Query Kombat 2014 IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES, GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Query Kombat is back!
Michael, Michelle, and I are teaming up once again to bring you the second annual Query Kombat tournament. It’s a new year, so we’re bringing in some new rules!

The Basics
Query Kombat will host 64 kombatants in a single-elimination, tournament style query-off. Entries will go head to head (one on one) with one another until only ONE entry remains. There will be a total of six rounds in Query Kombat. 64 entries in round one, 32 in round two, 16 in round three, 8 in round four, 4 in round five, and 2 in round six.

As we said, some things have changed. We’re doing away with tournament brackets this year. Instead, matches will be matched up based on target audience and genre. We'll continue grouping that way until it's no longer possible.

If you secure a spot in the tournament, your query and the first 250 words of your manuscript (to the end of a complete sentence) will be pitted against another query and first 250 words. Judges will read each match-up and vote 'Victory' on the best entry. Remember, this is subjective. Considering last year, votes may come down to personal tastes. This is so very true guys, so remember this before you submit to the contest. It's a brutal Kombat!

The entry with the most ‘victories’ at the end of the round will advance to the next round until only one champion remains.

One of the biggest changes we’re implementing this year is doing away with the mentor round. Why? Because we're moving up the agent round. Yes! You read correctly. This year the agent round will be held right after the first round. That mean 32 entries will make it into the agent round. 32!.

Of course, there's a twist!

This is what happened when we came up with this twist.

The agent round will be conducted in secret. And by secret, we mean TOP SECRET. Entrants won't know who requested what--or how much--until that entrant has been eliminated from the contest. Evil. We know. We'll do this by putting comments to requiring the blog owner's approval so that we can hide the agents' requests. On the plus side, winners of the first round will be able to resubmit their entry prior to the agent round. So, any feedback the judges give you can be implemented before the agents see your work.

The Query Kombat tournament is open only to unagented writers seeking representation. Your manuscript must be complete, polished, and ready to submit. Submissions for MG, YA, NA, and Adult works will be accepted. No picture books or non-fiction.
The submission window will open at noon EST on May 22nd and close at 11:59 pm EST OR WHEN WE RECEIVE 225 ENTRIES. You may submit entries for two manuscripts (in the same email) but we will only consider the second entry on the last day of the submission window. The Kombatants will be revealed on the 30th. The tournament will kick off on June 1st.

Wereserve the right to disqualify any Kombatant for ANY reason! If one is disqualified, an alternate takes its place. If one is disqualified DURING the contest, the oppositing entry automatically wins and advances to the next round.

In order to enter the contest you MUST follow formatting guidelines, and submit during the contest window. All entries that follow those guidelines will be considered. In the event that we receive more than the available spots, Michelle, Mike, and I will savagely attack the slush pile in attempts to build the best team.

Entries will be sent to: QueryKombat (at) yahoo (dot) com

Formatting guidelines:
Font: Times New Roman, 12pt font, single-spaced with spaces between each paragraph. No tabs!!!

Subject line of the Email: A short, unique nickname for your entry [colon] your genre (audience included). Do not skip this step or your entry will be deleted. (ex. Angry Teenager: YA Contemporary)

For the nickname, make it as unique as possible so that there are no duplicates. These will be the names used in the tournament (or an abbreviated version if it's too long) so keep it PG-13 and try to have it relate to your story in some way.

In the body of the email (with examples):

Entry Nickname: Angry Teenager
Name: JD Salinger
Email address: saliger (at) yahoo (dot) com

Title: The Catcher in the Rye
Word count: 70K
Genre: YA Contemporary

Query:

Holden walks around New York and thinks a lot and writes down his thoughts, woo!

More paragraphs about Holden's thoughts.

Another one, maybe?

(Only include the meat of your query. No bio. No Dear, and no sincerely. Just the good stuff. Queries may be up to 350 words, but 250 is preferred.)

First 250 words:

First 250 words. Don't include the chapter title and please, don't stop in the middle of a sentence.

Also, no indentations. Indentations are evil.

All queries submitted are FINAL. We will not edit them in any way, shape, or form. Please read, reread, and rereread your submission before you hit send. You have several weeks to polish your work. Take advantage of it. Competition will be fierce.

Because the immense amount of work ahead of us, the tournament will be hosted on three separate blogs (make sure you follow each of our blogs before you submit). WE NEED TO DECIDE WHO'S HOSTING WHAT! Each blog will have links to all rounds so fear not. You will not get lost.

Agents and judges will be revealed soon. (As of now we have 10 agents and 20 judges!)

Questions can be left in the comments and I'll answer them as quickly as possible. As always, Query Kombat announcement call for celebration.

Hit it Poképeeps

BY THE WAY, IT'S ADELE'S BIRTHDAY TODAY!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADELE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!