Winning Writers has engaged contest judge Annie Mydla to provide expert private critiques of your children's picture books, published or unpublished. Annie has read hundreds of self-published children's books in her work as assistant judge for our North Street Book Prize. She also provides critiques of books for adults in our Critiques for Books and Manuscripts service. Annie is assisted by Paweł Zagawa and Ewa Stachyra.

Says Annie, "A truly fine children's book successfully brings together an array of visual and textual elements. My experience reading for the North Street Book Prize allows me to appreciate both the broad view and the individual components, critiquing your book for maximal balance and appeal." You can read Annie's insights about what makes a prizewinning book in her guest blog post for the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Please submit a digital copy of your work. You may upload it as two files if your book and cover are separate files. It is acceptable to leave identifying information on your documents. 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).

You can expect your critique to be 500-1,000 words long. It will include the following sections as relevant:

1. Critique summary
2. Technical execution (layout, spelling and grammar, technical consistency, font, accessibility)
3. Structure and content (character, plot, theme, internal consistency, structure, pacing, intended audience)
4. Use of images (technical quality, themes, style, consistency)
5. Use of language (register, tone, imagery, relation to themes, rhyme and meter, as applicable)
6. Recommendations and conclusion
7. Exercises to unlock creativity

You may also submit up to 3 specific questions to be answered by Annie within her critique.

We seek to provide perspectives that will provoke new ideas and directions for future drafts. Please allow 4-6 weeks for your critique to be completed. After delivery, we will welcome one round of follow-up questions from you.

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.

From a satisfied customer:

"Thank you very much for the critique, I found it quite helpful. I learned a few things, which is always nice - especially about narrative circularity and pacing. The couple of ideas for reworking the dialogue were brilliant. I appreciate your help!" -Terry Ann Marsh

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 is assisted by Paweł Zagawa and Ewa Stachyra.

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.

Winning Writers has engaged contest judge and literary scholar Annie Mydla to provide expert private critiques of your books and manuscripts, published or unpublished, that have up to 200,000 words. Annie has read thousands of self-published books in her work as assistant judge for our North Street Book Prize. She is also a published literary scholar whose works can be found in Avant Literary Journal, Joseph Conrad Today, and most recently in the international journal Świat i Słowo ("World and Word"). Annie is assisted by Paweł Zagawa and Ewa Stachyra.

"Reading for the North Street Book Prize has taught me how to view books from a bird's-eye perspective, and to help authors do the same. In my critique, I'll examine how the specific details of your work interact with the wider picture, and respectfully suggest concrete paths for reworking and new development." You can view a sample critique by Annie here, and read her insights about what makes a prizewinning book in her guest blog post for the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Our critique service is best for manuscripts that:

• Are written with commercial intent (finding an agent, finding a publisher, maximizing sales in a self- or hybrid-publishing context)
• Feel "stuck" or lack direction
• Are over or under the recommended wordcount for the genre
• Keep getting rejected, but it's not clear what to do about it
• Lack a distinct genre or intended audience
• Might contain dated, cliché, or exploitative content, which the author wants help in identifying and removing

This service is not recommended for manuscripts that:

• Were written primarily to serve the author on a personal basis (i.e., to process emotions and memories, to serve as a family record, or to provide an artistic outlet without commercial intent)
• Already feel finished to the author (the author has no desire to make substantial changes in a future draft)

Please submit a digital copy of your work. You may upload it as two files if your book and cover are separate files. It is acceptable to leave identifying information on your documents. 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).

You can expect your critique to be 1,500-3,000 words long. It will include the following sections as relevant:

1. Critique summary
2. Structure and content (character, plot, theme, setting, internal consistency, structure, pacing, use of exploitative tropes)
3. Use of language (register, tone, tonal consistency, literary devices, artistic style, imagery, sense of mastery, relation to themes)
4. Technical execution (layout, spelling and grammar, technical consistency, technical quality of any illustrations, font, accessibility)
5. Recommendations and conclusion
6. Exercises to unlock creativity

You may also submit up to 3 specific questions to be answered by Annie within her critique.

We seek to provide perspectives that will provoke new ideas and directions for future drafts. Please allow six weeks for your critique to be completed. After delivery, we will welcome one round of follow-up questions from you.

Price: $240. 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:

"I can't recommend this service enough. Annie's understanding of literature is truly impressive, and I was amazed at how much time and thoughtfulness she invested in my project. She took the trouble to understand who I am, why I want to write this book, and what kinds of skills and deficits I bring. And then she tailored her feedback and advice accordingly... I feel not only read but seen, not only helped but inspired. I highly recommend 'upgrading' to include a Zoom call with Annie...it meant that the ten-page final critique Annie delivered not only addressed exactly the questions I wanted answered, but also built in very helpful ways on what was already a very substantive conversation." -Sigrid Schmalzer
 

Submit stories and essays on any theme, up to 6,000 words each. The winning story and essay will each receive $3,500. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $500 each. The top 12 entries will be published online. Mina Manchester is the final judge. This contest is proudly co-sponsored by Duotrope, which will award two-year gift certificates to the top two winners, a $100 value.

For this contest, a story is any short work of fiction, and an essay is any short work of nonfiction. You may submit published or unpublished work. This contest accepts multiple entries (submit them one at a time). Please omit your name from your entries. We prefer 12-point type or larger. Please avoid fancy, hard-to-read fonts. Double-spacing is recommended.

No restriction on age of author. All countries eligible except Syria, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Russia, and Belarus (due to US government restrictions).

First time entering? We prepared this brief video to guide you. See also our short entry checklist.

Fee per entry: $25.