Query Critique Sites--Links!

                         Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.

So your manuscript is completed, critiqued, and polished. Now you want a venue to do the same with your query, your introduction to the hazardous world of publishing.

With all the resources in the blogosphere, the hardest part is choosing where to go and how much to put out there.

Like-minded writers populate forums looking for help. It's a ‘scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ world that works for everyone involved. By posting your query, you get feedback and your writing improves when you critique. It is a win-win situation for everyone.

Consider these sites. They are free to anyone willing to give of their time to return the favor and crit:

• Orson Scott Card. This fabulous author of Ender’s Game holds forums for writers.
• Nathan Bransford. A former literary agent and now author of Jacob Wonderbar and Cosmic Space Kapow.
• Absolute Write. This vast site has everything you need to put together a query.
• Query Tracker. An all-purpose stopping place with forums to hone your query and research agents.
• Query Shark. Enter at your own risk! Janet Reid of FinePrint Literary runs a site chock-full of advice. But watch out for the chum.
• The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment. Run by master blogger Matthew MacNish, this site takes aim on submitted queries with a critical eye that sees all. And I love his avatar.
• Miss Snark’s First Victim. Authoress remains incognito, still won’t reveal her name or photo. Very mysterious.
• YALITCHAT. Where they live and breathe YA.
• Writers.net. A site dedicated to writers.
• Adam Heine critiques queries, jacket copy, and first pages on Wednesdays.
• Evil Editor
• The Public Query Slushpile
• Ask Daphne! About My Query
• And of course, Unicorn Bell, the home of writers.

These are mostly free sites with some asking for donations or premium memberships. If you are interested in paying for services by professionals, research the sites like Writers Digest.

In truth, finding help is the easy part. It’s throwing that beloved query or manuscript into the icy cold world of critique and wondering if it – or you – will survive. Suck in a deep breath and take the plunge. 

It can only get better.

Have we missed your favorite writing forum? Please share it with us in the comments.