[Editing/critique] Critique My Novel

Not to be flip, but how can charging to critique your novel be "too good to be true"? I wouldn't think it would be good at all. Though I suppose it could be too good to be true if the resumes of the critiquers are both given and impressive. I don't mean "I've always loved to read and I love helping people" or "I wrote a self-published book that is languishing in the x-million rankings at Amazon" type resumes. I mean "worked in commercial publishing in your genre for umpteen years as an editor" or "regularly review your genre of books for the New York Times" type of resumes.

NOTE: Edited to make my point more clear, after some misunderstanding below.

Staff bios. There is not an abundance of professional experience here. To put it mildly.

- Victoria

Errr...they have one person who seems possess a degree in any form of writing. That, and the .07 cent a page charge to send you your manuscript back after they write it? That is bizarre.

Not relevant to their experience, but the amount of Comic Sans on that site is terrifying.

They're advertising a writing contest where you have to pay to enter, $25-35 depending when you enter. First prize is to be considered by literary agents Jill Marsal and Pooja Menon, and ten runner up prizes of "free publicity" which means:

See the TOP TEN Winners

on our

WINNERS page.

The top four novels will have an excerpt posted plus links to

their author page, blog,
sales page, and website.

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You could be paying $35 just to have them link to your site, and at best you're handing over money to have two agents glance at your work (something you could do for free by sending a query).

CMN contest?

Is the CMN novel contest legit? The "poster" states that the judges are Jill Marsal and Pooja Menon... (at least they've agreed to "help choose our winners").

Apparently the top six novels will be "read" by agents who will have the option to represent.

It costs $25, which seems like a decent price, even if it could be a roll of the dice.

DreamWeaver said:

Not to be flip, but how can charging to critique your novel be too good to be true? .

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getting, for your money, critiques that are wrong.

The entry fee, considering the "prize", is not worth it, IMHO. I've seen many other legit contests where a smaller entry fee has a prize of $1500 plus, and includes actual publication in a respected magazine/journal.

Well, this is for novels. I don't think the fee is the issue. My wife and I spend more than $25 for a mediocre meal, or for gas to drive somewhere on a whim.

Is the contest legit? If by that you mean they deliver on what they promise, then sure. They posted the runners-up to last year's contest on their website. I assume they forwarded the winners to the agents.

The question I would ask, though, is this: Is the contest worthwhile? Would you be better served entering this contest, or simply querying agents? I would lean towards the latter, especially since the agents they list are open to submissions.

DennisB said:

Well, this is for novels. I don't think the fee is the issue. My wife and I spend more than $25 for a mediocre meal, or for gas to drive somewhere on a whim.

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Well, even contests for novels don't often have that high an entry fee, and they do include publication, not just a critique and some links posted somewhere. You'd essentially be paying a fee for a chance at someone doing what you can have done free on many sites or within writing groups.

DennisB said:

Well, this is for novels. I don't think the fee is the issue. My wife and I spend more than $25 for a mediocre meal, or for gas to drive somewhere on a whim.

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but you get something in return....that appears to be in question here. Yes it is a contest, and not everyone wins, but it isn't clear ANYONE really wins anything of value for the $25....as opposed to contests like Glimmer Train where it is pretty clear they do.