by kmessner

KidLit Cares: Manuscript Critique & Phone Call with Egmont USA Publisher Elizabeth Law

Auction #14: Manuscript Critique & Phone Call with Elizabeth Law

Welcome to KidLit Cares, an online talent auction to benefit the Red Cross relief effort to help communities recover from Superstorm Sandy. Agents, editors, authors, and illustrators have donated various services to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with donations being made directly to the Red Cross disaster relief fund. You can read more about KidLit Cares here. Now, on to the auction!

Elizabeth Law, publisher of Egmont USA and an editor who specializes in Children’s and Young Adult fiction, will critique 30 pages and a synopsis of your manuscript.  Elizabeth will provide written notes and line edits and have a 40 minute phone call with you to discuss your project and your writing, and any questions at all you have about the industry, agents, publishers, e-books etc.

From Elizabeth… An added incentive to bid: IF THE BID GOES TO $650 OR HIGHER, I WILL READ, CRITIQUE, AND DISCUSS THE FIRST 40 PAGES AND SYNOPSIS OF THE NEXT ROUND OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT, IF YOU GET IT TO ME WITHIN 6 MONTHS OF OUR INITIAL CALL. The idea is that you will have time to sit with anything we’ve discussed, dig in, revise, perhaps share with your critique group, and when you feel ready I will happily look at your manuscript again. And if you prefer for me to look at a different section of the book instead–if there’s something else that you want feedback on–then I will happily read that. Hope this is tempting, and thanks, everyone, for supporting such a good cause.

Opening Bid: $30

Auction Ends: Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10pm EST. (Any bids submitted in comments after that time will be void.)

If you’d like to bid on this auction, check the current high bid and place a higher bid by leaving your name and bid amount in the comments, along with some way to contact you (email, FB or Twitter…I’m not fussy.) Winners will be notified when the auction ends and should be prepared to make an online donation to the Red Cross Disaster Relief fund in the amount of the high bid at that time.  After you’ve made your donation, you’ll forward your receipt to me, and I’ll put you in touch with the person who donated the service you won so that the two of you can work out the details about how and when.   All services will be provided at the convenience of both the person making the donation and the auction winner, but this should happen within three months of the auction’s end unless something else is agreed upon by both parties.

Good luck and thanks for your help!

41 Replies on “KidLit Cares: Manuscript Critique & Phone Call with Egmont USA Publisher Elizabeth Law”

  10. I really want to help this excellent organization, and I always want to contribute to writers. So I will do everything I can think of to make this critique and call as valuable for the recipient as they can be.

  15. Pingback: You Can Help Yourself and Help Hurricane Victims « Writing and Illustrating

  17. Melissa Manlove of Chronicle is offering such a smart and helpful and generous item–a Free pass to an editorial meeting and feedback from all the Chronicle editors on your picture book–that I have been thinking about what I could do to step up my game and improve my own auction offering. So, I am now adding this to the auction offering:

    IF THE BID GOES TO $650 OR HIGHER, I WILL READ, CRITIQUE, AND DISCUSS THE FIRST 40 PAGES AND SYNOPSIS OF THE NEXT ROUND OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT, IF YOU GET IT TO ME WITHIN 6 MONTHS OF OUR INITIAL CALL. The idea is that you will have time to sit with anything we’ve discussed, dig in, revise, perhaps share with your critique group, and when you feel ready I will happily look at your manuscript again. And if you prefer for me to look at a different section of the book instead–if there’s something else that you want feedback on–then I will happily read that. Hope this is tempting, and thanks, everyone, for supporting such a good cause.

  33. This auction is now closed. Elizabeth – you are the high bidder, so please use this link to make a donation in the amount of your high bid to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

    https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002

    After you have made your donation, please email me at the following address: k m e s s n e r at kate messner dot com (all lower case, no spaces) with your Red Cross receipt attached. On Monday, I’ll provide you with the information you’ll need to get in touch with the donor of your item and carry out the terms of the auction.

    Thank you – again – for your support in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Your generosity will be a huge help to the Red Cross as the serve the people hurting the most in the storm’s path.

    ~Kate

    1. Kate,

      Apologies if I am misreading the screen, but at both times (9:59PM and 10:00PM) it appears I had the higher bid…? Why would this not result in my winning the auction. I stopped bidding after 10:00PM.

      Best,
      Ora

  34. Thank you, Kate and Ms. Law! And Ora, I’d like to virtually shake your hand–this was nerve wracking and I wish you the best in your writing.

    1. I appreciate that Elizabeth, but Kate, I would certainly appreciate it if you could take another look at the screen. Given that the winning bid came in at 10:02PM, I am a little surprised at this result as I had assumed the auction to be closed.

      All the best either way, and thank you.

      1. The auctions close at 10pm – but I can’t officially close bids until I post an end notice (closing a dozen auctions at exactly the same time is quite a feat), and so Elizabeth was the high bidder at $1300. I realize that this is an imperfect science and admit to you that I am not a professional auctioneer – just someone who’s running this to help storm victims. Thanks for understanding – and please know that we have some amazing offers coming in the next round of auctions, too.

  36. Dear Ora Colb,

    I am sorry that the auction was so complicated at the end. If you would like to work with me for a critique, I think we could work something out, so email me at Elizabethlaw@egmont.com and let’s see what we can do. I want to be fair to everyone who played! Thanks, Elizabeth