Ho! Ho! Ho! 20 FREE EDITS up for grabs!
GET YOUR FREE FIRST PAGES CRITIQUE FROM FOUR OF MY FAVORITE EDITORS.
If you’re a reader of this blog, you should know by now the importance of your first ten pages, not only in terms of craft and how they propel the entire book, but in terms of marketing and how they can affect your book’s salability and future. (If you don’t know, you might want to join my coming Publishing Intensive!) First-pages critiques can make all the difference in ensuring that you put the right foot forward. They can also give you unexpected insights to the overall shape of your work, and the state of your craft. So I’m happy to offer twenty lucky readers free first-pages critiques from four of my favorite developmental editors. Read below to see which editors would best suit you, then enter for the draw to win one of five first-10-pages edits from each editor. You may enter only once for each editor, but you may enter for any editor who seems appropriate for your work. However, you can only win one edit. If you are lucky enough to be drawn twice, the second draw will be disregarded.
Laurie Skiba: Literary fiction, historical fiction, memoir
Laurie has almost forty years of experience as a developmental editor, copyeditor, and writing coach. She started in academia, teaching writing and literature, and is the editor of Language Essentials: Grammar and Writing, and Literature and Language Arts: Exploring Literature. Click here if you’d like the chance to receive a free first-pages critique from Laurie.
Lisa Manterfield: General fiction, mystery, thriller
Lisa Manterfield is the award-winning author of five novels, two works of non-fiction, and five non-fiction eBooks. As a developmental editor and book coach, she has guided many writers through the process of writing, revising, and publishing. Click here if you’d like the chance to receive a free first-pages critique from Lisa.
Amanda Conran: Middle grade, picture book, and YA fiction
When A. E. Conran (Amanda) is not writing her own children's books or working as a freelance editor, she is a children's book specialist at the renowned bookstore, Book Passage in Corte Madera. You won’t find anyone who knows children’s literature better. Click here if you’d like the chance to receive a free first-pages critique from Amanda.
Susan Lyn McCombs: Children’s, adult, fiction, and nonfiction (but not biography or science!)
Once an acquisitions editor for Tricycle Press and Hunter House, Susan has almost twenty years of experience as a developmental editor working across many genres. She is especially interested in creative nonfiction and memoir, which she also coaches. Click here if you’d like the chance to receive a free first-pages critique from Susan.
I’m going to conduct the draws for these twenty free edits on Boxing Day — for those of you who did not grow up in the British Commonwealth, that’s December 26th and the day when you traditionally give small gifts to the postman (mail carrier) and milkman (extinct in the U.S.?). A big thanks to all four editors for giving us these not-so-small gifts!
Winners will be informed by email, hopefully in plenty of time for you to submit your ten pages early in the new year and kick 2024 off to a productive and promising start.
Speaking of which, registration is still open for my Jan 7-Feb 27 publishing intensive with Lisa Manterfield, an information-packed course that covers nearly everything you need to consider, decide, and know in order to successfully publish or be published. In addition to learning from our extensive and varied experience (watch this video to see what we’ve accomplished and how that might help you), you will get the chance to meet and learn from three industry experts: a bookseller, an agent, and a book marketer. This program has been designed to give you concrete tools and an actionable plan to achieve your publishing goals. Why not in 2024?
The fee for the 8-week course, including a completed and personalized publishing plan, is $785, payable in advance.* To register, simply click here.
And, last but not least, for those of you who didn’t make it to my chat with the disarmingly warm and open Vikram Chandra about his writing career from novel to Netflix, you will find it below. Take some time to listen in on what turned out to be an inspiring conversation about following your heart.
So, I think that about wraps it up for this year. Thank you all for having been my companions for another remarkable 365 days of my writing journey. I wish you the happiest and merriest of holiday seasons, and every professional and personal success in 2024. Make sure you jump on this chance to get some great editorial insights, come join us for an exciting publishing intensive in the new year, and as always, don’t be shy in reaching out. Happy happy holidays, and happy writing everyone!
Shirin