paid critique?

Yup. Me. Go here and see if it suits your needs.

There are several places where you could send your manuscript. The following is a Google ad that appears at the top of an AW board. http://www.williamgreenleaf.com/ I don't know anything about them, but happened to see it as I switched from one board to another.

I edit. I have a site here. If you use Word, we can do it online. It saves postage.

If you're willing to pay, Harlequin offers its own paid review of a ms. Why not go directly to the people with the best inside track to know what HQ is looking for these days?

http://www.eharlequin.com/cms/learntowrite/ltwSection.jhtml?itcType=critiqued

Also, have you entered the beginning in any contests? That's also a good way to get some ctirs, though you must always carefully consider WHO gave the crit, and that sometimes crits can be not right. <G> It's subjective. If your story does well in the contest, it can also be a good way to get it in front of an editor judge. (So check to see who the final judge is.)

A good crit partner is also a worthwhile thing.

One other thing you can watch for -- a charity aution where crits are being auctioned off. I do one every year for Brenda Novak's diabetes research auction. That will happen in the spring.

Exactly what kind of a crit are you looking for? Story/characters? Line edits?

Susan G.

Alternatively, consider entering some RWA contests. They'd give you multiple opinions (sometimes a mixed blessing) for much less money than a full-fledged paid critique.

BTW, are there any H/S lines that accept only 55K words? I thought their shortest lines were in the 60K+ range. If it's a sweet romance, you might check out Avalon, which I believe ranges in the 50K to 60K range, but can't contain any sex, references to sex, swearing or alcoholic drinking.

JD

Hi Kharisma

I used the HQN crit service that Susan mentioned. If you'd like more detail on how they actually do the crit, and what sort of feedback they provide, I blogged about it in detail HERE .

JanDarby said:

BTW, are there any H/S lines that accept only 55K words? I thought their shortest lines were in the 60K+ range. If it's a sweet romance, you might check out Avalon, which I believe ranges in the 50K to 60K range, but can't contain any sex, references to sex, swearing or alcoholic drinking.

JD

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Yes, HQ has shorter lines. In fact, all the lines are shorter now. But lines like Romance, and Desire, and Presents...those are 50-55K.

I have a friend who has some books with Avalon, and she loves working with that publisher.

Susan G.

I freelance edit too - not modern romances though, only science fiction, fantasy, and historical romances.

Kharisma said:

Anyone know a good service to send a ms to that specializes in romance? I don't mind using a paid service (after all it is a 'tool' to help my future career).

I just don't want to use a service that is a scam. This is my baby after all.

Thanks for any advice/suggestions. It is a 55,000 ms aimed at a HRQ line.

Thanks again!
Sherry

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Try the option 'Book sample edit' at this editing service.
https://www.scribendi.com/authors.en.html

I hope this'll be of some help to you.

Sherry, don't limit yourself to a crit partner in your area. My crit partner lives far from me -- many states away -- but we do everything via email, so it doesn't matter. She's important to my writing, and has become my best friend over the seven years we've been working together.

I "found" her by simply posting a plea on a writing list I was on, saying I was looking for a cp. When looking for a cp, it's a good idea to establish a "trial" time period, and agree that one or another can decline to continue after that point. That gives everyone an easy out if things aren't working.

Most of all, while a cp should offer suggestions, questions, and comments, they should NOT demand that you do everything their way or insist that you implement every change they offer. It's your work. Their job is to point out potential problems, not rewrite the stuff in their voice.

Good luck!

Susan G.

You must have a high-paying day job to support your writing habit!

When I started I got feedback from some very good friends, and it worked best. Had I spent money on a critique service it would have been like burning cash. The simple fact was the book just wasn't up to being published just yet. My beta readers gently let me know and I went back to revise and polish.

If you haven't posted portions of it for free on AW first, please give it a try before spending any money.

It took two years of feedback and rewrites before my first book was up to snuff. That may sound like a terribly long time, but not in publishing terms. It takes awhile for some people to learn a craft well enough to sell their products, whether it's wood carving or writing.

In the meantime, be writing your next THREE books. The best way to improve as a writer is to practice-practice-practice! Working on something different always gives you a fresh perspective on the previous piece.

Good luck!

These are all valid points, but more and more, as I've been looking at manuscripts that are SOOO close to being publishable yet are lacking that certain something, I've started to change my mind about paid services (hence, starting one of my own.) Now, it's one thing if a CP or Beta reader is a pubbed author as well, but not everybody can spot what the problem is in a book. Sometimes, it's as simple as adding in five words to justify an action, or might take a word or two every page to create a three-dimensional character. Timelines and gaping plot holes are other things I've noticed an awful lot of readers can't figure out how to fix. It's one thing to say "This is wrong." It's another to point out the line and page where the trouble starts and things that can be added to tie in with the rest of the book.

Now, that's not to say I think paid EDITING is a good idea. A writer really needs to learn the ins and outs of grammar, composition and such for themselves. But plotting a book, or coming up with realistic dialogue that fits the voice and age of the character and the time period, and the setting, or even fixing motivation can be very much like looking up a word in the dictionary without having a clue how to spell it. It can take a REALLY long time to look up "psychology" if you don't know it can start with a "p."

Maybe a thread about expectations in critiques might be a good discussion. Thoughts?

I agree with Cathy C to a certain extent. It seems all the manuscripts I've edited for clients either had gaping plot holes, or the writer didn't know where the story began. Being objective about your own writing is the hardest thing in the world. At least, it is for me.

I have two crit partners and love them dearly. The problem I've found with some cp's, though, is that you become friends, and once that happens, no one wants to take a chance on hurting the other's feelings. It can also be a slow process.

I generally turn a manuscript around in a week if I'm able to start on it right away. I often edit a few pages for free so the writer gets an idea of how I work, and whether or not I'm what s/he's looking for, as well as whether or not the work is worth investing my time in. I won't edit a first draft of anything.

I'm happy to tell my clients what works, what doesn't, how they might fix it, and line edit the whole thing for spelling and punctuation. I'm still here to answer questions during their rewriting process. Some take the advice, some don't. Some are published, some aren't.

I'm going to stop here before this turns into spam, but if you hire someone to edit for you, find out what you're getting for your money before you hand anything over. Will you be paying a beta reader to tell you there are problems, or paying someone to help you fix them and make your manuscript as perfect as possible so you can submit it? Find out exactly what you're getting, and you'll be more likely to be satisfied with the end result. Good luck.