Writing Update: #RevPit 2025 Open For Submissions
As of this morning, and for the next three days, Revise & Resub’s #RevPit Annual Contest is open for submissions. It’s my first time participating and I’m excited to have submitted Seen & Unseen!
Aside from a handful of short stories I submitted under a pen name to Reedsy’s weekly contest, I haven’t submitted work for anything like this since high school and college. But I’ve had my eye on this one for months, and knew I wanted to participate this time around. #RevPit is held every year, and it invites writers to enter a completed manuscript (and pitch package) for the opportunity to work 1-on-1 with a professional editor over the course of 8 weeks on revising said manuscript to present to agents. #RevPit has an active community and is a really cool way for writers like me to be able to interact with others and continue learning and growing our craft.
How it works:
Pick 3 editors from their list that you’d like to work with.
Complete the form on their website, including personal information, meta data for the manuscript you’re submitting, logline, etc.
Attach requested/required documents, including query letter and first 5 pages, synopsis, and full manuscript.
Submit and wait to hear back!
Then what?
According to their website (as I said, this is my first time, so my knowledge is based primarily on their own site and the few people I know who have participated before), it goes to First Readers to provide feedback after the submission window closes. Then, it goes to the editors. When I submitted my package, it asked me to select my top 3 editor picks from their list of participating editors. Although Demi is one of the editors this year, and I love working with her, I did not select her as one of my choices, so there’s no question of impartiality. Plus, the more varied sets of eyes on my projects, the better, so I’m hopeful about the chance of getting to work with one of the other amazing people I selected. Editors will provide anonymous feedback on Bluesky, but will ultimately choose 1 winner and 2 runners up. Finally, if I’m selected as the winner by an editor, I’ll get to work directly with them on revising my manuscript to make it the best it can be for querying! Also, the first 5 pages and query letter will be posted to the Revise & Resub blog for the showcase.
Prizes
Grand prize is a full developmental edit and working directly with that professional editor on this project over the course of 8 weeks. Additionally, they’ll help me revise and polish up my query letter and first 5 pages to maximize my chances of getting agent interest in the querying trenches. If I’m a runner up, I’ll still get a prize! That prize includes a query, synopsis, and first pages critique, as well as a coaching session. Needless to say, I’ll be happy to win any of this.
Initial Thoughts After Submitting
I’m excited and nervous. More the former than the latter, thankfully. I know my manuscript is strong already, but I thrive on critique and feedback, and I know it’s the #1 thing that makes my writing better. I’m eager to interact more with the entire community, and if I end up getting any actionable feedback from this, I’ll obviously be very happy about it. I do have concerns because I feel like my query letter doesn’t quite convey my story the way I want it to, but I’m also not sure how else to revise it at this point, as it’s already gone through several rounds of revisions with CP’s. Even my logline feels lackluster. I know it’s nearly impossible to condense a 110k word sci-fantasy novel into a 250 word pitch, let alone a single logline, but I need to be able to do that if I’m ever going to land an agent. I’m just hoping what I submitted is enough to at least catch their eye to give it a chance.
I want so badly for this story to make it into the world. I’ve been receiving feedback this week from my most recent round of beta readers, and they’ve all had overwhelmingly positive things to say. This is amazing to hear, of course, because we all want people to love what we create! But it’s also left me unsure how to polish this story further. Aside from a few minor notes here and there, all of the feedback says this story is ready. I know it can be better (because it can always be better lol) but at this point I think I need professional insight if I’m going to take it anywhere else.
What I’m Hoping
I want to win the grand prize.
I’m 100% serious, too. I’m not saying it in a wishful thinking kind of way, and I’m not dancing around it. I hope I win. I’m not so arrogant as to think my manuscript is perfect… quite the opposite. I know it can only get better with feedback from professionals, which is why I want this so much in the first place. But I’m also confident enough to acknowledge that it’s good. Maybe even great. So, I believe to my bones that it can win, and I’m ready to put in the work if it does.
Wish me luck!
