are specific guidelines and details pertaining to what they are seeking to acquire.

How it Works

Submissions will be reviewed by the Editorial Department at St. Martin’s Press and Georgia McBride, Founder and Host of #Yalitchat. Based on the criteria defined by St. Martin’s Press; submissions are assessed and if we are interested in seeing more, authors will be contacted via the email provided in their submission post and a partial (first fifty pages) of your manuscript will be requested. If we request the first fifty pages, and it falls in the middle of a chapter, please round down or up as needed.

Your manuscript should be edited, proofed and ready for submission upon request. If the editorial team at St. Martin’s Press would like to see more of your manuscript after reading your partial, they will request the remainder of your manuscript. Please make sure that your manuscript is properly formatted, spell-checked and ready to go.

Winners

Winners in this “contest” are those who submit and are asked to have their manuscript reviewed for consideration by St. Martin’s Press. Ideally, we would all go on to be offered a book deal, but that is not realistic. The goal is to give as many #Yalitchat writers an opportunity to have their work considered by this great publisher as possible. In doing so, we all win.

St. Martin’s Press is giving away copies of P.C. and Kristin Cast’s latest HOUSE OF NIGHT book to the “first, second, and third-place” winners. That is, authors with novels/concepts that they feel are the most interesting/right for them. The book is TEMPTED, paranormal YA.

Disclaimer

St. Martin’s Press does not guarantee to publish the material requested and cannot be held liable for a book published through St. Martin’s Press with similar content to any submission from the “New Adult” Contest sponsored by #YAlitchat.

Click here to submit!

#YAlitchat With JJ From St. Martin’s Press + Contest Update

As of this post, midday on day 2 of our “New Adult” Submissions Contest Sponsored by #YAlitchat, we have over 50 submissions!

JJ and I have already reviewed more than half of the submissions and have decided to request four.

The level of talent we’ve seen is just astonishing. The decision to choose only four thus far was quite difficult.

So that you know, if you are one of the lucky writers in this initial group of four, your request will come on the Monday following the end of the contest-so check your emails!

JJ will be our guest of honor during tomorrow’s #YAlitchat. Because things can get a little crazy, I thought I’d help JJ out by opening questions in advance. Please post questions you have about the contest, St. Martin’s Press, crossover YA, New Adult, publishing etc. and we will try to get them answered during tomorrow night’s #YAlitchat.

For those of you who have not yet joined us in a chat, #YAlitchat is each Wednesday at 9PM Eastern on twitter. More info can be found here.

Please post your questions for JJ in the comments section below. We will take them through 3PM Eastern on Wednesday. All other questions may be posed LIVE during #YAlitchat but JJ will address those posted here first.

xoxo-
G

Interview: JJ, St. Martin’s Press Editorial Assistant

I had the pleasure of sitting down with JJ, Editorial Assistant over at St. Martin’s Press and working quite closely with her over the past week on a submissions contest for unagented YA writers. We talked in depth not only about what she does, but about what St. Martin’s Press is looking to acquire under the leadership of their new Publisher-at-Large, Dan Weiss. Enjoy the interview!

Congratulations on your role at St. Martin’s Press. Can you tell me what you do there?

I am Dan Weiss’s assistant, as well as general editorial assistant at St. Martin’s. My job is to help seek out and acquire submissions to publish, specifically in the areas we are looking to expand–“new adult” or fiction and nonfiction for older teens (college-age) and twentysomethings. I read for a living! How awesome is that?

Awesome indeed. For those who are unfamiliar with St. Martin’s Press, can you give us a brief history?

St. Martin’s is part of Macmillan and has a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction in nearly every category. Notable examples include Augusten Burrough’s WOLF AT THE TABLE, Janet Evanovich’s STEPHANIE PLUM books, as well as the paranormal teen romance series HOUSE OF NIGHT by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.

I’m certain many of my readers are familiar with P.C. and Kirstin Cast for sure. You came to me because St. Martin’s Press is actively seeking specific kinds of Young Adult works. We called them “new adult” or “older YA” on my blog. Can you give me some details?

Dan believes that the market for young adults–that is, adults who are young–is largely untapped. We are a generation that grew up reading YA, but once we grew up, we couldn’t find fiction in the adult sections applicable to our lives. You’re not prepared for the adult world just because you turn 18. We still have more in common with teens than we do with “grownups.” We’re looking for books that call to us (Dan calls us “Gen Y”) and there is a lot in YA that is appealing: finding a place in life, discovering who we are, etc. Hence we want to find books that are like YA, but targeted to us slightly older readers. Of course, if we find a really great YA that’s really for the YA market, we won’t say no! If it’s perfect for another one of Macmillan’s imprints, we’ll try and publish through them.

This is more than just main characters who are older, what about the content of the literature?

I’m fond of the term “bildungsroman”–a coming of age story. Michael Chabon’s THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH is a good example. In all honesty, the age of the protagonist matters little. Hannah Tinti wrote a novel called THE GOOD THIEF (I reviewed it here: http://sjaejones.com/blog/2009/i-like-thieves/), which had a 12-year-old protagonist and it was published as adult. PREP by Curtis Sittenfield, which was about boarding school, was also published as adult. However, while I think the themes in “new adult” and YA are similar, the content would be similar to older, edgier YA. The complaint about too much violence and sex in YA wouldn’t be applicable here. The stories that would apply to us include first serious relationships (possibly leading to marriage), first jobs, college, and all the bits about being a grownup without knowing how to be one (similar to YA, I think). Examples of YA I think could have been published as adult are Malinda Lo’s ASH (which I reviewed here: http://sjaejones.com/blog/2009/the-lesbian-cinderella/), GRACELING by Kristin Cashore (reviewed here: http://sjaejones.com/blog/2009/aloha-and-mahalo/), and A CURSE AS DARK AS GOLD by Elizabeth Bunce (I reviewed that here: http://sjaejones.com/blog/2009/white-harp-reviews-a-curse-dark-as-gold/).

We’re doing a contest to allow unagented writers to showcase their work for your consideration. However, is there an advantage to an agented submission over and unagented submission?

It’s all about the work. A good manuscript is a good manuscript, regardless of whether or not the writer is agented. However, I will say that agented submissions generally have priority–mostly because the editors are familiar with the agents and trust their tastes. On a related note, I think having an agent is advantageous for the author, not for getting submissions read, but for helping him or her navigate the business of publishing.

What else are you looking for in a writer?

Oodles of talent with enough humility to understand why we want to kill their darlings in a manuscript. Being media and web savvy is also a definite advantage. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and blogs are all big pluses, as long as the web presence is maintained with decorum and discretion.

What can an unagented writer expect when sending their submissions to St. Martin ’s Press? What is the acquisitions process?

In many ways, it’s much like submitting to an agent. If we like it, we will contact you and ask for the full manuscript. If we really, really like it, we will offer you a contract, the details of which will vary from writer to writer, book to book. There will be an advance and a pay-out schedule, the likes of which have been described by other publishing bloggers like Kristin Nelson at http://pubrants.blogspot.com/.

And if St. Martin’s Press is not interested in the writer’s work? What is communicated and in what period of time? Please set the expectation.

Dan and I make it our policy to respond to every submission we receive through this contest, so none of this “no response means no” nonsense. We will try and respond in a timely fashion–within reason, of course. I will try and keep response times up to date on my blog.

How about distribution? Are St. Martin’s Press release available readily? Where can we find them?

In bookstores everywhere and wherever else books are sold!

What about eBooks? Are St. Martin’s Press releases available in eBook format?

This varies from title to title. Going forward, Dan and I would like to experiment with digital publishing and we most certainly would love to publish eBooks–either individually or simultaneously with print. Dan has a lot of experience in this area with SparkNotes and we want to continue exploring the changing landscape of book publishing.

Any advice you can give aspiring writers hoping to be published with St. Martin ’s Press?

Read. A lot. It’s important to understand what makes a good book (craft-wise and storytelling-wise) and what makes it sell. But more than that, it’s important to discover what you love and then write it. We can always tell when someone is writing for a fad or a trend. Have passion for your work and never stop writing and honing your skills.

Advice from Dan: It’s important to find what’s unique about your voice. Know your characters inside and out so that there may be authenticity in your work and make sure the stakes are high for your characters, so that your readers may care about them.

Thanks so much to Georgia for hosting me on her blog and for hosting #YAlitchat. I will pop in to chat on Twitter as often as I can.

Looking forward to reading submissions from the contest!

Always,

JJ

St. Martin’s Press Has New Publisher and Good News for YA Writers

From Publishers Marketplace November 4, 2009

Dan Weiss Joins SMP As Publisher at Large

Former SparkNotes publisher and packager Dan Weiss is the latest seasoned executive to join Macmillan, taking the new position of publisher-at-large for St. Martin’s, reporting to paperback publisher Matthew Shear. Weiss will develop and acquire both fiction and nonfiction properties targeted at the audience of “twentysomethings, Gen Yers, and older young adult readers–those emerging adults who are navigating career, love and family in a 24/7 connected world.” Those books will be published through St. Martin’s as well as other Macmillan imprints as appropriate.

 

—-

 

What does this mean for YA writers? St. Martin’s Press is actively looking for great, new, cutting edge YA with protagonists who are slightly older and can appeal to an adult audience. Since twenty-somethings are happily reading YA, St. Martin’s Press is seeking YA that can be published and marketed as adult; kind of an “older YA” or “new adult.”

I’ve been asked to help spread the word within the YA community and to assist in identifying potential content. More details on that later (rumor has it there may be a submissions contest for #YAlitchat members).

 

I’ll be talking to their new editorial assistant known around twitter at “The Great Miss JJ” right here on my blog in a few days regarding just exactly what they’re looking for.

 

In the mean time, click here to learn more about JJ and her role at St. Martin’s Press. She tells me she’ll be posting some information about the goings on there.

 

Lipstick Apology Winner!

Congratulations to Sara! She’s our LIPSTICK APOLOGY winner. I don’t make the rules, folks. I just follow ‘em. Here’s the winning entry chosen by Jennifer. Check your mailbox, Sara. A signed copy of LIPSTICK APOLOGY is on it’s way.

Dear Emily,

Please forgive me. I never meant to leave you with just four little words. I hope someday you’ll understand why I did what I did. The jewels were so beautiful, I couldn’t resist them. I never dreamed I’d lose control of the plane.

Never feel alone. I will watch over you always. When you feel the wind brush against your shoulders, know that it’s my love reaching out to wrap you in its arms.

Please forgive me. I love you.
Mom

 

Read Any Good YA Books Lately? We Have!

Ever wonder what Young Adult authors talk about when you get them in a room together? Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, faeries? Nope. Sex, drugs, rock-n-roll? Not even. But when we do get together, once a week for #YAlitchat we manage to have a good time–despite ourselves. Last night was particularly awesome! We started with a discussion about books read recently that we most enjoyed. I promised to compile a list and share on my site. So, here we go. Please keep in mind, this list is in no particular order.

As You Wish, Jackson Pearce

The Forest of Hands And Teeth, Carrie Ryan

Give Up The Ghost, Megan Crewe

Hush, Hush, Becca Fitzpatrick

Graceling, Kristin Cashore

Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Coffee House Angel, Suzanne Selfors

Gallagher Girl Series, Ally Carter

All American Girl, Meg Cabot

The Maze Runner, James Dashner

Fire, Kristin Cashore

Ash, Malinda Lo

Nation, T. Pratchett

Marcello In The Real World, Francisco Stork

Candor, Pam Bachorz

Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld

 Ballads of Suburbia, Stephanie Kuehnert

The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness

So Yesterday, Scott Westerfeld

Going Bovine, Libba Bray

Graceling, Kristin Cashore

Forest Born, Shannon Hale

Sunshine, Robin McKinley

Speak by Laurie Halse Andeson

Sabriel, Garth Nix

Knife, RJ Anderson

Tithe, Holly Black

Looking For Alaska, John Green

Queen of Everything, Deb Caletti

#Askagent

After #YAlitchat last night, Colleen Lindsay, an agent with Fineprint Literary Management assembled agents and editors for #askagent on twitter. It was a more than two-hour long chat session that answered questions from, “how long should my synopsis be” to “can I query every agent at your firm” to everything in between. I give them a lot of credit for making themselves available on short notice and for keeping their cool even when some people refused to follow the “no  query question” rule.

Too often, agents and editors are accused of not giving aspiring writers enough of their time or not responding personally to queries. Other times, writers may feel limited in their ability to connect directly with someone due to lack of funds needed to travel to a conference. #askagent is certainly the next best thing. It may be even better–if you are the particularly shy type.

Agents and editors were online and accessible for about five hours last night in total (including #yalitchat) not because they had to; but because they wanted to. Making you better writers and smarter about the business you want to be part of –in the long run–makes their job a whole lot easier.

NB: The list of participants changes. Check #askagent to see who will pop in next time!

Participating in the chat were:

Sara Kase, Assistant Editor at Sourcebook

Rebecca Sherman, Literary Agent, Writers House

Elana Roth, Literary Agent, Caren Johnson Literary Agency

T.S., Former Junior Editor, Little Brown Books for Young Children

Jennifer Laughran, Literary Agent, Andrea Brown Literary Agency

Suzie Townsend, Literary Agent, Fine Print Literary Management

If you missed #askagent, you can check out the transcript here!

Sourcebooks Sponsors YA Novel Contest

Have you written the next great young adult novel? Have an idea for the next great young adult novel? Then you may be in luck. Sourcebooks, Gotham Writer’s Workshop and Serendipity Literary Agency have joined forces to create the Young Adult Novel Discovery Contest.

According to their website, the Grand Prize Winner will have the opportunity to submit their manuscript to YA literary agent Regina Brooks and receive a free, 10-week writing course, courtesy of Gotham Writers’ Workshop. What’s better than that? There are two other prize tiers as well.
 

Full contest details can be viewed here.

Sourcebooks recently announced an expansion into Young Adult books. I’ll have an interview with the folks from Sourcebooks about it here soon!

Jennifer Jabaley Interview

I sat down with Jennifer Jabaley over the summer and am just getting to post our discussion now. Lucky for you, I’ve made up for it by giving away a SIGNED copy of LIPSTICK APOLOGY to the person who comes up with the best “LIPSTICK APOLOGY” comment below! Full contest details are posted at the end of the interview.

 Jennifer is not only talented but adorable and funny! Check out what she had to say about her awesome book and find out how to properly pronounce her name–Jabaley–not Jennifer…

1. I love the story from your website about you and your sister discussing what to do if her flight went down as the inspiration for LIPSTICK APOLOGY (read it here ). But really, there seems to be a deeper, perhaps unintended meaning. Lipstick is used to make us feel prettier, more attractive. Does Emily have an adverse reaction to it after the accident knowing its what her mother used to write her apology?

 

Wow, great, great question! Actually in the first drafts of the book I had a lot more “grief” scenes in the beginning of the book. Indeed Emily couldn’t look at lipstick at all, which of course became difficult when she moved in with her aunt who is a make up artist. I loved the irony of that. In revisions, however, we all agreed that the book flowed better in the lighter scenes so we whacked a lot of the grief and therefore the struggle with the lipstick disappeared.

 

2. Emily spends a night of fun partying all the while worrying that she’s going to get busted when her parents come home. I’ve been there and It’s a scenario I’m sure many of your readers can relate to. Why is this feeling of anticipation so important to the story?

 

I think that basic anticipation can really sum up that Emily is at heart, a good girl – a rule follower, but also and perhaps I think most important – I tried to in one scene emphasize that Emily did not want to disappoint her parents.  I wanted to depict the kind of relationship that Emily had with her family. Yes, she was a teen and wanted to rebel but also she loved her parents and didn’t want to disobey them.  And of course ultimately it’s Emily’s mom who disappoints Emily – such a twist from where the story starts.

 

3. Coping with the loss of parents can be hard for anyone, but Emily must do it publicly. How does the attention impact her?

 

She hates it, of course.  The media coverage makes her so nervous to start a new school because the whole idea of making a good first impression has been ripped from her. In her mind they all have seen her at her worst.

 

4. Does having a change of scenery help? New school, new town, new friends–or does it just send her further into her pain?

 

See above So yes, I think it makes it harder at first.  But then of course all the change is actually a nice distraction, which of course doesn’t help the grief process but delays it. But maybe she needs that delay before she can really process everything.

 

5. Having two boys to choose from can’t be all that bad can it? I should have this problem, LOL.

 

Well, she doesn’t think she has two boys to chose from – I think she’s baffled by Anthony – is he a friend or more? Plus I don’t think Emily feels like she has much control in her relationship with Owen. I think she spends most of the time wondering why he’s interested in her (such typical teenage insecurity I think!).

 

6. Tell me about the book trailer. It’s very cool and I should know, I’m a book trailer snob!

 

Well that’s an okay kind of snob to be!! I’m so glad you like it!! Incidentally by luck of the draw I actually had two trailers made. One was made by a friend of my agent and the other was made by the book blogger The Compulsive Reader. I had a contest where I asked for viewers to vote.  What was so interesting was that almost 100% of the teens voted for the trailer made by the teenager and all the voters who are no longer teens (that’s a kind way of saying older voters) voted for the trailer made by the adult!! I found that unbelievable! It makes me wonder if YA publishers have teen input on book cover art – they should!! Ultimately the teen trailer won out the contest so that is the one I posted on my website although I personally love both trailers equally.

 

7. I hear you’re working on a new fiction book for adults. Are you taking a break from YA?

 

Just a short break Originally I thought this might be a YA novel, but after talking to my agent about it, we both feel it would do better in the adult genre. The main character is in college so it could go either way.  But I have a YA idea percolating and I’m really excited about it

 

8. OK. People mispronounce my married name all the time. So, when I write, I use my maiden name. Help me out. How do you pronounce your last name–properly. Shall we give a signed copy of LIPSTICK APOLOGY away to the first person to upload a video on You Tube pronouncing it properly?

 

Sure! It’s JAB (like poke) a lee. But you know what? People butchered my maiden name, too (Lovelidge) which suprsied me – it sounds just the way it’s spelled! But Jabaley is a tough one, almost everyone says it wrong the first time!

 

Thanks so much, Georgia!!

 

ABOUT LIPSTICK APOLOGY

Four Little Words Written in Lipstick…
mean Emily must say goodbye to everything she knows. Emily Carson has always been a good girl. So when she throws a party the night her parents leave for vacation, she’s sure she’ll get busted. What Emily doesn’t know is that her parents will never return.

Available now from RAZORBILL

 

ABOUT JENNIFER

Born in New York and raised in Bridgewater, New Jersey, Jennifer Jabaley is a graduate of James Madison University and Southern College of Optometry. She began writing in 2006 and tries to manage optometry, writing and motherhood. She lives in Blue Ridge, Georgia with her husband and two children.

Visit Jennifer Jabaley’s Website

Meet Jennifer at an upcoming Signing

Saturday, October 24th, 4pm
Hometown Book Signing
Borders Bookstore
Bridgewater, NJ

Friday, November 6th, 5pm
Debutantes of 2009
Park Road Books
Book Signing
Charlotte, NC

Pick up a copy of LIPSTICK APOLOGY online at Amazon.com

The LIPSTICK APOLOGY CONTEST

Enter until October 31, 2009 for a chance to win a signed copy of LIPSTICK APOLOGY. All you need is the best, most creative, awesomest LIPSTICK APOLOGY comment below. There is, of course, a catch! Each apology must begin with the following: “Dear Emily, please forgive me. I didn’t mean to…” You must complete the rest. Winner will be announced on November 10, 2009. One entry per person, please. Jennifer will judge entries and winner will be announced on this blog.

New Twitter Twibe

I’ve created a Twibe for members of #YAlitchat on twitter. We are writers of Young Adult books or people otherwise responsible for the publishing, editing, marketing, sales, placement, reading, reviewing, representation, etc. of Young Adult books.

Visit http://twibes.com/YALITCHAT to join!