Submission Day for NoQS!

The submission window opens today at 4:00 pm EST!

The submission window opens at 4:00 pm (EST) on October 15th. Don't send too soon or your entry will be deleted. There will be email confirmation. The window will close when we receive 250 entries.

Michelle and Mike will make twenty picks each, and those twenty picks will go up on our blogs from October 29th through the 30th. Before this, there will be a mentor round to whip that entry into shape. We've already got amazing mentors lined up, so know that your entries will be polished for the agents.

We are accepting all age categories and genres, excluding picture books and erotica. But be sure to check our list of agents to see if they represent your book's genre.

If you plan on participating in the contest, you have to be following all our blogs (Michelle, Mike). And you'll want to be on twitter for the party.

ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. DO NOT TRY USING MULTIPLE EMAIL ADDRESSES. THIS DOES NOT MEAN ONE PER WRITING PEN NAME. ONE AND ONE ONLY.

It's pretty simple, actually.

But there's a catch.

Along with your query and 250, you must write a SHORT paragraph (no more than 100 words) about your main character. This is the question you must answer:

What is your main character's most fearsome obsession?

The Format:

Send all your submission to nightmareonquerystreet (at) yahoo (dot) com. Only one submission per email address AND person is allowed.

Here's how it should be formatted (yes, include the bolded and everything!). Please use Times New Roman (or equivalent), 12 pt font, and put spaces between paragraphs. No indents or tabs are needed.

Subject Line: NoQS: TITLE, Age Category + Genre
(example: NoQS: GRUDGING, Adult Epic Fantasy)


INSIDE THE EMAIL:

Name: Michelle Hauck
Twitter Handle: @Michelle4Laughs
Title: GRUDGING (yes, caps!)
Genre: Adult Epic Fantasy (Age category and genre. YA/MG is not a genre.)
Word Count: XX,XXX

Note: Twitter handle is not required, just useful in finding you.


My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obsession is:

My MC's most fearsome obsession is potatoes. He can't stop eating those suckers--fried, mashed, frenched--gotta have them. (Please, spend some time on this! We will be looking at this to make up for gaps in the query and 250. It gives us a chance to know your characters better. It doesn't have to be horror-scary. It can be more subtle. Remember 100 words or less.)

Query:

Here is my fantastic query! DO NOT INCLUDE BIO OR COMPS PARAGRAPH.Try to stay in the 250-300 word range. Please put spaces between paragraphs and don't indent.

First 250 words:

Here are the first 250 words of my manuscript, and I will not end in the middle of a sentence, even if I hit 255 words. Do not abuse and send 260. Keep it fair for all by staying close to 250.


Entries will be disqualified at our discretion for rule violation.

And that's it! Send in that email during the submission window and you're ready to go. There will be a confirmation email.

We're Tweeting under the hashtag #NoQS. 

Topics for the twitter party are as follows:

October 15: All day, shout out the genre and age category you're sending. After 4:00 shout out if you got in.

October 16: What costume would your MC character wear for Halloween?

October 17: What's the most fearsome thing about querying?

October 18: Where do you hail from? It's kinda neat to find other writers near you. Shout out your approximate location and make new friends. 

October 19: What's your favorite part about contests? What benefits you the most? Help us make the next one better by telling us.

October 20: Picks released. Tell us how you deal with stress as a writer. What helps while you wait on query letters? 

Best of luck to everyone submitting today. Competition will be fierce.