Let me put it in consumer mindset: I pick up a book at the local bookstore, and it doesn't hook me in the first page or two? I'm putting it back down. I don't want and won't read an entire book to find the great 1,000 words.
That is assuming the first 1000
doesn't hook you. It only makes sense a great book will have a fantastic, hooky opener and then yes, get "better." if a novel has only one or the other, it's not likely a good candidate for publication, so I'm assuming we all believe our submissions have both.
That being established, I was merely wondering about the differences between the submissions that used the first 1000 and the best 1000 and how they would be judged against one another. It was just a bit of musing on the specifics, that's all. More so, I noticed the form was changed midway during the submission period, as if perhaps HV decided to judge only the first 1000 of everyone's submissions to make it fair. After all, they do seem to be willing to adjust their stances out of consideration and fairness.
Ultimately, my comment was just conversation on the dynamics of the submission form, not a question of the value of an outstanding opener, which is of course a given. That's all--no rocket science involved here. It is not a judgment call, nor has it anything to do with a manuscript being "ready" or not. Only musing, folks. I'm a philosopher like that. Now let's move on--the notices will likely start going out soon, which is a much cooler topic than my dumb comment, lol. It will be nice to hear of any AW members getting selected.