Would You Read It Wednesday #87 - Story Bored (MG) PLUS Straight From The Editor and The April Pitch Pick Winner!

Yeah, so, the Can't Sleep Without Sheep e-book launch didn't go off quite as planned.  Best laid plans, right?

But WOW was I impressed with everyone's jingle entries!  You guys never cease to amaze me with your creativity and willingness to have fun!  I feel so lucky to be surrounded by such talent and generosity of spirit.  You are all the best! :)

I will of course update you as soon as the e-book is available.  (Translation: you probably won't be able to shut me up :))  Meanwhile, let's have some sheep cake, shall we?  It's Something Chocolate AND Something Marshmallow!  And they put marshmallows in all kinds of breakfast cereal, so I have to assume that makes this healthy breakfast food :)

We have a jam-packed agenda today, so let's get right to it.

First, before I forget, Tonja Drecker was kind enough to host me on her blog yesterday, so if anyone would like to read about where Can't Sleep Without Sheep came from, please pop over HERE.  And while you're there, have a look around.  Tonja runs a nice blog :)

Next, I get to announce the winner of the April Pitch Pick!

Drum roll, please.....

The winner is Pam for Flood Dogs!

Congratulations, Pam!  Your pitch is winging it's way through cyberspace to editor Erin Molta!  And congratulations to all our other brave pitchers who put forth excellent work!  I love this new system we have of revising pitches before the pitch pick.  Everyone makes such improvements - it's wonderful to see.  And you all have such great ideas for stories!

Next up, we have Straight From The Editor for Erik, our March Pitch Winner.

You will recall Erik's pitch for The Adventures Of Tomato And Pea, the first in a planned chapter book series:

In a plan gone wrong, the evil villain Wintergreen tangles with super crime-stopper Tomato and his sidekick Pea in a runaway rocket ship that crashes on a strange planet called EAR-TH. Now these perennial enemies must learn to work together to survive the dangers on this strange world and find a way home to planet Oarg.

Here are editor Erin Molta's comments:

This sounds like it could be an exciting adventure. However, it is a little confusing. You might want to be just a little more straightforward. For instance, whose plan went wrong? Were Tomato and Pea chasing Wintergreen onto the rocket ship and it blasted off accidentally? Or did Wintergreen trap them in the rocket ship and then get stranded himself? It indicates character if you specify what happens and gives an editor an idea besides the super-crimestopper and evil villain labels. And it might help to mention a danger on planet EAR-TH. Is it the air or are they allergic to water? If you do something like this, it might prove intriguing to an editor:

 Super Crime Stopper Tomato and his sidekick Pea chased super-villain Wintergreen onto a rocket ship.  But Wintergreen blasted off, they crash landed on the planet EAR-TH and now these perennial enemies must work together to survive dangers such as toxic sheep (or caterpillars or cows – something to add humor and imply that these are aliens) and find a way home to planet Oarg.

As always, I find Erin's comments very insightful and helpful, and I have to love that she managed to get sheep into this pitch :)

Finally, we have today's Would You Read It!

Today's pitch comes to us from James. James Radke is a medical writer who writes about and/or for children with medical conditions at www.raredr.com and www.wordpharm.com/comicmeds.html . And sometime he just likes to dissect the book world in his stories and leave the medical world alone.

Working Title: Story Bored
Age/Genre: MG
The Pitch: The book narrator has a problem. Too many of the books on his bookshelf have changed. Humpty Dumpty is in a recipe for chocolate cake, The old lady who lived in a shoe changed her name to the old lady who lives in nice big  house with a cozy couch and big screen TV, And the hare has no tortoise to race. None of those are the real problem. The narrator’s major concern is that the 8 year old writer who did all those changes is missing. Rumor has it, the boy writer is being held in one of the books. If true, the narrator will need to find another writer to write the first writer out of the book. The narrator sighed, ‘why are books so complicated?’

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?

If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping James improve his pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However, I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)

Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on the Would You Read It tab in the bar above.  There are openings in June so you have time to polish for your chance to be read by editor Erin Molta!

James is looking forward to your thoughts on his pitch!  I am looking forward to that e-book coming out!  I'm dying to see it, and hear the voice on the read-to-me feature!  And I'm wondering now whether the reason I wasn't able to download it onto my husband's iPad last Friday when they tried to send me a sample had something to do with that technical glitch...  But whatever, let's hope it's ready soon! :)

Have a great day, everyone! :)