In which I wear PINK

If you recall, I opened my stupid mouth and basically cornered myself into wearing PINK for Kody Keplinger's signing at BEA for THE DUFF.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves, but if you want the full breakdown, check out her blog.

::sigh::

(Um, can someone say "dedication" to the fact I did this for someone who isn't even my client or with my agency? Yea....)

In which I "fan-girled" her (and got my ARC) - the teens behind

me were actually getting a good laugh out of this...

Kody and I :)  [front says I <3>

I went ABOVE AND BEYOND and decorated the back with her

release date (September 2010).

I also threw in a retro headband (SWAG!) for Kody and 

a matching one for Joanna (her agent - who

promptly squealed, put it on and ran to Kody)

12 iron-on letters

2 headbands with DUFF

30+ iron-on rhinestones

1 bottle of puffy paint

1 pink tshirt

1 happy and adorable author

1 embarrassed agent who can't believe she looks like a teen at a Backstreet Boys Concert

So. Completely. Worth. It. :)

~K

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Contest Roundup!

All query runner-up winners from April's Skype contest *should* have received a reply. If you've yet to hear from Suzie or me, please email me at the blog email and I'll see if I can resend.

May Grab Bag Giveaway winners were sorted in order of points. And we're back to the Super Baby Drumroll for winners of the May Grab Bag Giveaway....

• Abby Stevens
• Erinn
• Karen Krueger

Congrats to the winners! Please send me an e-mail at blog.kortizzle(at)gmail.com with your full name and address (please make sure it's an address where you can receive a package) and I'll send them out next week!


Thanks to those who participated. If you're still gunnin' for a contest win, check out QueryTracker's contest which starts June 1 (this Tuesday!). Only a limited number of entries are allowed but everybody wins! (seriously - can you get better than that?)

What's the prize? I'll read your first chapter and if I stop reading, I'll tell you exactly where and why I stopped reading. If I read the whole thing, I'll request to read more.

The lovely ladies at YA Highway are having some fabulous giveaways this week. Check them out (I may be contributing a little).

If you don't want to enter but have a general question about publishing, check out Absolute Write's Ask Agent Summer Spree thread.

Happy Long Weekend everyone!! I'm off to prepare for tomorrow's Backspace Writers Conference.

Woot.

~K

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Email Woes

Hey,

First of all: Apologies for the delay on announcing May Grab Bag Giveaway winners. I will post them by tomorrow at 6 p.m.! :)

Just a heads up that as a result of someone not following submission guidelines and attaching an 11,000 KB attachment (graphics) to his/her email, my e-mail has been blocked since 4:23 a.m.

This unfortunately means any queries sent between 4:23 a.m. EST and 6:18 p.m. EST have not been received. If you sent a query within this time frame, please resubmit.

I apologize for the unfortunate circumstance; however, this is one of the many reasons we do not accept unsolicited attachments - because now this means I've missed out on e-mails all day long.

But hopefully everyone who sent something (minus those who queried) received a return message that states "Inbox full" and will resend ::hopeful::

Thanks again!

~K

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Happy Birthday YA Highway!

Just a quick shout out to the lovely ladies over at YA Highway.

Their blog turned one today, and you can read all about it over at today's post.

These ladies have been fabulous to the YA writing / reading community and I hope to see continued greatness from them in the months/years to come. If you're not already following them and you're a YA writer or reader, you're truly missing out. Not only do they have guest interviews with YA authors, agents and editors, but they also have regular (honest) book reviews and writing advice (for those who are both agented and unagented). My favorite, though, is definitely the weekly Field Trip Friday, where they do quite a deal of digging to bring their readers the latest news on contests, reading, writing and getting published - and they always end with some form of an adorable or funny video.

In honor of their birthday, I wanted to give them a "virtual cake."

Tada!

Oops...wait...that's Janet's cake...hold on let me find the right file....

There we go! Happy First Birthday (cupcakes included)!

They'll be hosting some contests and handing out fabulous prizes this week. Check them out for your chance to win!

~K

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Why You Contest Crazy?

I had a few people ask "Are you insane? Why do you do so many contests?"

I figured it was a legit question that deserved a moment to answer.

In a nutshell: getting my name (and the agency's name) out there so that writers see we exist and what services we offer. And if I'm going to get my name out there, I rather do it in a way so that I'm also helping writers along the way. :)

I tell our agency's clients all the time that it's not worth going through the trouble of writing a book if you're not going to do some form of self-promotion. Whether it's a blog tour, Tweeting it up, or even just socializing with writers online, some form of self-promotion is required to get your name out there. What use is having such a fabulous book if no one knows it exists?


I have to practice what I preach.

If I hadn't started a blog, been on Twitter or made my best effort to get my name out there, then there's no way (at least, I'm pretty sure there's no way) that some of my clients would have ever heard about me - and I would have missed out on some AMAZING manuscripts!

You will see me start to slow down with the contests (both my own and those others host and ask me to assist with) after the summer is over. It doesn't mean I won't do them - I love helping writers and offering up freebies :) But I will slow down a bit because of scheduling. Clients come first, as do foreign sales, and I want to ensure I can offer up enough time for everything that comes my way - I give 110% at all times and have every intention of continuing to do so.

Hope that answers the Contest Craziness question! :)

On a separate note, stay tuned for a post I'm entitling "Where in the World is KOrtizzle?" to pop up sometime this week. It will be its own link on the sidebar and will replace a few current sidebar features. It will list the contests/conferences/interviews I've done in the past, those I'm currently hosting/working on, and those I'm scheduled to do in the future.


Happy writing!

~K

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a writing challenge for YOU - part 2 (Lord, help me)

So...Suz and I are hanging out in the FinePrint office doing Skype chats for contest winners.

What happens when two awesome ladies hang out together in an empty literary agency office?



So you can always go to her blog to check out the damage. Here are some photos to hint at what's happened:
Yes, someone TRASHED THE SHARK's DESK





Where's YOU now?????



Um...say a little prayer for me....I let peer pressure take over on this one




~K

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Contest Closed - and other info

Thanks to all who entered the May Grab Bag Giveaway!

I'll tally up the points and post a list of winners by TUESDAY :)

Thanks to Casey for doing so much research and posting an Agent Spotlight on me! She's so fabulous and hard working, and I really appreciate her helping me spread the word that I'm looking for clients. Check it out!

I'll be at BEA on Wednesday - mostly in meetings but also in a PINK SHIRT for Kody, thanks to a stupid bet I made.



I'll also be at Backspace on Friday and Saturday, sitting on panels and meeting up with authors for critiques.

Have a fabulous week everyone! I'm off to go do something I'm going to regret...check back for another blog post update. It has NOTHING to do with Janet Reid. I'm not THAT crazy. Or anything....yea....

Um....

::dons snorkel::

~K

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May Grab Bag Giveaway

This contest is open from now through Friday May 21 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

We're back to the point system. New rule: post only ONCE with your info. Please don't give one comment per link. If you want to comment and then find a way to add points, delete the first comment and repost (makes sense?)

Top 3 highest point holders will win. If there's a tie, I'll use a number generator.


Prize: Three random YA or MG books from my stash, though most are from July 2009 - August 2010 (yes, some ARCs are involved). Plus an additional prize that will consist of the following: bookstore gift card, note for a query critique, note for a synopsis critique, note for a first chapter critique or an extra book.

Ya won't know what you get 'till you open your package :)


Point system:

+1 New blog follower
+2 Current blog follower
+2 Refer someone (you must list who, and they must list you as well - no limit)
+1 Saying you were referred by someone (you must list who, and they must list you as well - only one)
+1 Link my contest to your blog (include link)
+1 Link my contest to your Twitter (include link)
+2 Post an actual blog entry detailing this contest and include what you hope to get if you win

Links to Facebook and forums won't count, because they're difficult to see (sorry, I don't want to add anyone to my FB) and sometimes they just tick off people in forums. I totally understand.

I know some people whine about the point system, but it's simple: if you don't like it, don't enter.

:-)

If you have questions, post them in the comments below.

Good luck!!!!

~K

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Partial Roundup

I think I'm going to do a monthly "Partial Roundup" just to give you guys an idea of what's in my "to read" folder. I just finished transferring partials and fulls to my iPad to read since I'll be heading out of town and have some travel time to read.



Here's mine from the month of April. Please note that a lot of the genres weren't listed in the query. Some people don't even know what they write....and just because you see tons of one genre, does NOT mean that's necessarily a favorite. It just means the query was good and that it piqued my interest.

I'm still looking for an AWESOME young adult contemporary (read: no magic, paranormal or fantasy) from a male POV that's a romance. THAT would be awesome.

• YA

1. Paranormal: 9 (note: NONE of these are vampires, werewolves, fairies or ghosts)
2. Retelling of a fairy tale: 2
3. Contemporary: 8
4. Fantasy: 6
5. Sci-fi: 5
6. Urban Fantasy: 1
7. Historical: 2
8. Mystery: 1
9. Thriller: 1 (I was quite excited to get this one)

• MG

1. Adventure: 1
2. Fairy tale retelling: 2
3. Contemporary: 2
4. Fantasy: 1
5. Mystery: 1
6. Paranormal: 1 (again, no vamps, werewolves, ghosts or fairies)

• Chapter Books: only 1
  

• Non-fiction

1. How-to: 4
2. Self-help: 3

• Adult fiction: I have one, but it was requested at a conference (I don't take queries for adult books, but I did request this one because it's one of those 'could be YA' type deals)

Total partials to be read: 52

Fulls to read: 2


Ever wonder why agents ask for 4-6 weeks or more until they get back to you? This is why.

But you know what? I love it. Because if reading this many requests means I have a chance at finding something I'll fall in love with, then I'll gladly do it.

Plus, I really do like slush :)

~K

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May Contest - Book Giveaway!

So May is going to be a little busy with some conferences, contests, and awesome client stuff. :)

This month we're going to take it down a notch with a book giveaway; however, all books are made of awesome.

I'll be posting the details on how to enter May's Grab Bag Giveaway on Thursday May 13. In the meantime, check out a sample of books that are up for grabs. You'll see there's quite a variety from YA to Romance. I'll have a selection of at least 20 by the time the contest begins, so check back on May 13th to see the full listing:


And why is it called the Grab Bag Giveaway? Because I'll be throwing in an extra surprise into each winner's gift pack :)

~K

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Drum Roll please.....

The winners of the Epic Skype Contest are as follows (in no particular order...and I'm using your User Names....):

• CherylLangst
• Phuong Jennifer Nguyen
• Pam Harris

Congrats to the winners! If you could please e-mail me at Blog.KOrtizzle(at)gmail.com so I have your contact info, I'll be sure to reply and let you know when your Skype date is set.



But wait! There's MORE....




All runner ups [aka - anyone who submitted a video! :)] will receive a brief query critique from either Suzie Townsend or me. It takes a lot of effort and guts to put yourself on video (some of you had YouTube hits of about 600-800!) for the world to see, so we felt you deserved something!

If you're a runner up, please e-mail me your query (one page, single spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt font) to Blog.KOrtizzle(at)gmail.com no later than Sunday May 9 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

Thanks to all who participated and stay tuned for May's contest announcement!

~K

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