Sourcebooks is launching a new Young Adult division called Sourcebooks Fire and we’re celebrating for two whole months!
CONTEST DETAILS
Submissions for the contest will run 2/1/2010 – 2/28/2010. PLEASE NOTE: Sourcebooks Fire has launched their ning community. They have awesome contests and info on their releases. You may even see someone you recognize there. Also, if you’ve not RSVP’d to the contest yet, do so there. PLEASE DO NOT RSVP in BOTH PLACES.
Please follow the following directions carefully to submit a piece of YA fiction for consideration:
To participate in the contest, you MUST RSVP to the event.
Instructions on where to send submissions, as well as outlines for what we’re looking for, will be emailed on Friday, January 29th. Instructions as to the email address you’ll need for all submissions will be provided in that document.
Only submissions from people who’ve RSVP’d will be read and judged to prevent multiple submissions.
In the body of your email, please include:
Author contact info (full name, email), the title of the piece (less than 15 words) under a header reading “Title,” an up to 100-word description of your novel and under the header “Novel Description” the first 250 words of your novel under the header, “Chapter 1.”
No additional information will be read by judges.
EX:
Author Contact
Best B. Known, bestbknown2u4sure@igotzthemgoods.com
Title
The Grapes of Wrath
Novel Description
Haunted by dreams of chocolate, boy unwittingly dreams the cure for chocolate addiction in YA writers. When he posts the cure to his blog one day, he becomes instantly hated and ostracized.
Chapter 1
The sky, gray above, hung like the rug Mrs. Lewiston used to drape over the porch railing each weekend. Drab, lifeless and low; we were the same in our defeat.
Submissions will go through three rounds of judging. Georgia McBride, founder of #YAlitchat will be the first-round judge, whittling down the entrants to the top one hundred fifty (150).
These one hundred fifty (150) entries will then be ranked on a scale of 1-10 by three Sourcebooks Fire editors. The top twenty (20) submissions (calculated by adding scores) will be notified and allowed to submit a pitch letter and first twenty (20) pages of their novel for further consideration by Sourcebooks editors, as well as YA literary agent Regina Brooks, founder of Serendipity Literary agency.
These twenty (20) up will also receive copies of books Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks.
Depending on the number of submissions, winners will be announced at the end of March.
Of additional consideration and interest: This contest is open to international submissions. All submissions are property of author. Author retains all rights. Sourcebooks Fire may use winning entries including author names in contest promotions. Writers are not required to sign with Serendipity Literary Agency. Manuscripts must be in completion stage but do not need to be completed.
Below is a tentative schedule of events we’ve created to celebrate the launch of Sourcebooks Fire!
January 1, 2010
1. TeenFire (Sourcebooks Fire) Group launches on #YAlitchat’s ning community
2. TeenFire ning launches (Sourcebooks Fire ning group)
3. Contest registration begins via RSVP
January 6, 2010 – #YAlitchat with Sourcebooks Fire Acquisitions Editor, Dan Ehrenhaft
January 13, 2010 – #YAlitchat w/ Adele Griffin (author of V for Vampire, The Juliana Game, etc) and Lisa Brown (wife of Lemony Snickett and renowned illustrator) re: collaborative writing & how to write a research intensive book.
January 20, 2010 – #YAlitchat w/ Lit Agent Regina Brooks 
January 27, 2010 – #YAlitchat w/Eden Maguire, RJ Anderson, Sarah Rees Brennan, Book Chick City and more! Re: international marketing of US YA books
January 29, 2010 – RSVP email to be sent to contest registrants and MY birthday!
February 1-28, 2010 – #YAlitchat Writing Contest with Sourcebooks Fire: Submissions via RSVP ONLY
Feb 5, 2010 – Picture The Dead ARC Giveaway
February 12, 2010 – Merlin’s Harp ARC Giveaway
Feb 19, 2010 – Dreaming Anastasia ARC Giveaway
February 26, 2010 – Beautiful Dead ARC Giveaway
March 18, 2010 – Sourcebooks Fire Launch Party in NYC + Super Swagbag Giveaway (my blog)
March 31, 2010 – Contest Winners Announced
To submit to the contest, get more information and the latest contest details, you must be a member of #YAlitchat. Join here.
This is exciting news re Sourcebooks!
very exciting good luck to everyone!
Will you get dinged if you send say 255 words, provided 250 words ends mid sentence?
LOL. No. Please never end anything mid-sentence! Please complete your sentence. We are not mean! We just have to have a cut-off for sanity purposes. Can’t wait to read your entry! Good luck!
Well I figured as much, but it doesn’t hurt to ask! : D Thanks!
Thank you for this exciting news. I do have two questions:
a) Does the novel have to be finished?
b) If you submit the pitch is there anything in the rules like “All submission and their contents [ideas] become property of Sourcebooks Fire…like the fine print one gets when submitting to most contests?”
Hi Tamryn–
Yes. The novel must eb complete. I am checking on the answer to your other question! Will get back to you. Good luck!
Cheers-
Georgia