Cassandra Marshall : Freelance Editor : Author : Lit Agency Staff

Happy Book Birthday to @MelissaCWalker's UNBREAK MY HEART!

2012-05-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

Summary:

Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life. Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now. Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart? Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.

My Thoughts:
Melissa C Walker is the best contemporary voice in YA!

Clementine is depressed. For good reason. She's beating herself up for her past actions and even though the readers don't find out what exactly those actions were until after the mid-point of the book, Walker writes with such real emotion and with a voice that's as fresh and confused as real teens that we go right along with Clem in her downward spiral. And when we find out what Clem has done, we kinda do judge her, but we also understand her, a HUGE feat for writers to accomplish.

Clem and her family spend a summer traveling the Mississippi River in a sailboat. Clem sees it as a self-imposed exile, a prison for a horrible person like her. But then she meets James, a boy with his own shadowy past, and Clem can't figure out how he keeps smiling, how he manages to mak his family happy and move on from his past.

During the summer, Clem seems to come back to life. She learns to smile again, to look at herself and her circumstances in new ways, and essentially who she is--not a terrible person, but a person missing her best friend--and ultimately someone who is worth loving.

I wish there was an additional scene at the end that showed her [SPOILER] reconciling with her estranged best friend Amanda, as the broken relationship was the whole driving force behind the book and not having her even try to close that plot thread made the book feel unfinished.

All in all, this book is a perfect read for everyone, an emotional carousel that you'll want to ride over and over again.

Hardcover, 240 pages
Expected publication: May 22nd 2012 by Bloomsbury USA
ISBN 1599905280 (ISBN13: 9781599905280)

I got my free e-arc from Bloomsbury through NetGalley and was not compensated for this review.

On Passive Voice

2012-05-21T18:10:00.000-04:00

I've had a couple of clients ask about passive voice lately. People seem to be in two camps; those that don't know what passive voice is, and those that don't know how to get rid of it.

For the first group, we'll need to start with a bit of definition. In active voice, the subject (the first "being" in a sentence) is doing the action. For example, "Cassandra loves MolliePup." is active because it's me (Cassandra) who is doing the loving.

The passive version of this sentence would be, "MolliePup is loved by Cassandra." MolliePup becomes the subject, as she's first in the sentence, but MolliePup isn't doing anything, she's just the recipient of my love.

Pretty simple, right? Well, it gets a little muddy because passive voice isn't always wrong. A lot of government officials, businesses, and the news media use passive sentences, mostly to obscure details or misplace blame. The six o'clock newswoman might say, "Three shots were fired at the tree." This is passive, because the three shots are being fired, but we don't know who fired them. The news just wants to report what happened, and they don't know who fired the shots, so it's okay in this instance to use the passive sentence.

However, if you hear those types of passive sentences a lot, you get used to them and start thinking it's okay to write that way all the time. It's a subconscious thing.

In books, passive voice can be used to effectively create mystery and tension. For example, "The squeaky toy is missing!" is passive, but it instantly creates all sorts of questions; Was it stolen? If so, where/who was it stolen from? Are there any clues left behind?

In dialogue, usually anything goes as long as it's in character. Maybe SandyDog came over (MolliePup's mom.) SandyDog's lips curled. "Squeaky toys were stolen." The reader can infer that SandyDog did the stealing because she's avoiding blame by omitting herself from the sentence. This makes the passive sentence okay because it's for effect.

Be sure not to say, "SandyDog's lips were curled." as that makes that sentence passive too, and too many passive sentences together makes a passive section and that's not good.

So how can we get rid of passive voice?

Besides searching through every line of your MS, which can take FOR-EV-VER. You can do a search for every instance of were and was, and to be, and is, and all those passive words, but not every one of them is actually passive, and they are quiet words that our brains tend to skip over. So, the next best thing is to highlight them.

The easy way to do this is by using Word's Find/replace function wisely. First, turn on track changes.

1. Select a highlight color. Any color will do.
2. Hit Ctrl-F or Apple/command+F to bring up the “Find” window

Type the word “be” into the “find what” space
Hit the down arrow, or the "more" button to expand the advanced options

Check the “find all word forms” box
Click the "format" radial and choose "highlight"

Click "find all"

Word will highlight every instance of am, is, was, were, and been, the forms of 'be'. If the highlighting doesn't "stick" repeat the steps, and immediately after clicking "find all" choose your highlighting color again.

Go through and review each sentence to see if there isn’t a stronger way to phrase it. When you're done with that word or you don't think it's passive, click the x in the tracked changes bubble to unhighlight it and move on to the next one.

Usually, flipping the sentence can solve your problem. If you have, "The chewy bone was devoured by MolliePup." that can be flipped around to, "MolliePup devoured the chewy bone."

Eliminating the unnecessary words, "was" and "by" tightens the sentence too.

You can also use Word's Readability Statistics.

Go to Word > Preferences> Spelling & Grammar> and under the "grammar" section, check all of those boxes. When the "show readability statistics" becomes ungrey-ed, check it too. You can then uncheck the other boxes if you don't want them. I have no idea why it's this way, but it is. Then, click OK.

The next time you do a spelling and grammar check, at the end of the check, a set of readability statistics appears, including the percentage of passive sentences. You probably won't get that percentage down to zero, but the lower the better. :) It also gives you the Flesch Reading Ease number and the Flesch-Kincade grade level if you're interested.

I hope this helps!

What To Pack For A Writers Conference

2012-05-15T13:00:00.000-04:00

It's writers conference season and just over a week from now I'll be at Backspace in NYC, my first writing conference ever. I've been scouring the internet and asking the agents on #askagent for tips on what to pack and I thought I'd round up the tips I've found that are most handy:

Comfortable shoes. Seems to me that there will be a lot of sitting from 9am-5pm for classes but after that there are dinners and sightseeing and who knows what you'll get up to.
Comfy clothing. Business casual seems to be the consensus. You'll want to be comfortable sitting in non-binding and scratchy clothes, but still look decent and not all wrinkly when you stand up and introduce yourselves. Pack things you can mix and match incase you drip tomato soup down your front at 11am and still have a day full of activities to get through. Pack your clothes in a spacebag to save space. You can reuse the spacebag as a dirty laundry bag on the way home, too.
Business cards. Mostly for networking with other writers, not agents. Agents may take them, but they'll be expecting you to send your info with you query/pages later on. A tiny headshot on it can be handy for putting info with a face. Putting your pitch on the back can be helpful too.
Notebook and paper. Extra pens, too, as people seem to forget them and there's karma in sharing. If you've got an iPad, you can take notes on that (can other readers take notes?) Check ahead of time to see if there will be tables and outlets and wifi if you want to bring a laptop.
Copies of your work. Just the first five, ten pages or so in case someone asks to see it. Don't bother lugging the whole thing in printed form, no one has time during a conference to read your entire book.
Snacks. There's nothing worse than going into a silent room and having a coughing fit or a rumbling tummy. A few granola bars and a bottle of water, a packet of Halls or gum can be social lifesavers. Mmmm, Lifesavers...
A good body lotion. Air travel and conference room recycled air can wreak havoc on your skin. Be sure to guzzle that water (especially if you partake in happy hour), and keep your skin hydrated too.
Decent conditioner. Your hair can dry out too, leading to frizz, and those first introductions are important. We all love free tiny hotel bottles but not all of them are great for our hair.
Wisps. They are these tiny disposable toothbrushes for a quick breath freshener after meals when you don't have time to schlep up to your room and brush properly.
Stuff you don't need. Don't overpack.
A good attitude. Make sure you're calm and having fun. If you're not having fun, something is wrong. Take time to recharge when you need it.
Confidence. Agents and editors are people too, no need to get nervous or play down your abilities. You've worked hard to finish your books, now show 'em what you've got!
An open mind. Be open to new ideas, suggestions, experiences, and friendships. :)

MolliePup is three!

2012-05-14T19:18:00.001-04:00

Last week, Mollie turned three! I've just now got her birthday photos* off my camera. Isn't she cute?

My how times flies!

*Yes, I do take birthday photos of my dog. It's something I do.

Give A Little More: three e-shorts for FREE

2012-05-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

If you're interested in short stories, I've got a small set of three available today called Give A Little More.

Today only, from midnight to midnight PST, it's FREE!

The three stories included are:

You’ve Got To Have A Hobby
Be Together
Headlines

You’ve Got To Have A Hobby
Set in Northern England/Scotland, You've Got To Have A Hobby tells the story of one woman's journey north to meet her sister and the colorful characters on the train with her.

Be Together
A dark tale of one girl who gets lost in the rhythm of life. There's love, hope, loss, forgiveness, and betrayal, all in 3500 words.

Headlines
The story of Jane and her return to the house of the Forresters, the couple that raised her child since Jane gave him up for adoption seventeen years prior.

If you've already seen the three short stories I had up before, this is those exact three stories just repackaged together instead of separately. I'd appreciate a review, but no pressure. :)

NYC update & Brenda Novak Auction Info!

2012-05-02T03:48:00.000-04:00

Hey guys!

I wanted to share an opportunity to bid on a 50 page critique from me via editorcassandra.com at the Brenda Novak Diabetes auction. You can find my listing here but do check out the other auctions too, there's a TON of awesome things to win and all the proceeds go to a great cause!

I'm still super psyched about going to NYC and Backspace! I've got my plane ticket and I'm sad to say my plane lands at 7:45am, which means I'll need to be up by 3am to get to the airport on time. It's well past 3am now, so I've got a bit of work to do on my sleeping schedule. Got any tips?

If you happen to be in NYC May 24-26, I'd love to meet you! Specifically on Sunday, I'll be spending the ENTIRE day sightseeing. I'm talking 9am till I get on the plane home at 10pm. (I once did Paris for 30€ in eleven hours!) I plan to see the Empire State Building (It's right around the corner from the conference hotel), the NY Public Library, the 9/11 Memorial, the Brooklyn Bridge, the penguins and polar bears in the Central Park Zoo, and Times Square. I've never been to NYC, but I did take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty so I don't feel the pressing need to do that again. If I've got time though, I'd love to! So if you want to buy a subway pass with me, let's go explore NYC!

My brother might come sightsee while I'm at the conference, so you might get to meet him too!

AND I've got plans in the works to meet up with The Agent (I should reveal who they are already, shouldn't I?) and I'm SUPER excited about that!

Have you guys ever been to NYC? What things would you recommend that I see and do?

NYC, I WILL BE IN YOU!

2012-04-25T10:17:00.000-04:00

Holy freakin' cow you guys!

I won the Liz Norris Pay It Forward contest!

I'M GOING TO NEW YORK FREAKING CITY!

With the whole phone number fiasco, Janet had to email and ask for a working number and I spent the next hour staring at my phone. When it finally did ring, I started trembling which made MolliePup start meeping and Janet was like, "What's that noise?"

And then I got told the news and it was on of the Best. Days. Ever! I got so trembly I had to take an afternoon nap!

I wish you all could have heard the way my grandfathers *SQUEEED!* and the yelp my cousin across the street made when I told them! It was almost as loud and *SQUEEEEEE!*-y as the noise I made after we hung up.

And then I googled the hotel and searched for flights and looked up things to see and searched for tickets to The Book of Mormon even though I don't know how much free time I'll have.

And when the news was released and all you lovely people sent notes on twitter, I cried and YAY-ed and sent hugs and kisses to everyone and I can't thank you guys enough for all your amazing tweets! I wish we all could have won, but that would probably bankrupt Janet and Liz and that wouldn't be good.

Janet and Liz, thank you so much for making one of my dreams come true!

AHHHHHHH!

Keeping Secrets Is Hard To Do (But I Get To Reveal One!)

2012-04-17T16:59:00.000-04:00

The publishing industry is fraught with secrets.

I'm not talking about "the secret to getting published" or some other 'insider' handshake, i'm talking about all the stuff that is expected to be kept on the down low.

This usually includes how much writers get paid, from advances to royalty checks, the details of contracts, the full text of final books, bad stuff like getting rejections, even stuff as fantastic as getting a book deal!

And you know what? It's effing difficult to keep good news under wraps!

I know, because I've had to keep freaking fantastic news under wraps for an entire week. (A WEEK! I can't imagine having to keep stuff for months or more!)

What's my news? I'm a finalist in the Liz Norris Pay It Forward contest hosted by Janet Reid!

Finalist #3, actually! See: http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2012/04/finalist-3.html

I'm so freaking excited, you have no idea. I've died with delight at least once every five minutes since I found out I was a finalist. It's exhausting. :)

*Flailing muppet arms!*

I Attempt To Explain The Whole 'DOJ vs Apple & Publishers' Kerfluffle

2012-04-11T19:44:00.000-04:00

The news exploded all over Twitter today that the JOD filed charges against Apple and several publishers for allegedly conspiring to raise ebook prices.

This instantly confused a lot of people. What's JOD? It's the Department of Justice. The publishers are Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan.

The charges are a based on Apple and several publishers breaking anti-trust laws. There is no fine or 'value' to a civil anti-trust lawsuit like when someone is sued for damaging person or property, it just means that they're being asked to stop doing what it was they were doing, much like a slap on the hand when you're told not to touch something but you touch it anyway. (There's more on the States' suit that does have a monetary value later)

So, what the heck happened?

The Department of Justice says that they think Apple and the publishers got together in secret meetings and decided (together) on ways to increase ebook prices. You can read the suit here, but there are a couple of points I'd like to clarify.

(Note, while I have worked for a lawyer and help out with contract stuff for an agent, I'm not trained in this sort of thing, so I may be interpreting things differently than intended. Interpretation of things comes into play a lot here. If you see something that I've got wrong, PLEASE DO mention it so we can all try to understand better. And be nice.)

Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins have agreed to a settlement. Settling defendants are not admitting that they did something wrong (and Macmillan CEO John Sargent has written a letter stating that they have "done no wrong") but the language of the suit says that "this Final Judgement does not constitute admission [...] that they law has been violated [...] other than that the jurisdictional facts as alleged in the Complaint are true" This means that they are not admitting to breaking a law, but they agree that they did. It's a lot like admitting 'no contest' to something; you're not pleading guilty, but you are saying that the charges against you are true. (Yes, that's bit silly but the law allows it, so hey)

As part of the settlement, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins are required to void any ebook contracts with Apple (within seven days of final settlement approval +/- 60 days in which Apple can negotiate terms). The current "Agency Model" of pricing in those contracts give the power of pricing (among other things) to the publishers; the publishers set the price, and ebooksellers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble get a 30% cut. So say a publisher sets an ebook price at $10. That means that the publisher gets 70% ($7) of the list price and the seller gets 30% ($3). The seller can list the ebook at any price it wants, but no matter what the publisher gets it's $7. (Note: $10 is often too low for publishers. Most want ebooks priced at $13-15 to make enough of a profit to continue running. This is just an example with easy math. I suck at math.)

Because Amazon wants the lowest prices possible, they discount the books. But then they lose part of their commission too. And if they lower the price to under $7, they'll be paying money out. This is okay sometimes, as with the Kindle (Amazon lost money by selling the Kindle cheaper than it cost to build and ship in the hopes that they'd make that money back by consumers being tied to only buying Kindle ebooks.) Amazon hates that they can't have drastically lower prices because they know that if they have the lowest prices people will buy from them and if people buy from them they will be more apt to buy other things from them, in that transaction and in the future. But if they sell all ebooks at drastically lower prices, their margins will be slim, if any, and slim-to-no margins are not good for your company.

The publishers think the agency model is amazing because it makes Amazon and other online retailers an "agent" of the publisher, just a "pass through" or distributor for the product, not an actual seller. It's great because it means Amazon can't sell ebooks that publishers provide to them for, say, $.99. They don't want the super cheap prices because they think the readers will come to expect ebook prices to always be $.99 and that's not sustainable for them.

I think the agency model is a good idea. Under it, ebooksellers have to compete on customer experience rather than price. It's too easy for behemoths like Amazon and it's deep pockets to have predatory prices. All other retailers and potential startup competitors have no chance. This means even fewer bookstores (Remember Borders? Yeah.) less choice, less competition, and eventually higher prices when Amazon has no one to compete with anymore. And that would create a monopoly, something the DOJ doesn't seem to care about.

I'd say pull all of the books from Amazon and go in together on retailer-like distribution, but under the terms of this contract, the publishers won't have the option of pulling all their books from Amazon and banding together to create their own ebookstore (it's doubtful that SIX competing ebookstores would be viable) because of the non-communication clause included in the terms. I would totally buy from a publisher-driven ebookstore. It'd cost a TON of money at the start, but not having to deal with Amazon and all this stuff would be priceless.

Some commenters think that ebooks should be free, because it doesn't cost anything to make a file. In real life though, it costs money for offices, computers, software, utilities, cover designers, editors, copyeditors, interior designers, lawyers, and all the other stuff that comes with making a book. Just because the book ends up as a digital file instead of a tangible object doesn't mean that it didn't cost a lot of money to make. If publishers sold all ebooks for $.99 they'd lose money on any book that didn't sell a bajillion copies. And the hard truth is that not all books go on to sell a bajillion copies. Constantly losing money isn't sustainable for a business. The publishers make money from selling books only. They don't have tons of other stuff to also sell on their websites to help make up for the difference. If they did then they'd be a retailer and not a publisher. I think that's an important distinction.

If you read the comments of the news articles, there's an overwhelming backlash against Apple for "price gouging" because of the seemingly "unlimited" supply of ebooks (meaning that ebooks are just files that can be copied as many times as needed and don't need to be printed, shipped, or stored anywhere). They use the high cost of i-gadgets as examples of this. Thing is though, if you don't want to pay $600 for an iPad, there are other options out there. Buy a Nook instead. Buy a Sony Reader. No one is forcing you to buy the iPad. But if you want the iPad, you have to buy the iPad at whatever it costs. Apple does this with other retailers that sell their products too--an iPad smart cover costs $39 at in Apple stores and at Apple.com and in Walmart stores and at Walmart.com. Walmart is okay with this because if you go into Walmart for one thing (a smart cover) you're apt to come out with a cart full of other cheap stuff too.

The Department of Justice thinks that this agency model is unfair, that it restricts, limits, or impedes the ebooksellers ability to set, alter, or reduce the price of any ebook to encourage consumers to purchase one or more ebooks. Well duh, DOJ, that was the point. (Anyone else think the suit could have been written by Amazon?)

The settlement requires the publishers to ditch the agency model for two years after a books release. During those two years, the publishers must not "[forbid] a retailer from competing on price and using some of its commission to offer consumers a better value, either through a promotion or a discount." They do acknowledge that publishers retain the ability "to prevent a retailer selling its entire catalogue at a sustained loss." That's a little muddy. It means that Amazon can give up all $3 it would earn on that $10 ebook, but not any more than it's $3; it can't sell a book at a loss. This applies for the first two years that a book is out. It's then assumed that after two years Amazon and other ebooksellers CAN sell at a loss. And you know they will. However, this applies to an "entire catalogue" of books, not just a single ebook. So Amazon could potentially sell all but one of a publisher's books at a loss and still be legal.

As for the publishers, they are no longer allowed to set the prices of their ebooks. So Amazon could set the ebook prices at $1; publishers receiving $.70 and Amazon $.30. But remember, that's not enough for a sustainable publishing business.

And to really hammer publishers into the ground, as part of the agreement, they also promise to "not retaliate against, or urge any other e-book publisher or e-book retailer to retaliate against, an e-book retailer for engaging in any activity that the Settling Defendants are prohibited by Sections V.A, V.B, and VI.B.2 of this final judgment from restricting, limiting, or impeding in any agreement with an e-book retailer."

In addition to that, settling defendants cannot enter into or enforce any arrangements to raise, stabilize, fix, set, or coordinate the prices. So whatever price Amazon wants to set, publishers get their cut and they just have to deal with it, whatever it is.

So if Amazon does something naughty with these new restrictions (is there any doubt they won't?) the publishers are not allowed to say anything, or even say to other publishers, "Hey, you might want to think twice about entering into an agreement with them."

If publishers agree to this, they can expect drastic reductions in their revenue. And they can't say or do anything about it.

For writers, this means even less money available for advances and promotion. Prepare yourselves for even more competition.

For readers, this means fewer traditionally published books will be available, in either print or ebook editions. Prepare yourself to either read slower, or take chances on self-published ebooks.

And to add insult to injury, Texas, Connecticut, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont and West Virginia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are jumping on the bandwagon and allege that agency pricing have cost ebook buyers $100 million. Hachette and Harper Collins have already agreed to pay $52 million in “consumer restitution.” (And just who is going to receive that $52 million? And what are they going to do with it?)

The publishers and Apple are also facing a massive class action brought by lawyers who seek refunds for customers who allegedly overpaid for e-books.

Does that mean we can sue someone every time we think we are paying too much? Can we sue the gas companies for charging "too much" for a tank of gas? What if I think that tank of gas should only cost me $1, does that mean I can sue to get my money back on all the gas I've ever bought in my life that cost more than $1? Of course not! That's stupid! Gas companies would go broke!

And under this anti-trust agreement, publishers will get screwed too.

I applaud Macmillan and Penguin (and assumably Apple too) for fighting. This means lots of legal fees (which was probably enough that Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins had no choice but to fold for financial reasons) and the DOJ will need to prove that the companies got together and planned this pricing thing in order to raise prices.

Agents are now stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they've got a book that they know will be perfect for an editor at HarperCollins, do they still offer it to them (and sign contracts with them) knowing that this kind of stuff is happening and HarperCollins have agreed to it or do they not sell, even if it means risking not finding another editor at Macmillan or Penguin that wants to take it on?

Just a side note, Random House, who wasn't part of this suit, did not join in with the agency model pricing until March 2011 (It's alleged that the others got together starting in 2008 and on) and so it seems the focus of the suit is on HOW the agency model was adopted, not the model itself. This raises even more questions on the ulterior motives of this suit if they are restricting the ability of publishers to enter into the agency model if they have no problem with the model itself.

What do you guys think of all this?

Spring Newness

2012-03-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

MolliePup has been happy for the past couple of weeks. During the winter the curtains in my room have been kept closed to keep the heat from escaping through the window. That makes her doggie TV not only blurry, but hard to see.

When spring comes around though, I open the sheer curtains so that the sunshine can come in. The first few days she just stands and stares out the window, familiarizing herself with what the front yard looks like from the angle of the second floor.

And then eventually the windows themselves can spring open and the fresh air circulates through the house. Her sniffer works overtime and she herself seems to come out of hibernation with all the new energy.

I like to take a few days in the spring and clean out all the stuff that gets shoved into dark corners during the winter. And this includes my old manuscripts folder.

After a season of rest, going back over an old MS is just as refreshing as the new air. Sometimes that time and distance means that you can see problems in your books that you weren't able to see before that you might want to go back to. Sometimes it can mean that you fall in love with your stories all over again and that can invigorate your query process.

Have you revisited your old manuscripts lately?

SPRING 2012 FREE EDIT GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

2012-03-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've done a free edit giveaway. This time I thought that instead of giving away just one free substantial edit of a YA/MG novel, I'd ask my favorite writer/reader friends if they wanted to offer prizes too! A bunch of them said YES! and so there are lots of lovely prizes to be had!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

Winners were drawn. And then drawn again. Those prizes not claimed were given away via twitter.

THE PRIZES!

Gift certificates!

(3) $35 GC's to editorcassandra.com, usable towards any of the ala carte options (two-pass query edit, submissions package, 10 page critiques, half hour consultations), towards a full edit, or be gifted to your favorite writer friend!

Signed books!

Nathan Carriker's A SILVER RING (Karcher Prince, 2011) Two families estranged by war discover their legacy and the secrets that bind them forever... If the Army had just let Wes Hutchinson be a pilot, maybe things would have been different. He'd get to marry his English love, Melody. But the day after Melody gives him a special gift and tries to tell him she's pregnant, combat gives Wes his life's wish. Left at the controls of his crew's ravaged bomber - with enemy fighters diving in for the kill - for his last harrowing minutes on Earth, he's a pilot. Forty years later, war orphan Justin Prator can't explain the talent for flying he and his son Paulshare, until he's contacted by his birth mother, a kindly old woman with a stubborn English accent. The same day, Paul falls in love with an oddly familiar firebrand. Before they wed, Paul's "new" grandmother presents him with their family's lost icon - a silver ring - and pulls a smoldering tinderbox from the emotional rubble of World War Two.

Ebooks!

Magan Vernon's HOW TO DATE AN ALIEN (DarkSide, 2011)

High school senior Alex Bianchi's estranged father gets her an internship at Circe Operations Center to pad her college applications. But Circe isn't your typical military base. It's an alien-run operation center and not all of the aliens are friendly, especially the one that tries to kill Alex on her first day. When Ace, a dark-eyed Caltian, enters and saves the day, she can't help but be drawn to him. Can these star-crossed lovers survive when they're on the brink of intergalactic war?

Maradeth Houston's COLORS LIKE MEMORIES (MustItUp! May 2012) (You'll get an E-ARC!)

Julia has a secret: she killed the guy she loved. It was an accident—sort of.

Julia is a Sary, the soul of a child who died before taking her first breath. Without this 'breath of life' she and others like her must help those on the verge of suicide. It's a job Julia enjoyed, until the accident that claimed her boyfriend’s life—an accident she knows was her fault. If living with the guilt weren't enough, she's now assigned to help a girl dealing with the loss of her mother, something Julia is not exactly the best role model for. If she can't figure out a way to help her, Julia will lose her position in the Sary, something she swore to her boyfriend would never happen.

Chelsea Cameron's NOCTURNAL (Book One in the Noctalis Chronicles). It can be purchased on Amazon: here, Barnes and Noble: here and Amazon.co.uk: here.

Seventeen-year-old Ava-Claire Sullivan gets more than she bargained for when she meets Peter Hart in a cemetery on the same night she finds out her mother's cancer is terminal. Not only is he strange, but soon she finds out he is not human. But Peter provides a much-needed escape from her dying mother and the tenuous relationship with her father, even if she risks her life to spend time with him. What price will she be willing to pay to keep her sanctuary?

Christy Brown's DEATHLY REVENGE

Jessie was killed in a car crash, devastated by the way her life was saved, and shocked that her ex-husband was helping her get back on her feet. Now Jessie has a stalker. Viewing Jessie as a modern day monster of the Frankenstein variety, the stalker goes to daring lengths seeking Deathly Revenge.

Eisley Jacob's RUNAWAY CHOICES

Everyone runs from their past; Beck has it mastered. Now, she's not only running from herself, but from the superhuman who has made it his life's goal to track her down and either remove her from the equation or convince her to join him.

#PitchMadness Recap!

2012-03-14T18:50:00.001-04:00

After a bit of a slow start on Monday, the excitement and agent bidding really got going last night and this morning! At one time, I had over 29 hands placed in the span of half an hour and when noon rolled around, I had 61 comments to approve. I'm not sure how many the other ladies had but from the sounds of things, their blogs were just as busy! There was a bit of a hiccup about winners and how bids were to be tallied, but eventually things were sorted out.

The winners are listed below! If you were one of the entrants on my blog, sit tight! Emails with instructions will go out in the next couple of days. I believe that after the first agents have had a crack at your work, you'll be able to submit to the agents that requested, but did not ultimately win, pages.

If your MS wasn't finished or polished enough to make it into the Pitch Madness, be sure to check out this blog on Monday when the 2012 Spring FREE FULL EDIT sweepstakes goes live! It's a bit different this year as I've asked some writer friends to donate copies of their books and gift cards so there will be loads of runner-up prizes! If you want to join in with a prize (I'm open to anything), shoot me an email. Those who donate copies of their books, "sponsor" books (like pre-orders or a book of the winners choice), or donate any other prizes, can earn 5 extra entries!

PitchMadness Entry C1 - YA Science Fiction: Sleeper - Winner: @JoodForThought with a full house (Full request)!

PitchMadness Entry C2 - Paranormal/romance: The Divine Sins: Shudder - Winner: @sarasciuto with a three of a kind (50 pages)!

PitchMadness Entry C3 - MG: Riding the Dam - Winner: @johnmcusick with a pair (10 pages)

PitchMadness Entry C4- YA Humor: Summer Rush - Winner: @mollykh and @litagentmarini TIE with four of a kind's (150 pages) GOT TO CHALLENGE ROUND! - FINAL CHALLENGE Winner: @litagentmarini with a straight flush!

PitchMadness Entry C5 - YA/Contemporary: Pretending to Be Erica - Winner: @mollykh and @gordonwarnock TIE with royal flushes (full request) GOT TO CHALLENGE ROUND! - FINAL CHALLENGE Winner: @gordonwarnock with a straight flush!

PitchMadness Entry C6 - YA Fantasy: AVALON RISING - Winner: @johnmcusick and @sarahlapolla TIE with two pair (25 pages) GOT TO CHALLENGE ROUND! - FINAL CHALLENGE WINNER is @sarahlapolla with a four of a kind (150 pages)!!

PitchMadness Entry C7 - YA Urban Fantasy: Cracked - Winner: TIE! @JoodForThought and @louisefury both had full houses (full request) GOT TO CHALLENGE ROUND - FINAL CHALLENGE Winners: @JoodForThought and @louisefury both agree to receive FULLS!

PitchMadness Entry C8 - MG urban fantasy: Grizelda Q. Fiddlesticks - Winner: @sarasciuto with a full house (full request)!

PitchMadness Entry C9 - Young Adult Romance: Death Falls in Love - Winner: TIE! @NovelistLauren and @johnmcusick both had four of a kind (150 pages) GOT TO CHALLENGE ROUND! - FINAL Challenge winner: @NovelistLauren with a ROYAL FLUSH (FULL)!

PitchMadness Entry C10 - MG: Gatsby Delaney - 7th Grade Impressario - Sorry, no bids :(

PitchMadness Entry C11 - YA Sci-Fi: The Domino Project: Chameleon - Winner: @louisefury with a four of a kind (150 pages) agreed to share her win with @JoodForThought who walks away with a full!

PitchMadness Entry C12 - YA: BITERS - Winner: TIE! @carliebeth and @johnmcusick both bid straights. GOT TO CHALLENGE ROUND! - FINAL Challenge winner: @carliebeth with a ROYAL FLUSH (FULL)!

PitchMadness Entry C13 - YA Fantasy: The Girl in the Mirror - Winner: @johnmcusick with a full house (full request)!

PitchMadness Entry C14 - YA Urban Fantasy: Memento Mori - Winner: @johnmcusick with a full house (full request)!

PitchMadness Entry C15 - MG: Race To Butch Cassidy's Gold - Winner: @johnmcusick with a full house (full request)!

PitchMadness Entry C16 - YA Romance: Last Year's Mistake - Winner: THREE WAY TIE! @gordonwarnock, @mollykh, and @litagentmarini all bid four of a kind (150 pages) GOT TO CHALLENGE ROUND! - FINAL CHALLENGE Winner: @gordonwarnock beat out both ladies with a full house!

PitchMadness Entry C17 - YA Contemporary: Gone Missing Girl - Winner: @gordonwarnock with a four of a kind (150 pages)!

PitchMadness Entry C18 - YA: The Things That Are - Winner: @johnmcusick with a straight (75 pages)!

PitchMadness Entry C19 - YA novella: Flesh-Eating Zombies and Evil Ex-Girlfriends @johnmcusick with a pair (10 pages)!

PitchMadness Entry C20 - YA: The Simple Truth - Winner: @gordonwarnock with a four of a kind (150 pages)!

Pitch Madness Has Begun!

2012-03-12T08:01:00.000-04:00

A big welcome to all of the agents, readers, and participants who are excited about the Pitch Madness event!

All comments will be moderated from here on out so that the agents can play their hands in secret. They'll have until March 14th at 12pm EST when comments will be published and winners will be revealed.

Readers and participants can follow along with the Twitter hashtag #PitchMadness too!

There are sixty entries that made it to this final round. I've got twenty, Brenda has twenty, and Shelley has twenty, so be sure to visit their blogs and check out the other entries too!

Best of luck to everyone!

Agents, SHOW US YOUR HANDS!

Pitch Madness Entry C11 - YA Sci-Fi: The Domino Project: Chameleon

2012-03-12T08:00:00.019-04:00

C11 - YA Sci-Fi: The Domino Project: Chameleon

Sixteen year old Sai's search for atonement after her destructive psionic awakening leads her into the heart of Mid-America's privatized government and the dirty secrets they kill to keep buried.

Droves of addicts litter the dirty pavement the closer Bastian gets to Block 63. While Markus navigates their transport through the human refuse, Bastian scans the streets. He tries to avoid the vacant gazes of the Shined, lost staring at the holes in their veins and the stars in the sky, while drool runs down their chins to pool on the fetid ground. Shine abuse is blatant in the city’s outskirts.

The next wave hits sooner than it should. He bashes the indicator on his wrist with annoyance, aware time is running out. Psionic abilities don’t normally awaken violently, but Bastian can sense she’s a Rare. At this proximity he no longer needs an indicator to pinpoint her, but glances at it to avoid arousing suspicion.

Her awakening’s final shockwave warps the airwaves under their vehicle. Bastian doesn't wait for the transport to stabilize, but steps out as it slows, and shades his eyes as Block 63’s four apartment towers begin to implode.

Pitch Madness Entry C20 - YA: The Simple Truth

2012-03-12T08:00:00.018-04:00

C20 - YA Contemporary Romance: The Simple Truth

Johnny thought getting his violations (beaten and branded) out of a gang was the worst thing imaginable, but falling for the daughter of the woman who helps him get off the streets is way worse.

Johnny Castro didn’t consider himself a coward for running from the two guys chasing him, motivated by a sense not to get beaten to a pulp or eat a bullet. Clean trimmed lawns and single family houses was a dead giveaway that he was nowhere near the shelter he currently called home.

Temporarily losing sight of thing one and thing two, he might just make it.The thought just left his mind when his heart took a nosedive to his knees. Two large vans blocked his path, music blared from a loud radio, and shorties ran out onto the street enjoying the mid-August weather.

A block party.

He knew the guys following him didn’t give a rat’s ass about shooting out in the open to bring him down. Collateral damage meant shit to them. He made a sharp right at the alley and stopped dead on his tracks. Shit.

Dead. Fuckin’. End.

Pitch Madness Entry C19 - YA novella: Flesh-Eating Zombies and Evil Ex-Girlfriends

2012-03-12T08:00:00.017-04:00

C19 - YA novella: Flesh-Eating Zombies and Evil Ex-Girlfriends

Erwin is in hell. More precisely, he's locked in his high school with his ex-girlfriend and her obnoxious new boyfriend as zombies try to claw their way in.

The carpet in the school library was rough against Erwin's cheek, but the uncomfortable floor had nothing to do with why he couldn't sleep. No one was sleeping. Everyone was lying there in silence, the fear and tension in the air so thick it reminded him of movie scenes where the ceiling is coming down to crush everyone. The only difference was that in the movies they always escape just in time.

It was hard to believe only a few hours ago he had been working out in the school gym. He remembered thinking that this day couldn't possibly get any worse. He laughed at the thought now. Outside he heard another bang as whatever those things were, that used to be people, tried to claw and crash their way into the locked school.

***

Erwin was on his way to lunch when he saw them. Justin had Natalie pushed up against her faded orange locker, his tongue down her throat.

Pitch Madness Entry C18 - YA: The Things That Are

2012-03-12T08:00:00.016-04:00

C18 - YA Paranormal Romance: The Things That Are

After dreaming of her own murder, Brynn discovers her prophetic dreams are linked to the society of demigods responsible for her father’s death and the boy she loves is one of them.

When we heard the sirens we thought they were for us. I lifted onto my toes to see over the cluster of heads crowded around the dirt-caked windows. Two cop cars and an ambulance barreled past the abandoned barn and everyone sighed with relief. The wannabe DJ cranked the music back up and someone yelled ‘shots’. It was like nothing had happened. But I knew better.

I rinsed my sticky hands with a bottle of water and ducked under the makeshift bar built from a broken door and two old wine barrels.

“Brynn, where are you going?” Sam shouted after me. “You can’t leave me alone. Everyone keeps trying to steal our inventory.” She slid the half-empty bottles of alcohol we had stolen from her uncle’s restaurant closer together.

I patted my hands on my jeans and leaned over the bar so she could hear me. “I need to see what the cops are up to.”

Pitch Madness Entry C17 - YA Contemporary: Gone Missing Girl

2012-03-12T08:00:00.015-04:00

C17 - YA Contemporary: Gone Missing Girl

Shy albino Ansel isn’t one to go looking for excitement, until the day he saves a runaway heiress and gets tangled up in a real life fairy tale that’ll change his world forever.

I have never been that guy. You know, the guy surrounded by adventure and covered in awesomesauce. No, that would be my younger brother Ethan. But it wasn’t Ethan who found her that night hiding in the shed. It was me.

My plan was to fetch a crappy book from the storage shed so I could cannibalize its pages for a book I was restoring. Instead, I found myself facing off with a deranged waif.

Even with the Coleman lantern, I didn’t immediately notice her standing amidst the stacks of books at the center of the shed. When I lifted the lantern and the light fell across her it was lost in the hollows of her face and refracted by the jutting points of her cheekbones, revealing something like a little shrunken zombie. Dropping the lantern, I yelped like a kicked puppy. Very macho.

The light went out, leaving me in the dim twilight of the Alaskan summer.

Pitch Madness Entry C16 - YA Romance: Last Year's Mistake

2012-03-12T08:00:00.014-04:00

C16 - YA Contemporary Romance: Last Year's Mistake

Seventeen-year-old Kelsey crafts the perfect life—yummy boyfriend included—to forget a sophomore year of hospital nights and best friend’s advances. Until he reappears, and even the most perfect lies can’t protect her breaking heart.

If I had to see a ghost, I guess the first day of school was as good a time as any.

Not that he was really a ghost, but he might as well have been. I’d buried him with a chapter of my life that ended long ago. Or so I thought.

The first day of my senior year of high school started off normal enough. I smoothed my white sundress beneath me as I took my seat beside Ryan in his Camaro, pulling the visor down to check my makeup in the mirror. Satisfied that lip gloss and mascara hadn’t budged on the way from the house to the car, I snapped it back into place.

That’s when my insides went cold.

“Where did you get that?”

There was something clipped to the visor that I’d never seen in this car before, but I would have recognized it anywhere.

Pitch Madness Entry C15 - MG: Race To Butch Cassidy's Gold

2012-03-12T08:00:00.013-04:00

C15 - MG Mystery: Race To Butch Cassidy's Gold

Two cousins, with quirky Grandpa Jim, search for Butch Cassidy's gold to save a ranch for troubled youth. Racing across Utah in a beat-up motorhome, they must outsmart dangerous thieves to find the treasure first.

Twelve seconds until summer vacation. Maggie’s eyes locked on the jerking hand of the classroom clock that counted down the last seconds of sixth grade. Someone in the back of the room began chanting, “Ten, nine, eight—”

Everyone else joined in, “Seven, six—”

No more homework! Maggie thought.

“Five, four—”

No more books!

“THREE, TWO—”

No more teachers’ dirty looks!

“ONE!!”

RRRRINGGGG!! The class erupted into cheers.

Maggie jumped out of her chair and slung her pink backpack over her shoulder. She waved good-bye to her teacher, Mrs. Davis, and slipped out the door where her best friend Lindsey was waiting.

“Hey Lins!” Maggie said, nervously glancing at her watch. If she was going to make it home in fourteen minutes, she needed to hurry.

“I know you have to go,” Lindsey said, “but I wanted to give you this.” She held out a small gift bag tied with a pink bow.

Pitch Madness Entry C14 - YA Urban Fantasy: Memento Mori

2012-03-12T08:00:00.012-04:00

C14 - YA Urban Fantasy: Memento Mori

In order to prevent his demon master from hurting the girl he loves, seventeen-year-old Gabriel Durante joins forces with a fashionista and an ex-Angel of Death to kill the demon before he becomes one himself.

On the night that Gabriel Durante harvested his two hundredth soul, he bought himself a drink. There was nothing else he could do, really, other than try to forget the disturbing fact that he’d stolen that many souls…and that he’d kept count.

A flash of purple caught his attention, and he turned to see a girl dancing with her group of friends. Her chin length violet hair glowed in the strobe-lights and Gabriel could tell from her hair and her flashy silver dress that she was a girl who craved attention.

This, of course, made her the perfect target.

"Hey, you want to dance with me?"

The girl stiffened, not bothering to turn around. Most seventeen-year-old guys would have been discouraged by this. But not Gabriel.

With a slow smile, he mentally grasped the long wispy strands of his own luck and twisted it towards her. His ability to manipulate luck was the only benefit he’d received when he agreed to serve a demon.

Pitch Madness Entry C13 - YA Fantasy: The Girl in the Mirror

2012-03-12T08:00:00.011-04:00

C13 - YA Fantasy: The Girl in the Mirror

When an old enemy tries to sacrifice her brother in a ritual to save his dying race, Daela must make a choice: let her brother die, or condemn thousands of innocents to an ugly end.

The two initiates stared at me with equal parts revulsion and pity. Both girls wore their hair pulled back, exposing the swirling gold tattoos at their temples that flaunted their standing as nobles of Hel’s Court. The blonde one met my eyes and winced. I arched an eyebrow, daring her to utter the word lurking behind her teeth.

Come on. Say it to my face, you little brat.

Csuzu.

The word everyone thought but never said. The word I’d been reading in everyone’s eyes since I was five, despite their graceful manners and false smiles.

The blonde, proving she did have some sense of self-preservation, dropped her gaze and turned to her companion. And yet I could still hear the unspoken word like a whisper scuttling through the corners of the Sanctuary’s dreary antechamber.

Csuzu – child of infidelity.

I gripped the edge of the bench I’d sat on alone all morning and resisted the urge to scream that I wasn’t contagious.

Pitch Madness Entry C12 - YA: BITERS

2012-03-12T08:00:00.010-04:00

C12 - YA: BITERS

In a world of necrotic cannibals and fanatic survivors, a self-reliant teen must find a way to work with the boy who betrayed her to stop a mutant madman from turning mankind into monsters.

I haven’t slept soundly since the world ended.

Stuck somewhere between waking and dreaming, I hear a muffled thud.

I reach for my pistol. A few years ago, a seventeen-year-old girl might have kept a phone under her pillow, anxious for a call from a boy or a text from her best friend. Now it’s a firearm. Lucky me.

Odds are the noise is my new roommate – for the umpteenth time. I hate that damn cat. I never take chances, though, not anymore. That lesson is tattooed on my soul, inked in the blood of those I’ve failed to protect.

Gun in tow, I slide off the bed, careful not to make a sound.

The good news? The noise wasn’t the cat. It’s fast asleep in the far corner. I won’t have to kill it for waking me – this time. The bad news? The noise wasn’t the cat. That means trouble.

Pitch Madness Entry C10 - MG: Gatsby Delaney - 7th Grade Impressario

2012-03-12T08:00:00.009-04:00

C10 - MG: Gatsby Delaney - 7th Grade Impressario

Needing cash, twelve-year-old Gatsby Delaney sells F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Muse online and discovers the buyer is an author who is heading to Gatsby’s parents’ bookshop for a signing and will unintentionally expose the boy’s scheme.

Seventh graders Gatsby Delaney and Mugsy Tremaine hurried from their last period classroom, jostled through the crowded corridor and out of the building. They waited off to the side for Gatsby’s eight-year-old sister Zelda to arrive from her third grade class.

Mugsy gave her friend a quick once-over. “Dude,” she said quietly. “I’m not even kidding; you look like a scarecrow.”

“Gee, thanks.” Gatsby looked down at his high-water jeans and three inches of wrist and forearm exposed by the frayed edges of his long-sleeved T-shirt. The tips of his ears reddened as he pushed his sleeves up to his elbows and attempted to shimmy his jeans down a bit, but they were too snug. “It’s no use.”

“Gats, your parents have to buy you some new clothes,” she whispered.

“Easier said than done. You know how tight they are with a buck; saving for Zelda’s and my college fund and a rainy day.”

Pitch Madness Entry C9 - Young Adult Romance: Death Falls in Love

2012-03-12T08:00:00.008-04:00

C9 - Young Adult Romance: Death Falls in Love

In 19th century Venice, Death seeks immortality for the mortal girl he loves before her death parts them forever.

At first, he wanted to paint everything.

The laced colors of sunset, the blushing green of the trees, the shimmer of every dust particle scattered across a beam of sunlight. And the humans – they were wondrous, with their aging bodies and emotions that bled seamlessly one into the next. He wanted to paint them all, every soul that he saved, for those were the days he still thought himself a savior. Those were the days when, if asked to describe his work, he would have layered his reply with words like privileged and rewarding.

But then, as the history of the world unfolded at his fingertips and the paint congealed upon his brushes, he found there was more he wanted to scrub away than preserve. And there were so many more of them – so many humans with stories to end that he lost track of them all. How heavy his hand felt as he raised it to their lips, or raised his brush to canvas, weighted by the cemeteries he had scattered behind him.