Jane Austen Fans Wanted (and other important announcements!)

Are you a Jane Austen fan? Even if you haven't read her books yet, do you swoon over the accents, dresses, catty women and roguish men in BBC versions of Sense & Sensibility and Northanger Abbey? Have you at least seen the Keira Knightly version of Pride & Prejudice? Well, this is your lucky day!
*If not a fan, feel free to scroll down for other news :)

Ballantine Books is publishing an anthology of Jane Austen-inspired short stories in Fall 2011. Jane Austen Made Me Do It will include stories by bestselling authors like Karen Joy Fowler (who wrote The Jane Austen Book Club). You've got two-weeks left to whip out a delightful tale of romance, love, witticisms, veiled and not-so-veiled expressions of rudeness, upper-class snobbery, and good taste. Best of luck!

Dates of Entry: January 1-February 13, 2011
Entry Fee: $Zilch, $0, $Nada
Prize: $500 and an awesome publication credit to use in query letters (or to brag about at tea parties)
Length: A very tight window of 4,900-5,100 words
Main Contest Page: HERE
Official Rules: HERE
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PITCH CONTEST NEXT WEEK:
-Operation Awesome Mystery Agent pitch contest- 25 words tops. TIP- get it in as soon as they announce this contest next Tuesday, February 1st. They only take the first 50 entries, so get those pitches in shape this weekend, give them a polish Monday night, and have at it!
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AGENT ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Danielle Chiotti and Chris Richman of Upstart Crow Literary have reopened for submissions. I think Danielle might take MG, but she’s more open to YA/Adult. If you want to submit MG to Upstart Crow, Chris Richman would be a more traditional choice. See their profiles HERE.

Kathleen Ortiz of Lowenstein Associates has updated her “what I'd love to see in the inbox” list. Click HERE for her blog post.

Jessica Faust of Bookends, LLC posted about what she’s looking for (mostly adult, but seeking some YA). Click HERE

Louise Fury of Lori Perkins Agency, recently back from South Africa (where she did some awesome charity work), had a few manuscript-related musings on Twitter yesterday, including:
*If you can make me laugh out loud in the first 5 pages I will want to see more.
*ooohhhh, I love tween sleuths!
*No, Ninja is not a genre!
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NEW AGENCY ALERT!!!

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY reported that Marcia Wernick and Linda Pratt have left the Sheldon Fogelman Agency to start their own firm, Wernick & Pratt. They will represent children’s authors and illustrators working on books for every age level, but do not represent authors of adult books. Guidelines are HERE.

*This is kind of a cool announcement, because Sheldon Fogelman is a snail mail agency (not that going to the post office should stop you from querying a good fit), so now these ladies can be reached more easily*

That's it for today! Have a wonderful weekend :)