By Jane Catherine Rozek.
So you’ve written a few chapters or maybe a
whole book, and you are saying to yourself, “this is good stuff,” and then you
laugh because, of course, you and your family are biased!
Where do you find that stranger with the
uncompromised eye to tell you exactly what works and what doesn’t? I’m happy to
report on CritiqueMatch.com.
On this site, I can exchange critiques and beta reads with total strangers
anonymously, and I’m the only one who retains a copy of my manuscript once a
critique has been exchanged.
Here are five tips and two tricks I discovered
to find awesome CPs – Critique Partners!
1. Put yourself out
there! Fill out your full Profile after reading the quick tutorial and browsing
the site. Post a unique picture and fill in the About Me section
to display your personality. In the Type and Genre section, be sure to keep
clicking the arrows open to record the sub-genres you write in. This is
important, so later you can search for writers in the same field.
2. Prepare to give in
order to get! State any writing/editing experience you might have and your
willingness to critique what others submit. There are no freebies when you
exchange critiques, so spend the time to edit professionally, just as you’d
like them to do for you! An author’s integrity is a valuable commodity to hold.
3. Next, under
the Search Partners menu, look for writers with similar genres
and sub-genres as they will have more interest in reading what you wrote and
will give you a better critique. Click Set Filters at the top and
click your desired level of experience. Then open the arrows under Type
and Genre to select the categories that match your manuscript. This
will generate a handpicked list of critique partners to choose from. But don’t
stop there!
4. Search Postings in
the same way. Open up that screen and click Search Filters to
fill out the Type and Genre using the arrow options in the
same way. You may be excited to find different partners with this method too.
5. Yay! Now you have a
list of critique partners to ‘speed date’. Go ahead and invite your favorite
writers to connect with you and send them a message. I suggest exchanging only
one short chapter, (or a query letter or a plot outline), and see what kind of
feedback they are able to provide and if their material interests you. You can
get to know a few critique partners this way before you mutually decide to
exchange a full manuscript.
Oh, I also promised two tricks, didn’t I?
You’ll get more critique partners if you choose another writer at
your level of writing expertise. Have fun working together to edit each other’s
work. You can submit your much-improved writing to those with more professional
experience later!
The second trick is to check back in a few weeks for a continual
progression of critique partners to choose from as they join. CritiqueMatch is
your supermarket!
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Jane Catherine Rozek is a guest blogger on CritiqueMatch.com.
Her self-published non-fiction book, The Celestial Proposal, was featured in the Body, Mind, and Spirit category in
the December 2013 issue of Foreword Reviews. Currently, she is making
final edits to her coming-of-age historical novel (based on a true story), with
the help of personal CPs and beta readers. Find her website and blog at www.JaneCatherineRozek.com
