Winning Writers has engaged Annie Mydla to provide expert private critiques of your poems, stories, essays, and book excerpts of up to 6,000 words. Annie is a published literary critic who has evaluated thousands of books as a judge of our North Street Book Prize, with categories including poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. To date, she has critiqued over 120 book-length manuscripts and shorter works for our critique program with overwhelmingly positive feedback from clients. Annie has also appeared as a guest on ink & peat podcast to share manuscript mistakes that emerging authors often make. Listen to the episode here.

Please submit 1-3 poems up to 250 lines long in total or one work of prose up to 6,000 words long. (If you need a critique of a book-length novel or memoir, we suggest ordering a book and manuscript critique instead.) You are welcome to include up to 3 questions for Annie with your critique submission.

It is acceptable to leave identifying information in your document. We will keep your submission private, and we will provide your critique for your personal use (i.e. please don't publish our critique without our permission).

Our goal is not to judge your work or provide an overall assessment. Instead, we offer a supportive critical eye to writers mid-project who want advice on making their next draft better. We'll highlight specific qualities to focus on in revisions, with suggested techniques, methods, or exercises for improving those qualities. We'll also include in-line comments with quick fixes and new options, and questions that will help you view your piece in a fresh light. Our comments will be straightforward and specific to you.

You can expect at least 1,000 words in the thematic portion of our response, as well as in-line comments directly on your document. Annie may also supply additional resources or examples according to the needs of your submitted work.

Please allow up to six weeks for us to complete your critique. After you receive it, you may submit one round of 1-3 follow-up questions.

Price: $90. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. If our critique does not deliver value for you, you can request a prompt refund from adam@winningwriters.com.

Customers say:

"Simply put, Annie Mydla is the most caring and helpful 'critiquer' and beta reader I've worked with in many, many years." - Gregory Wilson Taylor

"Your critique was so spot on that it was stunning...I'm through with the exercises you recommend and am now starting to integrate them into the story and can already see the difference." -Judy Saunders