PitchaPalooza By Tanisha Pereira

Skylar Carson: Skylar is not the kind of kid that people would want to hang out with. She’s the kid everyone stays away from. When the “Gem of Fairy Tales” gets stolen, all eyes are on her. She’ll do anything to prove she didn’t do it. Deep down Skylar knows her mom, the most evilest of all, must have taken it, but she refuses to think that she would do it.

Bella Beauty: Bella is a normal girl who belongs to royalty. When the girl who has to curse her in her fairytale comes to the academy then becomes her best friend while the gem is stolen she wonders if she made the right choice.

Hunter Charming: Hunter is the best actor in town though he doesn’t tell anyone that. He has to make a decision should he follow his fairytale or choose to make his own path, and maybe not be so charming anymore.

Emma White: Emma has to be perfect even if she doesn’t want to. She wants to live life the way she wants to, but her mother (Snow White)’s expectations are getting in the way. When the gem is stolen she knows what will happen and she’s the only one who knows.

Soon the whole fairytale will end if they don’t stop the thief soon. The weight of fairy tales weigh’s on Skylar and her friends shoulders, a bunch of teenagers who haven’t even finished school or training must save the whole imagination of life.

Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

Fixer Upper by Shanna Bowie

Sarah is a master at fixing things. And it makes sense; DIY and decorating ingenuity was the cornerstone of the design business she owned with her ex-husband. But now Sarah is pushing forty and she’s struggling to rebrand herself as a solo act. 

Christian is a 35 year-old, retired rugby player turned contractor. He has a passion for helping people create beautiful spaces but his small business is in danger of falling apart if he doesn’t bring in some high-priced clientele.

When a reality tv producer comes searching for the right people with the right chemistry to star in a new home improvement television show, it seems like the perfect opportunity for Sarah and Christian to reach their goals … if they weren’t ridiculously attracted to each other. The last time Christian was in the spotlight, he made a lot of very public mistakes. And when Sarah combined work and love, she ended up playing second-fiddle to her ex. To succeed, Sarah and Christian are going to have to fight their attraction and fix themselves if they want to create something beautiful together. 

Set in the world of reality television, FIXER UPPER follows in the vein of THE KISS QUOTIENT with people of color at the center of this romantic tale. Both Sarah and Christian deal with mental and emotional struggles while navigating the stress of having cameras trained on them as they seek success and ultimately find love.

Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

Again The Dimming Lights by Julian Farris 

AGAIN THE DIMMING LIGHTS follows two German compatriots caught in the crossfire of family loyalty and the shattering events in 1930s Germany awakening under the Nazis.

Markus Hoffner is heir to a German railroad, vital to Nazi rearmament. He is also gay in a Germany of contradictions—The Hirschfeld Institute of Sexual Science with groundbreaking studies in human sexuality and the world’s first successful transgender procedures, but also a Germany awakening under the Nazis.

Markus and fellow compatriot Alex von Statt arrive in Oxford on Rhodes Scholarships, considered by many the most prestigious academic award in the world, a distinction that will earn them prime membership in the Nazi Party on their return, and enable them to work against it from within. But their relationships with a young American from Arkansas and an ambitious woman journalist derail their plan, forcing them to choose between abandoning family and country through expatriation or remaining to oppose Hitler’s escalating grip on the country. Markus’ serendipitous encounter in a Berlin bar with a familiar stranger from his past—a transgender woman with her own plan of defiance—reignites his resolve, while Alex’s appointment in the Nazi hierarchy as a jurist leads him into a self-imposed trap of collusion.

In the spirit of Anthony Doerr’s ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, John Boyne’s THE HEART’S INVISIBLE FURIES and Christopher Isherwood’s classic, THE BERLIN STORIES, the turbulent 1930s form the backdrop of my 76,000-word upmarket novel, AGAIN THE DIMMING LIGHTS.

Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

The Intrepid Defenders of Long Lake Math Team By Ella Martinez Nocito

Eighth grader Juanita Lakso is a proud nerd, and she credits her rural middle school’s math team for her confidence. Without math team, she’s sure she’d be a friendless, socially ostracized geek: no weird binary puns, no bonding over calculator functions, and definitely not the excellent shot she has this year at winning Maine’s middle school mathematics championship. So when Juanita discovers her team is getting shut down, it’s up to her—with help from her mathlete friends—to save it in time to compete at States.

Now Juanita must present their case to the school board, collaborate with her worst bully, and convince her peers that math team is about more than just numbers—all of which is far outside her shy comfort zone. And that’s even without bringing her cousin, Marc, into the equation, who apparently thinks he’ll win States, too…

The odds are stacked against her, but Juanita is determined to learn to speak up for what she believes in and save the math team before she loses her chance to be the first girl to win Maine’s Math State Championship. Ever.

The Intrepid Defenders of Long Lake Math Team is a 58,000-word middle-grade realistic fiction novel with a girls in STEM element that would appeal to fans of Emmy in the Key of Code and The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl. Although not autobiographical, this novel was inspired by my own middle school math team experiences, which culminated in representing Maine at nationals eighth grade year.

Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

The Immortal by S.R. Finch

To most of its residents, the kingdom of Temporal is a fragment of stained glass cut from the Middle Ages. To the Cores militia created to exterminate its electrical humanoids, Temporal is not quite as medieval as it appears. Underneath King Maslow’s castle lies a cavern filled with ruins that the Holograms have taken to calling home, and it’s here the Cores traverse to hunt them.

Among the latest recruits is a serf forced to join by a grandfather he’s never met. Cyril, who’d rather stay a serf, takes his training with bitter reluctance. That is, until he finds a tunnel lined with mirrors rumored to reveal one’s true self—and there’s something hauntingly compelling about it. It and the compulsion to slay Holograms. Cyril’s quick to realize that the Holograms aren’t the only ones who’ve set a target on him after his Core team mistrusts him for looking—and acting—like the deceased heir apparent.

When King Maslow reveals himself as his grandfather, Cyril runs at the chance at escaping the Cores, and he finds himself growing close to Maslow despite his new royal pressures. However, the more Cyril takes to calling Maslow family, the more Maslow’s secret threatens to unravel everything Cyril’s known about Temporal, the Holograms, and the heir apparent, who he thought was only in his nightmares.

Presented with 9 full illustrations and over 80 sketches, The Immortal blends adult science-fiction with the setting—and the artistic energy–of a medieval illuminated manuscript.

Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

I Am Not A Corporate Drone By Andrew Rosenblum

Child support woes have unemployed Bay Area journalist Fintan O’Rourke considering the unthinkable: a quick, easy job on the wrong side of the law.  He agrees to help a biohacker friend named Hal Marantz deliver 10 kilos of a gray-market stimulant — created to goose the endurance of Russian astronauts — to 28-year-old cryptocurrency millionaire Brendan Foley.  Technically, that’s drug-dealing — though Hal considers himself a “dissident for stigmatized medicines.”

When Brendan suffers a $134 million cryptocurrency hack and then a fentanyl overdose on his Marin yacht shortly after delivery, O’Rourke and Hal scramble to solve the mystery of his death, even as they become persons of interest in the crime.  “I would never sell poison like fentanyl,” Hal insists. So who did?

Brendan’s V.C. investor Gunnar Holst dangles a lifeline, with an offer of just the type O’Rourke has long sought: a fat contract to write about a cutting-edge experiment.  But first, the struggling reporter must help find Brendan’s girlfriend, who Holst claims stole the missing cryptocurrency millions and plans to make O’Rourke and Hal her patsies. 

So they pursue frightened yoga bros to their Gold Country panic room, junkies on the lonely road to recovery, and gangsters unhappy that the boss is getting into vegan cheese — who all claim that “biology is the new software.”  Is it any surprise that everyone they meet seems to be on something?

This 80,000-word thriller is Black Mirror meets Christopher Moore — by a veteran tech writer for Wired, PopSci, and the MIT Technology Review.

Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

PlusOne for Rent by Joanna Jelen

Dear Immigration and Naturalization Service,

I regret to inform you, I’m about to commit marriage fraud. Although I understand I may face severe immigration and criminal consequences, other than marrying a U.S. citizen, I don’t qualify for any categories of green card eligibility and without papers, I can’t pursue my American Dream. 

Do you really believe a hardly speaking English foreigner may find the love of her life AND convince him to marry within the six months allotted by the tourist visa? I’ve tried but a woman has to have some pride.

Therefore, my only choice is to pay a nice American for a convenient marriage agreement. If I find a willing guy—not like that stubborn athlete who models the undies on billboards—I’ll do it. And please don’t judge me; I’m already ashamed of myself.

Due to my unfortunate circumstances, I would like to request the remittal of any ensuing penalties, especially deportation. You must understand I can’t go back to my homeland where young artists like me lack job prospects because of the post-communist economic transition.

My tourist visa expires soon. I appreciate your kind and prompt response.

Yours sincerely,

Justyna Gil

PLUSONE FOR RENT is a chick lit debut novel of 88,000 words. Once upon a time, the author was fresh off the boat Polish immigrant, much like her main character. Like Roomies by Christina Lauren, it explores the theme of marrying for green card as the only possibility for pursuing the American Dream.

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Simply The Best by Catherine Yang

According to the hyper-competitive Chinese Americans in her Atlanta suburb, seventeen-year-old Maggie Jiang has always been second-best to her rival, Callista Wang. Maggie is exhausted from endless debate tournaments, violin auditions, and recently, convincing herself she actually wants to go to Yale. The pressure to succeed killed her best friend Serena three years ago, and it’s threatening to take her out next. 

When Callista’s body is found a day after she wins Serena’s ten thousand dollar memorial scholarship, all eyes turn to Maggie. Her classmates whisper that she’s finally snapped. The police want to know why she disappeared for an hour the night Callista died. She might have publicly threatened to kill Callista a few times, but that doesn’t mean she actually did it. If Maggie wants her classmates to ever speak to her again, she needs to find Callista’s real killer.

As Maggie interrogates her classmates, she discovers that Callista was hiding secrets behind her façade of perfection. Including the truth behind Serena’s death. Maggie enlists the help of Elijah, her irritating childhood friend—who’s now irritatingly attractive—with his own reasons for investigating. For Maggie, finding the killer turns into more than just clearing her own name. It’s her chance at closure about Serena. Her chance to finally prove herself. But the more she uncovers, the more one thing becomes clear: someone’s coming after the Chinese kids. 

Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).

Super Ballsy by Tyler Darnell 

SUPER BALLSY is a contemporary middle-grade about a gay disabled 8th grader with cerebral palsy who wants to get back at his school bully the only way he knows how— the school-wide dodgeball tournament. Preston’s cerebral palsy has left him feeling isolated and kept him from reaching out to most of his classmates. He had one friend and one nemesis most of middle school but his one friend has moved and with only his bully, Miles, left to torment him he feels like he has to do something drastic. Even though Preston walks with a jerky unsteady gait that no one would call athletic he has to try, and he knows he can’t do it alone. So, now he has to win friends and influence people to create a winning team in his dreaded PE class to make sure Miles won’t win the dodgeball tournament again this year. Preston has to figure out what skills he can offer on the team and how to mesh with the skills of others who aren’t disabled but supportive of his mission.  Complicated even more by the fact that he’s falling in love with his new best friend and dodgeball team co-captain, Eric. 

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[Untitled] By K. L. Penn  

Kayde wears the blood of his past on his skin. The flesh of his fallen allies in his heart. And the memories of his family in his mind. A continent rose out of the ocean one day. An island that had once flourished, but was soon taken underwater. Many years later, it lived above water once more. Now called Domini, this is a book written about everything that went wrong, the death that was never meant to happen. Kayde Willows, a 15 year old boy who suffers constant ruminating thoughts and survivor’s guilt after losing his family, killed by the monsters who now cohabit Domini called nair, zombie-like creatures who feed on the flesh of humans. No one knows how life was before the nair and the people of Domini believe they are the last ones left on earth. A zombie outbreak, a young boy in a world of liars and deception. Nothing is as it seems. No one is as they make you believe. Nothing is real. Nowhere is safe. Kayde makes allies, and enemies, in this strange world. On a personal mission to avenge the lives (and deaths) of his family, while keeping those he now considers family safe, Kayde sets his sight on becoming a Voyager. Warriors who go beyond the walls that keep the people confined inside to discover clues to what this world really was before the outbreak. The truth Kayde had been forced to absorb soon begins to blur with the lines of actuality.

Vote for your favorite pitch. The pitch that receives the most votes will be named Fan Favorite, and the author will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).