In this blog post I cover what my giveaways are, why I run them, how I choose them, and finally: how they helped me with my querying mindset!
Let’s dive right in!
What are the giveaways?
I run two types:
- Randomly selected – this is my ongoing monthly giveaway for my email subscribers; I offer 10,000 words critique. At the beginning of each month I send out an email asking who would like to enter. I take the name of those who replied and put them in a random name selector.
- Personally chosen – these are occasional ones I run where I choose the winners based off their pitch and writing sample. The amount I offer varies. For my first giveaway I did a full manuscript as well as a few 10,000 words (and then ended up critiquing the first chapter of ten entries before deciding the winners!). My most recent giveaway was three lots of 10,000 word critiques – but with one of them being randomly selected. (I ended up with five winners and a couple first chapter winners this time!)
Why do I run the giveaways?
- One of the best feelings is being able to help someone when there is no obligation to, and when they owe you nothing in return. It’s simply a good feeling.
- In my own writing experience, it took a long time before I found people who could provide me with quality critique (I went through a lot of beta readers who provided general reader feedback on fairly superficial levels). I have grown to be quite confident in my editing/critique skills and would love to help as many people as I can in their own writing journeys.
- I LOVE critiquing/editing fiction. I know I’m quite good at it, too, so being able to offer that help to others gives my life extra purpose. This process also gives me more experience with and exposure to different genres. Over time this helps me limit the genres I take on, but I love the challenge of a new genre*. There are many common aspects of writing that I can point out regardless.
- The process gives me exposure to help grow my business. I don’t expect the winners to want to hire me later (I particularly want people to enter who simply cannot afford to hire anyone!), but it’s a great way for some people to find a new editor to help with their writing process and if that means more business for me, that’s great.
*This applies to giveaways only; I will not take on paid work for a genre/project I am not comfortable with.
Why do I choose winners? Why not randomly select them for every giveaway?
For two main reasons:
- I’m spending my own time on this with no compensation, and so I need to be fairly sure I’m going to enjoy working on the project.
- I want to make sure the project sounds like something I can help with – sometimes a project just isn’t the best fit, even if I generally work within that genre.
How do I CHOOSE winners?
Choosing is HARD. Much harder than I expected it to be when I ran my first contest back in June. I had about 30 entries, which, when I think about how many queries literary agents get, it feels small. However, when I went through those to choose just a couple to offer to work on, it felt like a lot! My second giveaway received less entries but even then I had a tough time. I wanted to choose everyone.
Here’s my process:
First up, I put all giveaway entries straight into their own email folder to make sure I don’t lose track of any. Then I create an excel spreadsheet which includes: author’s name, genre, my pitch rating (1-5), feedback comments for them, and the overall feeling I have.
Then I begin going through the entries and adding the relevant data and reading their pitch. I rate each pitch based on how enthusiastic I feel about it, but at this point, this doesn’t matter too much. It helps me more later when I have multiple entries I love and I want to consider the pitch too; I’ve chosen winners when I rated their pitch a 2.5 because the sample of writing was incredible (I’ve seen agents say even if they don’t love a pitch, they will check the writing anyway, and I totally see why!).
Next, I dive straight into their writing sample. I make notes on any feedback I have – praise and suggestions, if any come up – and keep this to send to the author later (in case it either encourages or helps them), and then finally I write a few notes about my overall feeling. Sometimes I note that I’m not overly pulled into a piece, or that I would enjoy reading more, but it’s the entries with more enthusiastic comments that become my potential winners. If I know that a project isn’t right for me, I highlight the name in red as a pass. If it’s a maybe, the name becomes orange, and if it’s a really strong contender, yep, you guessed it—green!
For my first giveaway I asked for three pages, but I found myself wanting to read more than that to decide whose manuscript I would take on completely. I ended up asking for the first chapter of ten green entries (and I had almost ten in my maybe pile which I badly wished I could have asked for their first chapters too!). I went through these providing critique in the document (because why not??? I love it!) and then making further comments in my spreadsheet. For the record this is the first comment I made for the author I chose:
“REALLY ENJOYED THIS AND REALLY WANT TO READ MORE OF THIS NOVEL OMG….!! Contender for a FULL critique.. Ah.”
This was the comment for one of my runner ups:
“SO SO GOOD. I THINK I WANT THIS ONE TO BE THE WINNER. We shall seee ahhh”
Both comments are fairly equal, and it was only after reading the first full chapter that it was a little easier to make a decision. However, for the second giveaway, I settled on asking for a smaller sample and using that to make a decision, as it’s too time consuming otherwise, and it’s fun to trust my gut feeling.
So, ultimately, a lot of it comes down to how enthusiastic I am. In the end I look over my notes and choose based off of that as well as how memorable my enthusiasm is for each one.
I’m planning another giveaway for Christmas time, and it will likely have a round of 10k winners who will all be in the running for a full manuscript edit. If you’re interested in that, please consider signing up to be on my email list (make sure you select the writing category).
How my giveaways helped my querying mindset
Going through the submissions for my first giveaway was extremely helpful for me as a querying author. Firstly, it was eye opening to see how time consuming it would be to receive dozens or hundreds of queries every month – it helps to appreciate how long agents need before getting back to you.
Secondly, the struggle to choose which ones to request more pages from before making any decisions was pretty brutal. I can imagine a little more than I could before of what it would be like to decide which queries to request fulls of. Having samples of work which I knew I would have enjoyed reading more of, but not being able to offer that, and having to let those stories go… I definitely had some sadness bordering on story grief! Imagine being an agent and wanting to offer on a novel but not having the time, or having a project too similar etc.? Ouch.
It was also interesting to reflect on the fact that if I hadn’t received a particular entry, a different one would have one. So maybe part of the luck side of querying comes down to the competition in that particular agent’s inbox at that particular time.
Ultimately I can really appreciate the fact that not receiving an offer from an agent who has my full, or not receiving a request from an agent who receives my query, really isn’t personal: it’s just part of a huge, subjective process. Being on the other side and choosing was really eye opening for me, and I’ve happily sailed through the rest of my full rejections without much care. (In fact, I’m more excited to query my current project than I was the last… so I’m kind of glad I didn’t receive an offer for it).
I hope you found this blog post either helpful or interesting. If you’re interested in the chance to win free critique from me, please consider signing up to my email list for monthly draws. You’ll also be notified about new blog posts and my own writing/querying journey.
Thanks for reading,
Kathryn 😊
