Hmm…okay, so that title is kind of long. Grr…I’ll have to pare it down in the next day or so.

But it’s not any shorter than “The Find Critique Partners and Beta Readers Blogfest”, and it’s a whole lot catchier.

In case you wondered what I’m talking about, that’s it. I’m hosting a blogfest from Feb 10-13. The basic premise is simple, if you’re looking for critique partners or beta readers, even if you already have some, this is your chance to maybe find some more.

It works like this:

• On Feb 10, post your information on your blog (I’ll tell you what information below)
• Between Feb 10-13, go visit all the other people’s blogs, and read what they’ve got to offer.
• If you’re interested in reading and/or helping them out, let them know by replying to their post
• If you love the idea, but just don’t feel like you’re the right person to provide feedback or don’t have the time, let them know you loved their idea and why.
• Don’t feel compelled to offer to read for someone just because they offered to read for you. I mean certainly, talk and hit it off and see how it goes, but I’m just saying…

So, what’s this vague information I’m mentioning? The things that your post should contain?

• Genre, Age Group (YA or Adult), & Title of your story
• Your current story status. Are you working on a first draft? Trying to wrap up a final draft for submission? Somewhere in between?
• What kind of feedback are you looking for? A full-blown line-edit and critique? Overall thoughts? Input as you move through each chapter? Something else? How detailed or high-level do you want to go?
• A pitch, blurb, or query about your book so we know what it’s about. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how you’d like to sell it, but try and keep it under 300 words.
• The first 500 words of your story. This isn’t an agent-judged contest or anything like that, it’s a search for feedback, so give us what you’ve got.

This will all allow people to decide if you’ve got what they’re looking for on several levels. There’s one important thing to keep in mind, and I want to put this out there now because I suspect many of you have the same kind of writer’s ego I do – a little fragile:

Depending on how many people sign up and who they are, it’s possible not everyone will find a match. That doesn’t reflect on your writing, so please (please) don’t take it as a bad sign. Even in a community of writing bloggers, we don’t all write or read the same things.

That being said, the more people who sign up and participate, the better everyone’s chances, so add your name to the linky below ^_^ Post any questions or thoughts you have and I’ll clarify.