Agent news and contests

Manuscript update: Still nothing new as I’ve been too busy with www.discdish.com. But I’ve got lots of ideas for I get back to the book.

Some quick agent news:

Bree Ogden has been made an associate agent at Martin Literary Management. She will represent children’s, young adult and graphic novels. Here’s some info on Bree, and she’s agreed to answer a few questions for DayByDayWriter, so stay tuned for that.

And Devin McIntyre has opened his own shingle: The McIntyre Agency. He has been an agent with Mary Evans Inc. since 2002 and reps childrens books, graphic novels and adult genres. Here’s his AuthorAdvance page and his Publishers Marketplace page.

And some quick contest news:

The Next Big Writer (sounds like a reality show, doesn’t it?) is running a Strongest Start Novel Competition for the best first three chapters of a novel. You can enter if whether you’ve completed the novel or not, as long as you’ve got the first three chapters and they’re polished. Oh, and you have to be a member of critique network The Next Big Writer. Here’s the rundown from the contest:

If you’ve been working on a novel, or have one written already, polish your first three chapters and consider entering this competition. TheNextBigWriter is an online workshop. By entering, you receive feedback on every chapter you submit. This is a great opportunity to have your work-in-progress reviewed, and you may even win! You do NOT need to have completed your entire novel, so this competition is open to those who have started or are working on their novels.

The grand prize is $500 and a $2,500 self-publishing deal from CreatSpace and feedback on every chapter.

$100 cash prizes will be given for sci-fi/fantasy/horror, romance and memoir/non-fiction. And the deadline is June 8.

And Writer’s Digest is holding its 79th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition, with a grand prize of $3,000 and a trip to New York to meet with editors and agents.

Now, this contest has entry fees, and they increase by $5 if you submit after May 14 and by $10 if you submit after June 1. You can enter in the following categories:

• Inspirational writing (spiritual/religion)
• Memoirs/personal essay
• Magazine feature article
• Genre short story
• Mainstream/Literary short story
• Rhyming poetry
• Non-rhyming poetry
• Stage play
• TV/Movie script
• Children’s/young adult

I don’t endorse either of these, as I don’t have any experience with either.