Magic Mirrors Release - Submission Now Closed
Okay, first off, I would like to apologize for how late this post is. I really meant to have this up on the first - it just didn't happen, for a number of reasons:
1. I underestimated how much burn-out I would suffer after the writer's retreat that I attended at the end of April. I knew I would suffer burn-out after Indie e-Con, so my intention was to get as much done ahead of time ... but thanks to that burn-out, I barely got Indie e-Con going, and now I'm struggling to tie up all of its loose ends.
2. I'm dealing with some stress at home that is moving-related. Also house-hunting related. Basically, we need to change our housing situation, but finances are standing in our way. (I actually almost canceled Indie e-Con due to this stress, but knew that if I skipped the second year, it would be harder for me to follow up in the coming years)
3. I worked extra hours at my day job the week following Indie e-Con to make up for taking the previous week off. Including a fourteen-hour day on Sunday. And then I had errands every day off the week following that. So, basically, yesterday was my first 27th.
4. I broke my glasses during Indie e-Con. We taped them back together and limped through, but by the time it was done, it was clear that the solution wasn't sufficient, as their habit of falling off my face was now even worse. I finally got to the eye doctor last Tuesday, and I have new glasses coming, but it's going to be Friday before I can pick them up, at the earliest, and I'm currently stuck in an 8yo pair that gets my vision to arm's length and that not even well. That said, I am thankful that I was forced to go to the eye doctor, as I have developed astigmatisms, of which I had been suspicious. Fighting them has been giving me headaches and decreasing my focus for quite some time now.
5. I've had some other projects and deadlines looming on me that were a higher priority
Anywho. My sob story aside, the submission for the Magic Mirrors collection is now open. Here are the deets.
First off, what is the Magic Mirrors Collection?
You possibly already know, but in case you don't, here's the rundown. It's not an anthology. It's not even a series. It's a set of authors who are banding together and publishing their books together at the same time as a means of cross-promotion. And every book will be a retelling of the beloved fairy tale Snow White.
Is this a contest?
No, it is not really. It is a promotional opportunity with limited slots. I'm more like an agent than a judge.
Okay, so how is that going to work?
Every book in the collection will be a story that had previously been submitted to the Rooglewood Five Poison Apples contest, but, obviously, didn't win. Authors interested will send me their stories, and I'll choose 10-15 of them to be released together at the end of November. It will be a five-day event, and I'll assign each author a day when their book will be published and they will set up with every author interview and review that I can scrounge up for them.
Ooh! How do I get in?
(1) Have submitted a story to Rooglewood, but didn't win.
(2) Send me your story and its pitch according to the guidelines I'm about to give you, and if I think it's a good fit for the presentation I plan to put together, I'll let you know.
(3) Be willing to do further edits, should I ask you to do them.
Is there an entry fee?
Submission is free, but those who participate will be charged $15 to cover marketing and service costs. Please note that you are getting a free GiraffeCrafts critique, which is a $20-30 service, depending on your book's length, and future releases will have a $25 charge as I'm deducting your entry free to Rooglewood from this year's gig, as I'm kinda coasting off of Rooglewood's success. Also, to the four authors who got the coveted Special Unicorn status, your fee would be $10, 'cause I already know you have a good story, and I really want to help push you guys to the stars (especially Sarah and Elizabeth.) (But, if your book gets a paperback edition, I will ask that you send me a copy so that I can show it off like a proud grandma. ;)
What should my submission look like?
It needs to be sent to kendraeardnek@gmail.com
The subject line should be "MM - Book Title" and the body should include, in the following order: pitch,
genre,
wordcount,
the name you will publish under,
what edits you have done since receiving your Rooglewood feedback,
whether or not you have published before, and what form of publication your previous books were
link to your Amazon and/or Goodreads pages if you are published,
links to your existing platform (blogs, FB pages, Instagram, etc, to give me an idea of where you stand for marketing)
whether or not you will need a cover. (I will provide you with a free cover if you don't have one, full-cover if your story's length warrants it - 20,000 words or over. I'm a decent cover designer and will make sure that your story has proper love.)
Also state what degree of edits you'll be willing to do for me if I do accept it. (I probably won't ask for anything drastic, we have a time crunch, but someone who's more open-minded to change would be a lot easier for me to work with.)
Attach your story to the email in .doc or .docx format. Fonts and font sizes don't really matter as I will be emailing your book to my kindle for me to read it. Also attach your Rooglewood feedback so I can get a feel for your story's strengths and weaknesses. If you already have a cover for your book, go ahead and attach that so that I can see it make sure that it stands up to the GiraffeCrafts standards.
(What am I looking for in a pitch: Basically, a statement of your book's heart and twist in one or two sentences. This can be a tagline, a logline, or a VERY short blurb, just as long as you use as few words as possible. I have a short attention span and I'm going to be reading a lot of these, so you want to make sure yours stands out.)
What are your judging criteria?
I am one person with a busy schedule (I'm releasing a book in August). As such, I cannot promise to read every story submitted to me. As I receive the emails, I will skim their first couple hundred words, then send them to my kindle. Once I have finished reading the book I'm currently reading on my kindle and have my new glasses, I will start reading stories. The order I will read them is going to be based on those couple hundred words, the information I've asked you to include in your email, and how badly I want to read your book based on what I've already seen of it. (So, yes, those of you who were active in the Rooglewood FB group do have some priority.)
That said, there really isn't anything that will out of hand rule your story out, short of it containing content that I don't feel comfortable promoting (see my GiraffeCrafts Standard). I am looking for a collection of well-written stories that show the sheer scope and potential of Snow White. This means that I'm looking for all genres (except erotica, slash, or extreme horror. And, yes, my stance on horror is usually "little to none," but SW is a tale with a lot of potential for horror, and so I would actually like to include at least one, provided that it is still clean and I wouldn't be too upset if my eight-year-old sister stumbled upon your book on my shelf and read it.) I'm looking for all perspectives on the tale. I need them with magic and without. I want some mash-ups, and I'd like some that are just loose inspired-bys. I'd like to include both established authors and newbies. There is no word limit (though, for time restraint reasons, a 100,000-word epic might not be high on my priority ranking), but your story needs to be at least 5,000 words long - 20,000 words if you have not been published before, as I insist on first-time authors having a substantial debut.
BUT, I want every story that we're releasing to be unique and distinct. I want readers to be able to read the whole collection and come out of it unconvinced that they'd read the same fairy tale ten times in a row.
I would also like to state that if your story received less than a 45 in your Rooglewood score, you'd better have done edits.
Deadline to submit?
July 7th. (I'm giving you guys an extra week 'cause I've been slow in opening submission) So you guys have time to do a little extra polishing, BUT, I will say that the speed with which a story appears in my inbox will be an influence on the order in which I read them.
I have a Snow White story but it wasn't submitted to Rooglewood. Can I still submit?
You can ask me. My priority is to the books that were submitted, but if you have something unique that will round out my collection perfectly, I'm not going to turn it down out of hand. Just know that you'll be charged $25 for participation because I won't be deducting the Rooglewood submission fee.
When will you let me know that I've been accepted?
I will send you a GiraffeCrafts critique as soon as I've finished reading your book stating whether or not I want it and what edits it would need if I do. If I don't feel that it is the right fit for this collection, I will give you edit suggestions and some pointers for what you can do for the story to take it to the next level. The collection should be finalized by the time that I release my book The Worth of a King on August 27st, so if you haven't heard from me by then, it means that I did not get to your story. Please note that rejection or lack of reading might not necessarily mean that you wrote a bad story - it might simply mean that I had another story that had a similar premise or genre that had intrigued me. The final list will be published here just as soon as Worth's blog tour has finished.
Please note that a GiraffeCrafts Critique does focus on what you need to do to improve your story, so please don't send me your story expecting a song of praise to come back. I can and will find something to nitpick on every story. I will find something to praise, but the focus will be on making your story better.
And when will this be releasing?
The last week of October, right before I plunge into NaNo and prep for the Indie Black Friday Sale.
Anything else?
I think there was something else that I meant to say, but I've misplaced my thoughts. Feel free to ask questions below. I can't wait to read you guys' lovely stories!
1. I underestimated how much burn-out I would suffer after the writer's retreat that I attended at the end of April. I knew I would suffer burn-out after Indie e-Con, so my intention was to get as much done ahead of time ... but thanks to that burn-out, I barely got Indie e-Con going, and now I'm struggling to tie up all of its loose ends.
2. I'm dealing with some stress at home that is moving-related. Also house-hunting related. Basically, we need to change our housing situation, but finances are standing in our way. (I actually almost canceled Indie e-Con due to this stress, but knew that if I skipped the second year, it would be harder for me to follow up in the coming years)
3. I worked extra hours at my day job the week following Indie e-Con to make up for taking the previous week off. Including a fourteen-hour day on Sunday. And then I had errands every day off the week following that. So, basically, yesterday was my first 27th.
4. I broke my glasses during Indie e-Con. We taped them back together and limped through, but by the time it was done, it was clear that the solution wasn't sufficient, as their habit of falling off my face was now even worse. I finally got to the eye doctor last Tuesday, and I have new glasses coming, but it's going to be Friday before I can pick them up, at the earliest, and I'm currently stuck in an 8yo pair that gets my vision to arm's length and that not even well. That said, I am thankful that I was forced to go to the eye doctor, as I have developed astigmatisms, of which I had been suspicious. Fighting them has been giving me headaches and decreasing my focus for quite some time now.
5. I've had some other projects and deadlines looming on me that were a higher priority
Anywho. My sob story aside, the submission for the Magic Mirrors collection is now open. Here are the deets.
First off, what is the Magic Mirrors Collection?
You possibly already know, but in case you don't, here's the rundown. It's not an anthology. It's not even a series. It's a set of authors who are banding together and publishing their books together at the same time as a means of cross-promotion. And every book will be a retelling of the beloved fairy tale Snow White.
Is this a contest?
No, it is not really. It is a promotional opportunity with limited slots. I'm more like an agent than a judge.
Okay, so how is that going to work?
Every book in the collection will be a story that had previously been submitted to the Rooglewood Five Poison Apples contest, but, obviously, didn't win. Authors interested will send me their stories, and I'll choose 10-15 of them to be released together at the end of November. It will be a five-day event, and I'll assign each author a day when their book will be published and they will set up with every author interview and review that I can scrounge up for them.
Ooh! How do I get in?
(1) Have submitted a story to Rooglewood, but didn't win.
(2) Send me your story and its pitch according to the guidelines I'm about to give you, and if I think it's a good fit for the presentation I plan to put together, I'll let you know.
(3) Be willing to do further edits, should I ask you to do them.
Is there an entry fee?
Submission is free, but those who participate will be charged $15 to cover marketing and service costs. Please note that you are getting a free GiraffeCrafts critique, which is a $20-30 service, depending on your book's length, and future releases will have a $25 charge as I'm deducting your entry free to Rooglewood from this year's gig, as I'm kinda coasting off of Rooglewood's success. Also, to the four authors who got the coveted Special Unicorn status, your fee would be $10, 'cause I already know you have a good story, and I really want to help push you guys to the stars (especially Sarah and Elizabeth.) (But, if your book gets a paperback edition, I will ask that you send me a copy so that I can show it off like a proud grandma. ;)
What should my submission look like?
It needs to be sent to kendraeardnek@gmail.com
The subject line should be "MM - Book Title" and the body should include, in the following order: pitch,
genre,
wordcount,
the name you will publish under,
what edits you have done since receiving your Rooglewood feedback,
whether or not you have published before, and what form of publication your previous books were
link to your Amazon and/or Goodreads pages if you are published,
links to your existing platform (blogs, FB pages, Instagram, etc, to give me an idea of where you stand for marketing)
whether or not you will need a cover. (I will provide you with a free cover if you don't have one, full-cover if your story's length warrants it - 20,000 words or over. I'm a decent cover designer and will make sure that your story has proper love.)
Also state what degree of edits you'll be willing to do for me if I do accept it. (I probably won't ask for anything drastic, we have a time crunch, but someone who's more open-minded to change would be a lot easier for me to work with.)
Attach your story to the email in .doc or .docx format. Fonts and font sizes don't really matter as I will be emailing your book to my kindle for me to read it. Also attach your Rooglewood feedback so I can get a feel for your story's strengths and weaknesses. If you already have a cover for your book, go ahead and attach that so that I can see it make sure that it stands up to the GiraffeCrafts standards.
(What am I looking for in a pitch: Basically, a statement of your book's heart and twist in one or two sentences. This can be a tagline, a logline, or a VERY short blurb, just as long as you use as few words as possible. I have a short attention span and I'm going to be reading a lot of these, so you want to make sure yours stands out.)
What are your judging criteria?
I am one person with a busy schedule (I'm releasing a book in August). As such, I cannot promise to read every story submitted to me. As I receive the emails, I will skim their first couple hundred words, then send them to my kindle. Once I have finished reading the book I'm currently reading on my kindle and have my new glasses, I will start reading stories. The order I will read them is going to be based on those couple hundred words, the information I've asked you to include in your email, and how badly I want to read your book based on what I've already seen of it. (So, yes, those of you who were active in the Rooglewood FB group do have some priority.)
That said, there really isn't anything that will out of hand rule your story out, short of it containing content that I don't feel comfortable promoting (see my GiraffeCrafts Standard). I am looking for a collection of well-written stories that show the sheer scope and potential of Snow White. This means that I'm looking for all genres (except erotica, slash, or extreme horror. And, yes, my stance on horror is usually "little to none," but SW is a tale with a lot of potential for horror, and so I would actually like to include at least one, provided that it is still clean and I wouldn't be too upset if my eight-year-old sister stumbled upon your book on my shelf and read it.) I'm looking for all perspectives on the tale. I need them with magic and without. I want some mash-ups, and I'd like some that are just loose inspired-bys. I'd like to include both established authors and newbies. There is no word limit (though, for time restraint reasons, a 100,000-word epic might not be high on my priority ranking), but your story needs to be at least 5,000 words long - 20,000 words if you have not been published before, as I insist on first-time authors having a substantial debut.
BUT, I want every story that we're releasing to be unique and distinct. I want readers to be able to read the whole collection and come out of it unconvinced that they'd read the same fairy tale ten times in a row.
I would also like to state that if your story received less than a 45 in your Rooglewood score, you'd better have done edits.
Deadline to submit?
July 7th. (I'm giving you guys an extra week 'cause I've been slow in opening submission) So you guys have time to do a little extra polishing, BUT, I will say that the speed with which a story appears in my inbox will be an influence on the order in which I read them.
I have a Snow White story but it wasn't submitted to Rooglewood. Can I still submit?
You can ask me. My priority is to the books that were submitted, but if you have something unique that will round out my collection perfectly, I'm not going to turn it down out of hand. Just know that you'll be charged $25 for participation because I won't be deducting the Rooglewood submission fee.
When will you let me know that I've been accepted?
I will send you a GiraffeCrafts critique as soon as I've finished reading your book stating whether or not I want it and what edits it would need if I do. If I don't feel that it is the right fit for this collection, I will give you edit suggestions and some pointers for what you can do for the story to take it to the next level. The collection should be finalized by the time that I release my book The Worth of a King on August 27st, so if you haven't heard from me by then, it means that I did not get to your story. Please note that rejection or lack of reading might not necessarily mean that you wrote a bad story - it might simply mean that I had another story that had a similar premise or genre that had intrigued me. The final list will be published here just as soon as Worth's blog tour has finished.
Please note that a GiraffeCrafts Critique does focus on what you need to do to improve your story, so please don't send me your story expecting a song of praise to come back. I can and will find something to nitpick on every story. I will find something to praise, but the focus will be on making your story better.
And when will this be releasing?
The last week of October, right before I plunge into NaNo and prep for the Indie Black Friday Sale.
Anything else?
I think there was something else that I meant to say, but I've misplaced my thoughts. Feel free to ask questions below. I can't wait to read you guys' lovely stories!
Thanks for posting this, Kendra! Now I have motivation to finish up my last rounds of new edits on Blood in the Snow. (After all, since I now have all the space I want, I should make sure that nothing feels too rushed/awkward.) I hope to send my story over to you by the end of the week. Just to double-check, submission still ends at the end of June, right?
ReplyDeleteI realized that the deadline was the detail I was forgetting as I woke up this morning. You actually have until July 7th. Speed with which a story appears in my inbox will be an influence on my reading order, though yours is one that I'm VERY excited about, and I'll read it even if you squeak it in a day late. (But please don't do that. Set a good example for the kids.)
DeleteOooh, fabulous. As I said, I plan to get my story to you this week, but as you know, life happens, editing can be troublesome, and I want to know how much of a buffer I've got to work with. (Also, your excitement is VERY encouraging, so THANK YOU. Just a side note.)
DeleteSo sorry about all the stress and the eye trouble! Thanks for doing the e-con anyway. :) God bless, and I hope the house situation works out soon!
ReplyDelete