PM me your first 500 words!

JHM123 · Nov 10, 2013

I'm looking to help out around here and would like anyone who has a YA book to PM me their first 500 words. I am going to read as if I am an agent, tell you if I would read on, and if not, where I would stop. Also, I am going to point out spots where you cold revise and how it could be more appealing to an agent.

I am willing to read all YA samples (excluding fantasy) and am particularly fond of contemporary realistic. I am going to be as honest as possible. If you would like to reciprocate, that's fine, and if not, that's fine too. I may start reading tonight, but the majority of them will be done tomorrow afternoon.

Kerosene · Nov 10, 2013

Or you can visit the SYW section, post your own openings and also read/critique other peoples with the exact same goal in mind.

Here's the thread in the YA section.

And the thread in the SFF section.

AW Admin · Nov 10, 2013

JHM123 said:
I'm looking to help out around here and would like anyone who has a YA book to PM me their first 500 words. I am going to read as if I am an agent, tell you if I would read on, and if not, where I would stop. Also, I am going to point out spots where you cold revise and how it could be more appealing to an agent.)

This is of course all fine, except that's not the way we roll, and you're not an agent, and frankly, I'm not sure you'd know "how an agent reads," because they aren't all the same, and they don't read the same—which is one reason that Agent A will pass on a book, and Agent B will ask for a full, and tell you they love it, and keep contacting publishers until they find an editor who also loves your book.

Please start reading the stickies.

You might want to start with SYW.

PM me your first 500 words!

JHM123

Kerosene

Your Pixie Queen

AW Admin