Title: Chai, Beards, and Harmony Entry Nickname: Beards Word count: 71K Genre: Contemporary Adult Rom-Com (Own Voices) Query: Amira Khan is too old for her dorm and exhausted from reporters’ constant calls for her personal ‘hot take’ on Islamophobia. She needs peace and quiet, and intends to get it by leaving grad school early to finish her thesis at her grandmother’s […]
Title: Drowning in Perfect Entry Nickname: Three Men and an Actuary Word Count: 93K Genre: Women’s Commercial Fiction Query: Brooke Holt, a twenty-seven-year-old actuary, began her quest for perfection the day her mother walked out of her life. She had been ten, incorrigible, and as far away from perfect as she has ever been. After her safe, […]
Title: Only When I FallEntry Nickname: From Gutters to GalleriesWord count: 80KGenre: Upmarket Fiction Query: If she could find a better paying job than the Museum of Fine Arts café, Mia Clarke wouldn’t have to keep selling drugs. As a single mom, it kills her to help people throw away their dreams—especially Tris, her former partner […]
Title: The Switcher Chronicles Entry Nickname: Switcher Word Count: 96,000 Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy Query: Cade Hightower is a professional body switcher, paid to step into a client’s body and take his place in the dentist’s chair or at the in-laws’ dinner table. There are some jobs he won’t do—no pranks, no lie detector tests, […]
Title: The Crows of Phobos Entry Nickname: Asteroid Snacks Word count: 84K Genre: Adult Science Fiction Query: Baku makes rent by doing odd jobs for her landlord and kills time flying her ship around the asteroid belt, hitting up seedy convenience stores for MSG chips. When she runs out of fuel and siphons some from […]
Title: All Intents and Purposes Entry nickname: Alternative Facts Word count: 68K Genre: YA Contemporary Query: Seventeen-year-old Adrian understands that genderqueer isn’t exactly an acceptable identity at her western Pennsylvania high school—never mind trying to explain why sometimes she prefers he/him, but mostly prefers she/her. That’s why she’s stoked to discover she can blend in as a boy with […]
Title: FEMSLASH Entry Nickname: Cheshire 💜s Alice! Word count: 70k Genre: YA Contemporary #ownvoices bisexual, mental health Query: Rhodes Ingram never thought she’d peak at seventeen. She’s dedicated six years of her life to her education as a visual arts track student at Alabama Fine Arts Academy, but depression threatens to undermine all her work. In […]
Title: Dead Parents Camp Entry Nickname: The Half-Orphan’s Handbook Word count: 62K Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Query: After her father’s suicide, Lila Cunningham writes a two-rule handbook to protect herself from experiencing any more pain. One: Love no one. Two: Avoid liars like her dad. Lila’s solution: barricade herself from all relationships – romantic, friendly, or otherwise. […]
Title: VERA WITH A VENGEANCE Entry Nickname: Delicious Vicious Cycles Word count: 74K Genre: YA Contemporary, Own Voices Query: 17-year-old entrepreneur Vera Davis starts a business to sell revenge in VERA WITH A VENGEANCE, a 74,000-word young adult contemporary novel. Vera and I are both Jewish and sexual assault survivors. When a car accident paralyzes Vera’s college […]
Title: Red Letter Law Entry Nickname: Mars Bars and Snickers Word Count: 68k Genre: YA Space Opera #ownvoices Query: On Mars in 2038, people are selling other people. Those who run this trade call it indentured servitude, but fifteen-year-old Lonnie Freeman doesn’t buy it. When her mom and stepdad lose a Mars-ton of money, they […]
Title: IN HER OWN SKIN Entry Nickname: This Selkie Can’t Swim Word count: 70K Genre: YA Contemporary Fantasy Query: At sixteen, Emily is an extraordinarily fast varsity swimmer, until one day the chlorine burns like acid and she nearly drowns. Unable to swim in the pool again and hearing voices calling her into the ocean, a long-submerged memory floats […]
Title: FOLLOW THE SUN Entry Title: Nowhere Land Word Count: 78,000 Genre: #ownvoices historical YA (MC is biracial w/ black father, white mother) Query: In 1969, Rett syndrome is unheard of. But come hell or high water, Jackie is determined to discover the reason why her four-year-old sister, Evie, suddenly lost the ability to speak and control her hands. […]