We have less than one week before Calling All Critiques starts accepting its inaugural entries! Today I’ll introduce the rules. You can read more about the event and participating bloggers here: Calling All Critiques: A Cross-Blog Event and Introducing Your Hosts.
What to Enter
The schedule for the weekly critiques is as follows:
- Week of May 26: First 500 word critique
- Week of June 2: Cover art critique
- Week of June 9: Book blurb or query letter critique
For this coming week, you may submit your first 500 words, finishing at the end of the sentence. (That is, your entry could be 505 words long … or 510 words … or 515 words … but let’s not get too crazy with our run-on sentences!)
How to Enter
Starting Saturday, May 24, 2014 at 6 a.m., submit your entry to Critiques@Saboviec.com. Cut and paste the following template into your email and fill it in.
Your name/pseudonym:
Your website (optional):
Title:
Genre (include audience, such as YA/Adult, and category):
Entry:
Your email will be kept confidential. What you submit is what will be posted, so double- and triple-check your spelling and grammar. (We may correct crazy formatting errors as a result of email quirks, but still, make sure it’s clean before you press send.) You may resubmit an entry, but it goes to the end of the queue; if you submit it past the 35 entry cutoff, you’ll have lost your spot.
Your entry will be assigned a number in the order in which it was received. Our cutoff is 35 entries or until 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 25, 2014. Entries 1-7 will be posted on our blogs Monday morning, entries 8-14 will be posted on our blogs Tuesday morning, etc.
All 35 accepted entrants will be entered into the prize draw, and the winner will be chosen by their assigned number through Random.org.
And I will say this one more time: if you don’t want both positive and negative feedback, please don’t enter. This event is for us to help one another grow as authors and maybe to make some friends in the process.
Some fine print: entries that don’t include the above information will be discarded. At our sole discretion, we may also discard other posts for reasons such as offensive/distasteful material. Erotica may be confined only to certain blogs, and we may put an adult content warning on it.
If You Enter, Please …
Critique other entrants. The sky’s the limit on how many other entries you critique, but we ask that you at least provide feedback to four other participants.
Also, when you receive feedback on your entry, be gracious if you decide to respond. Don’t be defensive or explanatory; these critiques are for you to improve your writing. Take what you want and leave the rest behind.
And If You Critique, Please …
Be nice. Be constructive. Be specific. Be polite.
Mean-spirited or spam posts will be deleted. General “I love everything about it and I think you’re the next J.K. Rowling, ZOMG!” obviously-written-about-your-best-friend comments won’t be deleted, but that’s not helpful. Instead, let the author know what exactly worked and didn’t work.
Less than one week until we begin accepting critiques!
While you wait, check out all the participating blogs and bloggers:
- (Website not yet live) Before Ink Dries – Mike Verbickas
- M.G.’s Fantasy Blog – M.G. Silverstein
- Magic & Mayhem Book Reviews – S. L. Saboviec
- MM Jaye Writes – MM Jaye (Twitter / Facebook)
- Official Blog of Brian Basham – Brian Basham (Twitter / Wattpad / Facebook)
- Proof Positive – Christie Stratos
- Quanie Talks Writing – Quanie Miller
We look forward to seeing you back here soon.
Any questions? Leave them in the comments!