Saturday, April 18, 2009

Are you ready for the ECO?

Does your first scene compel editors to ask for more?

Your opener is the hook that attracts an editor or makes a potential reader decide to purchase your book.

Polish the first seven pages of your manuscript and send them to the Emerald City Opener Contest. You will receive feedback in the form of detailed score sheets. Your judges (published writers or Golden Heart finalists and winners) are encouraged to include comments on your entry.

Contest Timeline

  • June 1 - Entries must be e-received by midnight (PDT), June 1, 2009
  • September 1 - Finalists notified by telephone
  • October 10 - Winners announced at the Emerald City Writers' Conference
  • October 16 - Score sheets and entries returned to all participants
* * * * *

Confession: this has got to be my favorite writing contest. Not only is it sponsored by my local RWA chapter, but it has such great benefits. Every contestant gets extensive feedback on her (or his!) entry. Even better: the finalists all get a private appointment with an agent or editor during the Emerald City Writers' Conference.

Folks, I'm the agent/editor chair for this year's conference. And let me tell you: we've got some great industry guests coming. I'll be blogging about them later. For now, just trust me: you want ten minutes alone with these people!

If you're so inclined, feel free to copy the pertinent details of this post onto your own blog. We'd love to have as many entries (and conference attendees) as possible!

Also, are you planning on entering the contest? What about attending the conference?

1 comment:

patty,GH said...

thanks, check out the Disney EARTH contest;
http://www.gatheringhome.com/2009/04/share-your-earth-day-2009-with-earth-and-enter-here-to-win-.html