Are you ready for the details for Son of a Pitch? It’s less that a month until the first round, so it’s time for me to give you the break down. But before I begin, for your information, here are the agents and the list of publishers involved. You will also find short blurbs on all of them by checking Katie Hamstead's blog archives. I have posted about one each Wednesday.

Now, on with the show!

Formatting:
Title: (Name of Manuscript)
Age and Genre: (YA/NA/Adult then Genre)
Word Count: (to the nearest thousand)

Query:
Insert query here. No bio please.

First 250 Words:
I don’t care if this is from a prologue or chapter one. That’s up to you.

Week 1 starts Feb 15, 2016:
A chance to refine your query and first 250 words. Post this on your blog then post a link in the comments of a post I will put up on my blog the week of Feb 15. Please leave feedback on a minimum of three other queries and first 250.

Week 2 starts Feb 22, 2016:
This week, published authors will give you feedback. The Son of a Pitch team, who are all published, will post your emailed in queries and 250 words on their blogs. Please use the formatting above and email to:
sonofapitchcomp@yahoo.com.au

Incorrectly formatted emails will be kicked off the island. The team will vote for their favorites to go onto the final round. They will cast five votes each, anywhere they want, and the top 20 will go onto the next round. Feel free to coax judges your direction however you want! But please, only you and the judges can comment on your entry, or the comments can get confusing for tallying votes at the end. Votes will close on Thursday 11:59 p.m. MST. To stalk the hosts/voting authors, click Here.

The first fifty entries will go into this round. So get your clickers ready to email at precisely 10 a.m. MST on Friday Feb 19th.
But don’t be discouraged! You will get good feedback to help you even if you don’t make the top twenty. So please go and query elsewhere afterward, and let us know your success story so it can be shared on the blog.

Week 3 starts Feb 29, 2016:
We have a fantastic line up of editors, publishers, and agents. They’ll swing by the final contestants to try to bribe you into subbing to them. The final Twenty will post right here on this blog, where agents/editors will come and make requests for you. If you make the top twenty, you will be emailed on Friday 26th, and all updated entries sent to the email address by Saturday 27th 11:59 p.m. MST. If you don’t make the deadline, the next highest voted entry will be emailed, and will have 24 hrs to get the entry into the inbox.Feel free to email any requests made whenever you feel like it, but note that the agents/editors are allowed to give feedback on your entry. Also, make sure to include that your query to them is from the comp by putting Son of a Pitch Request in the title.
Twitter Pitch: Mar 7, 2016:
And finally, we’ll have a free-for-all twitter pitching opp under the hashtag #sonofapitch
Rules: Makes sure to include #sonofapitch and your genre/age category with the tweet. You can tweet any number of manuscripts, but only once every hour each.

These instructions are cross-posted from Katie Teller at her blog.

Publishing can be overwhelming, especially if it's your first time. Between writing, editing, marketing and all of the fun stuff in between, figuring out where you need to start is tough! The Newbie's Guide to Publishing is an on-going blog series in which authors share their knowledge of the process.

After spending some time explaining the basics of release day festivities to friends, I thought now would be a good time to share those explanations and tips on everything from blitzes to swag. You'll hear these terms a lot, and will utilize them yourself as you go along. Below you'll find a little explanation of each, as well as associated hints and tips you might find useful.

Cover Reveal – A day in which you share your shiny new cover with the world. Like blitzes and tours, these are a great time to get bloggers involved, as they can increase your reach and the visibility of your book. If your book is available for pre-order, including the pre-order links during cover reveals can be really helpful in boosting sales. That said, if you won't have pre-order links available until a few days before release, you should probably consider going ahead and scheduling your cover reveal so you don't run the risk of oversaturating bloggers with your tours really close to release day.

Blitz – A preset day (or days) in which bloggers post about your book or sale. The most common of these are the release day blitz and the sale blitz. During a release blitz, bloggers will share your newly released book. During a sale blitz, bloggers share your book sale with their readers. You can set these up yourself, or use a service.

Blog Tour – A virtual book tour, in which bloggers share your book with their readers. Blog tours frequently include author interviews, excerpts, teasers, guest posts from the author, reviews of your book, and giveaways. As with blitzes, you can set these services up through a promotion/host company.

Review Tour – Similar to the blog tour, except used primarily for bloggers to review your novel. Reviewers receive an ARC (advanced reader copy) in exchange for an honest review. Some authors request that reviews be posted to Amazon and Goodreads as well as the blogger's website. These can be set up with a promotion/host company.

Pro-tip on Blitzes/Tours/Reveals: Using an established host will heighten your reach, and take some of the work load off of your shoulders. Hosts will do everything from gathering participants to creating forms and formatted posts to designing the media kit to organizing the schedule. They are invaluable to you as an author. Using more than one can help widen your reach, though you might want to space them out a little instead of running tours concurrently.

Media Kit – A media kit is a document that contains pertinent information that can be used to highlight your work. These kits include things such as the cover, book blurb, purchase and Goodread links, teasers/excerpts, author photo and bio (with social media links), guest posts, etc. These differ from the traditional media kit in that these don't go out to the media, but rather to bloggers and reviewers to help them craft promo and blog tour posts.

Pro-Tip on Media Kits: Keeping a media kit on hand and updated for each of your novels can save you a lot of time and effort. You will reuse these often during the course of your career, and don't want to have to spend a lot of time redoing them each and every time you need it. For a standard media kit, include the cover, book blurb, purchase and Goodreads links, author photo and bio (with social media links), and a brief teaser and/or teaser images.

Giveaways – These are exactly what they sound like…you give away prizes. Giveaways are also invaluable. They draw in participants, putting your name and books in front of others. Need help with the giveaway? Ask fellow authors if they are willing to donate a prize in exchange for the exposure. If you use a tool like Rafflecopter to organize your giveaway, you can add options such as requiring entrants to follow other authors on Twitter or visit them on Facebook. Smaller giveaways work well for cover reveals and blitzes, larger giveaways for blog tours and multi-author events. You may also want to utilize the Goodreads Giveaway option prior to or at the time of your book release. Just remember: Goodreads requires that you give away print copies, not ebooks!

Pro-Tip on Giveaways: Don't give away ebook copies of the novel you're releasing. You run the risk of stunting your sales if you do, as readers may wait to see if they won instead of buying a copy. Give away a limited number of autographed print copies during a giveaway (if you opt to give away any), or opt for things like swag, other ebooks, gift cards, or items related to the book. For bigger giveaways, things like a Kindle or a $50 Amazon card are always big hits.

Facebook Parties – These are virtual events, held on Facebook, often used to celebrate new releases or special occasions (like 1000 fan page likes). You create an event page, and host the event right there on the page. You can offer teasers, excerpts, play games and give away prizes. For longer events, you can ask fellow authors to help host for a specific time frame (typically 30 minutes to an hour) in an author takeover type of party. These are a fun way to get readers involved, especially those who can't attend an in-person book launch party.

Book Launch Party – A live event to help celebrate your release. These events can be set up at book stores, local pubs, Starbucks... you decide what and where works best for you and your readers and reach out to local businesses to see who's interested. You can do book signings, readings, and more as part of a Book Launch Party. Just remember to plan ahead, make sure you bring plenty of swag and books, and are prepared to keep guests entertained. You may also want to consider investing in author banners or posters to help promote the event and draw eyes.

Pro-Tip on Parties: Don't save your planning until the last moment. Give yourself several weeks to invite your readers, fellow authors, and to make plans for what to do during the party. If fellow authors are helping you host, make sure you remind them of their time slot prior to the party so you can make last minute adjustments if needed to accommodate changing schedules. Except readers to come and go in waves, especially during longer events.

Swag – Items used to promote your book such as bookmarks, pens, wristbands, etc. Most often, you will give these items away to others. Swag can be costly, so be prepared to spend a little money on these items. You can order from places such as Vistaprint, Printrunner, or Reminderband. You can also order items unique to your book (like charm bracelets, etc) from various Etsy crafters, such as The Book Swag Shop. If you need help with designing items, many cover and graphic artists can help. I use Jada D'Lee and Mayhem Cover Creations for most graphics. Ask around for additional recommendations. Your graphic artists can also help with teaser images to post on social media or during tours/etc.