We are giving away critiques from outstanding publishing professionals to marginalized creators who hope to participate in the upcoming #DVpit event. As industry insiders, we understand that it’s not always about that 280-character pitch; your query letter and pages also have to shine! It is our hope that with a critique, you’ll be able to deliver even stronger submission materials to agents and editors who fave your tweets. More than that, we hope that the extra insight will be helpful to creators as they continue to develop and improve their work beyond #DVpit.
All donors have agreed to return their critiques 2 weeks from receipt. To enter the giveaways, entrants must have a Twitter account, with which they will retweet (not quote-tweet) and reply to the relevant “giveaway” tweets (informing us of their category and genre for which they’d like a critique) per the below schedule. All giveaways will close on Friday September 13 at 12PM ET. Winners will be notified via Twitter DM over the following week, by September 23, with instructions on how to claim their critique. Critiques will vary by donor: some offer query critiques, first five pages critiques, or submission package critiques (i.e. query letter plus the first five pages), or feedback on art samples. Winners are not able to choose a specific donor.
We will run the giveaways on the @DVpit_ Twitter account per the following schedule. The giveaway tweet for each category will be posted at noon ET on the relevant day.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019: Children’s, i.e. Picture Books, Chapter Books, Middle Grade
Wednesday, September 11, 2019: Young Adult
Thursday, September 12, 2019: Adult Fiction & Nonfiction and Artists & Illustrators
Here are all the amazing donors participating in the upcoming #DVpit critique giveaway!
CHILDREN’S CRITIQUE GIVEAWAYS
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
- Melissa Edwards (@MelissaLaurenE) is a literary agent at Stonesong who focuses on commercial fiction and a lawyer. She is the founder of MLE Consulting, a publishing contract consulting business for authors and other agents.
- Brian Geffen (@brian_geffen) is an editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan, where he works on young adult and middle-grade fiction plus select non-fiction.
- Adria Goetz (@adriamgoetz) is a literary agent with Martin Literary & Media Management in Seattle, who specializes in picture books.
- Susan Hawk (@susanhawk) is an agent at Upstart Crow Literary, a boutique literary agency she joined after twenty-five years working across many areas of the children’s book world. She represents writers and illustrators of books for kids and teens, board books through YA, including Alison Oliver (illustrator of the BABY LIT books), Ruth Spiro (author of the BABY LOVES books), Daphne Kalmar (A STITCH IN TIME), and Autumn Krause (A DRESS FOR THE WICKED).
- Alyson Heller (@EditorAlysonH) is a senior editor at Aladdin where she works on picture books, chapter books, and middle-grade fiction and non-fiction.
- Deirdre Jones (@DeirdreEJones) is a senior editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers where she works on a little bit of everything, including picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult fiction and nonfiction.
- Emily S. Keyes is a literary agent at Fuse Literary (www.fuseliterary.com). She was previously an agent at L. Perkins Agency and a Contracts Associate at Simon & Schuster, Inc. She represents books for kids and kids at heart: PB, MG, YA, SFF, WF, NF. She sold a #DVPit author’s debut middle grade to Scholastic last year.
- G. S. (Gabrielle) Prendergast (@gabriellesarap) is the author of the award-winning and multi-nominated young adult novels in verse, Audacious and Capricious. Her middle grade novel Pandas on the Eastside was a finalist for the 2017 Vancouver Book Award, while her YA sci-fi, Zero Repeat Forever won the BC Book Prize for children’s literature. Her first picture book, If Pluto Was a Pea was released in 2019. Gabrielle lives in Canada with her family.
- Jessica Reino (@JNRlitauthor) is a Junior Literary Agent with Metamorphosis Literary Agency interested in representing MG, YA, & Adult Fiction authors.
YOUNG ADULT CRITIQUE GIVEAWAYS
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
- Daniel Aleman (@Dan_Aleman) is the author of INDIVISIBLE, out in Fall 2020 from Disney-Hyperion.
- Veronica Bane (@veronicabane) is a young adult contemporary writer represented by Michelle Wolfson of Wolfson Literary.
- Amy Elizabeth Bishop (@amylizbishop) is an agent at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, where she represents a variety of work, including adult fiction and nonfiction and YA.
- Alex Brown (she/her) (@gravity_fail09) is a YA Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror author who has a soft spot for queer genre stories and is represented by Hannah Fergesen.
- Kate Cochrane (@katebcochrane) was a 2017 fellow in the Lambda Literary Writer’s Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices in the YA cohort. She is represented by Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary Agency.
- Tina Ehsanipour (@TinaEhsanipour) is a DVPit alum who writes adult literary fiction and contemporary YA; she is represented by Serene Hakim at Pande Literary.
- Adria Goetz (@adriamgoetz) is a literary agent with Martin Literary & Media Management in Seattle, who specializes in picture books.
- Adiba Jaigirdar (@adiba_j) writes contemporary fiction featuring queer characters of colour, and is the author of THE HENNA WARS (Page Street Spring 2020).
- Chrysa Keenon (@Chrysa_Keenon) holds a degree from Taylor University in Professional Writing with minors in Public Relations and Creative Writing. She began her agenting career as an intern at The Seymour Agency, gained experience in the editorial world at GenZ Publishing, and now works as a junior agent with C.Y.L.E Literary. She has published over 300 newspaper articles, book reviews, poems, plays and short stories. She’s recently won some awards for all that her fiction and nonfiction writing, so that’s pretty cool, too. Now, she works as a content writer for a bridal magazine while freelancing on the side. Chrysa enjoys puns, sour patch kids, and flowers. Find her at chrysakeenon.com.
- Brian Kennedy (@bd_kennedy) is a DVPit alum who writes contemporary YA with LGBTQ themes and is represented by Lauren Spieller of TriadaUS.
- As an agent at Kimberley Cameron & Associates, Dorian Maffei (@DorianMaffei) appreciates adult and YA fiction that provokes a deep-rooted connection after the last page and explores the peculiar within the mundane.
- Beth Marshea (@Ladderbirdlit) is the lead agent and founder of Ladderbird Literary Agency. We are proud to represent diverse voices in a wide variety of genres. Ladderbird is highly mission driven, in that we are seeking to elevate unique and underrepresented people and stories. We truly believe in the incredible power of representation and strive to find tales for everyone to bring to market.
- Kate Meltzer (@katemeltzer) is an editor at Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, where she works on picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels.
- Bethany Robison (@BethanyRobison) is a freelance editor, formerly with Entangled Publishing, who would love to help you with your young adult or romance story, especially if it involves history, magic, or sports.
- Rena Rossner (@renarossner) is a Literary Agent at The Deborah Harris Agency, based in Jerusalem, where she has worked for 7 years. She is also the author of The Sisters of the Winter Wood (Orbit/Redhook, 2018).
- Lauren Spieller (@laurenspieller) is an Associate Literary Agent with TriadaUS Literary Agency and the author of the YA novels Your Destination Is on the Left and She’s the Worst (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers).
- Stephanie Stein (@stephlystein) is an editor at HarperCollins Children’s/HarperTeen, acquiring middle grade and YA fiction. She is always on the lookout for a rich voice and atmosphere, a sly sense of humor, or a story that starts with a breathtaking what if.
- Laurel Symonds (@LaurelSymonds) is a literary agent with The Bent Agency representing picture books through young adult novels. Previously she worked as an editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, in marketing at a small publishing house, and as a bookseller.
- Hannah VanVels (@hannahvanvels) is an editor at Blink, an imprint of HarperCollins, and acquires YA fiction and nonfiction.
ADULT FICTION & NONFICTION CRITIQUE GIVEAWAYS
Thursday, September 12, 2019
- Amy Elizabeth Bishop (@amylizbishop) is an agent at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, where she represents a variety of work, including adult fiction and nonfiction and YA.
- Sara Codair (@shatteredsmooth) is the author of Power Surge, which was published last year, and Earth Reclaimed which is coming in 2021; they’ve been teaching writing at a community college since 2012.
- Jess Dallow (@JLDallow) is an associate literary agent at Brower Literary and Management where she represents YA contemporary and upmarket adult fiction.
- Genevieve Gagne-Hawes (@genevievejude) started at Writers House in 2003, the year she pulled TWILIGHT from the slush pile. She’s currently the in-house editor, working with WH agents to strengthen projects in all genres.
- Brittany Lavery (@laverybrittany) has worked in publishing for ten years. She acquires commercial fiction for Graydon House, and is looking for fresh, engaging voices that make her lose track of time while she’s reading.
- Michael Mammay (@MichaelMammay) writes the Planetside series, published by Harper Voyager. He is a retired army officer and a graduate of the United States Military Academy. He is a veteran of Desert Storm, Somalia, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He lives with his wife in Georgia.
- Beth Marshea (@Ladderbirdlit) is the lead agent and founder of Ladderbird Literary Agency. We are proud to represent diverse voices in a wide variety of genres. Ladderbird is highly mission driven, in that we are seeking to elevate unique and underrepresented people and stories. We truly believe in the incredible power of representation and strive to find tales for everyone to bring to market.
- Patricia Nelson (@patricianels) has been a literary agent with Marsal Lyon Literary Agency since 2014. She represents middle grade, young adult, and select adult fiction.
- Keena Roberts‘ (@roberts_keena) debut memoir WILD LIFE comes out on November 12, 2019 from the Hachette Book Group. By day she works in global public health, writing about infectious diseases and analyzing countries’ responses to them. She grew up in a tent in her primatologist parents’ research camp in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Her follow-up book is an epic fantasy with baboon protagonists, also based in the Okavango Delta: essentially, Watership Down but with monkeys (she is also working on a very silly and very queer YA full of swords and love triangles). She lives outside New York in the mountains with her wife and daughter, along with two cats and a dog.
- Rena Rossner (@renarossner) is a Literary Agent at The Deborah Harris Agency, based in Jerusalem, where she has worked for 7 years. She is also the author of The Sisters of the Winter Wood (Orbit/Redhook, 2018).
- Catherine Adel West (@cawest329) is a writer/editor living on the South Side of Chicago and her novel “Saving Ruby King” is slated for publication (Park Row/HarperCollins) June 2020. To contact me for pitch critique/advice, please DM me at @cawest329. I’ll answer questions about pitches until the day before DVPit.
ART CRITIQUE GIVEAWAY
Thursday, September 12, 2019
- Olivia Chadha (@ockaur) is a YA, comic book, and adult fiction author represented by Eric Smith.
- Laurel Symonds (@LaurelSymonds) is a literary agent with The Bent Agency representing picture books through young adult novels. Previously she worked as an editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, in marketing at a small publishing house, and as a bookseller.
