The agented round has ended and about half of our 16 top entries got requests :)
I truly hope that what you got from this year's Kontest was all the critiquing, support, and feedback to strengthen your pieces (because, honestly, we were a little light on requests). We apologize SO much for that and we thank the agents/editors (Sarah Negovitch, Pooja Menon, Jordy Albert, Terrie Wolf, Rachel Russell, Kathleen Rushall, Jennie Goloboy, and Claire Anderson-Wheeler) that did come 1000000000 times over; we love you so much (and thank YOU, Pooja Menon, for making the most requests! Go Tweet her and congratulate her. And read her interview with the lovely Monica B.W. to see how awesome she is. She's a relatively new agent and has signed many new agents so far -- opportunity for many awesome writers to query her with awesome stuff? I think so (if you don't mind me saying, Ms. Menon)).
We hope to get the agenting requests out sooner next time (maybe many months in advance) so you guys do get the fruits of your labor. We are so, so sorry about this, truly, and we hope you'll still consider entering Query Kombat next year. We're going to try even harder next year.
But, one last thing, so it can stew until I come back:
What do you want improved about Query Kombat? ANY and ALL suggestions are good. Don't be ashamed, don't be afraid. I'd actually love it if you give some real, strong critiques because we want next year to be even better!
(I am on vacation so I won't be blogging much for the next two weeks, but WOO! VACATION!)
GIMME QUERY KOMBAT FEEDBACK. Yes. You. You!
Usually it takes a few trial and errors to figure out all the issues and make things better for the next round.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your vacation, SC.
Even though I didn't make it very far in this contest, I really enjoyed it. With the more intimate head-to-head structure, everyone was so cool about cheering each other on, and I met a lot of awesome writer friends! This was the first time I've entered a contest and didn't feel like I'd "lost", because I could be excited for the new friend who "won". I don't think you should feel bad about the amount of requests - the critiques and friendships were the strength of this contest. I'd definitely do it again.
ReplyDeleteThe only suggestion I have is to shrink all the timelines. The contest went on for a loooong time, and maybe caused some judge and entrant fatigue, plus a whole lot of anxiety in the beginning rounds. Consider splitting up the entries between judges next year, esp. in the first round when there are so many, so each judge doesn't have to do ALL of them??
I can only imagine the insane amount of work you put into this, so thanks again for hosting this SC, Michelle, and Michael!
See you around the query trail everyone, and have a great vacation, SC!
Jeannette (RedDryad) :)
I'm sure those who got requests thought everything went great!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your vacation.
I think you guys did a fabulous job in your original planning and dealing with anything that came up. My suggestion would be (and I do understand the extra work it would take and why it might not work), but we got so much fabulous feedback, I would have loved to have been able to submit a new and improved submission for round 2. In this case, it probably wouldn't have gotten me any further since I lost to the eventual winner (and would have voted for that one myself!) But after seeing the rather heinous issues, it was painful to see them go through again. But your format and all the people who participated were fabulous and I had a great time. I had to disappear right after round 2 because of a fire evacuation and then an emergency move, so I missed all the fun until reading the final result, but still I learned a lot and thought this was one of the best contests I've seen. GREAT JOB all 3 of you!
ReplyDeleteEven though I didn't even make the first cut, I think it's a great service you offered for your writing brethren.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like it was a fun contest! :) I like your blog! There is a lot of awesome information on here! :) I will definitely be back to read more. :D
ReplyDelete