Several times a year, a new writer will post a question in an
online Christian writing group, “Have you heard of the Writer’s
Edge? Is it legitimate?” This leads to a debate between editors
and authors with years of experience in the industry over
whether services like Writer’s Edge and 1st Edition, which post
book proposals online for editors to read, are worth the $79-$95
fee.
What are you getting for that fee? ECPA’s 1st Edition, places
the book proposals on its site without any evaluation. Their
only service is the posting of the book proposals. According to
several editors who’ve seen the newsletter, 1st Edition’s
collection of proposals contains few “jewels” and a lot of mess.
In contrast to the posting-only approach, The Writer’s Edge
offers a critiquing service, in addition to hosting the book
proposal. The value of that critique depends on what you’re
looking for. According to Chip MacGregor, an associate publisher
at Warner Faith, “I’m not all that impressed with the
evaluations given by Writers Edge. Some of them might be
good…but not the ones I saw.” Pamela Dowd found out the hard
way that her evaluation from the Writer’s Edge hurt her. “I
changed my whole writing style as a new writer based on a
Writer’s Edge critique… Now, years later, the thing that I
hear most is that I need to add back into my writing more of
what I took out based on that critique.” Her advice to writers
submitting to the Writer’s Edge is, “It’s only one reviewer’s
assessment of your work.”
Others find a benefit to the general assessment provided by the
Writer’s Edge. Lin Johnson, who runs the Write-to-Publish
conference for Christian writers, says, “It’s worth the money to
find out if your proposal is ready to be seen by an acquisitions
editor.” She adds that they give you some suggestions, “but not
a thorough critique.” Rebecca Miller submitted a book proposal
to the Writer’s Edge years ago and although she didn’t make a
sale, she’s thankful for the experience. “They ‘graded’ accepted
material, so I had a chance to see how professionals ranked my
book.” She learned that her writing was good, but needed work.
That was the encouragement she needed to continue improving her
writing skills.
If you’re looking for a thorough evaluation and critique to make
your proposal ready for publication, the Writer’s Edge service
isn’t what you’re looking for. There are many reputable editors
and groups who, for a reasonable fee, will help you make your
book proposal one that grabs the attention of editors and
agents. If you’re willing to pay $95 for a professional’s
assessment of the marketability of your work, then you’ll
appreciate the Writer’s Edge’s service.
Will you sell your proposal if you post it online? According to
the statistics provided by The Writer’s Edge, they place about
2% of the book proposals listed on their site, but they don’t
say how many were bought by traditional, as opposed to vanity,
publishers. Traditional publishers bought nine book proposals
from listings on 1st Edition last year. Most of the publishers
that contact authors through these sites are vanity or subsidy
publishers that charge writers a fee to print their book.
Shelley Hussey, author of “I’m Not OK, You’re Not OK, But That’s
OK With God” states, “I’m puzzled as to why authors would
require the fee-for-services of 1st Edition to obtain a contract
with a self-publisher or subsidy publisher.” What’s more
astounding is that 1st Edition and The Writers Edge consider
these to be sales.
Elaine Wright Colvin, publisher of the WIN Informer, which keeps
tabs on the Christian publishing industry, says, “I have long
warned writers to save their money - both of these are just
another huge slush pile that give editors an escape so they
don’t have to handle the paper piles or deal with manuscripts
from uninformed writers.” Many others, like literary agent Janet
Kobobel Grant agree, “Most editors have a hard time keeping up
with submissions that come to them from agents, authors the
editor already has relationships with, and authors the editors
meet at writers conferences.” She adds, “One editor said to me,
‘Sure, there might be a fabulous manuscript in Writer’s Edge,
but I can’t take the time to ferret it out. I’m willing to miss
it because I already have all the manuscripts I can buy in my
office.”
Margaret Buchanan is an elite member of the small percentage of
writers who receive contracts with traditional publishers
through the Writers Edge. She says, “I sent my first book
manuscript to the Writer’s Edge… and 5 reputable publishing
houses contacted me within 2 weeks.” Broadman & Holman published
her book, “Famous Jerks of the Bible”. Randy Ingermanson,
publisher of the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine states, “With a
terrific title like that, even an editor with minimal time to
scan Writer’s Edge would jump on it.”
The overall opinion of 1st Edition and the Writer’s Edge by
writers in online groups is that these companies aren’t scams,
and the reason they don’t work is that most writers who use them
aren’t yet ready for publication. Deborah Gyapong submitted a
proposal to the Writer’s Edge several years ago and received a
request from an editor for the completed manuscript. Although no
contract resulted from the experience, she says, “While many may
argue that it’s extremely rare for anyone to see a contract come
out of Writer’s Edge, I would say it’s probably more due to
people like myself who think they’re ready long before they even
realize how much more work is needed on the manuscript.”
Terry Whalin, fiction editor at Howard Publishing, does look at
the Writer’s Edge listings each month. “I did request several
entries at my previous publisher and tried in a couple of cases
to pitch the books but never contracted a single one.” Like
Deborah Gyapong, he thinks the problem with slush piles,
electronic or printed, is, “the large volume of poor
submissions.” His suggestion is to, “produce quality submissions
for publishers and your material will stand out.”
If you think your proposal is ready for publication, go back and
edit it again using books about book proposals to find new
things to add. “Book Proposals that Sell” by Terry Whalin is a
great choice for non-fiction authors. Fiction authors should buy
“Self-Editing for Fiction Writers” by Browne and King. While
polishing your proposal, make sure you’re doing everything you
can to market yourself as a reputable writer on the book’s
topic. Then, send your book proposal to a manuscript critique
service. Find publishers who print books like yours and accept
unagented proposals, tailor your proposal to their guidelines,
and start sending it out. Submit your proposal to the Writer’s
Edge or 1st Edition if you feel confident that their service is
for you.
Seven years after Deborah Gyapong unsuccessfully submitted her
novel, “The Defilers” to the Writer’s Edge, she won the 2005
Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for the same novel.
Augsburg Fortress is publishing it in Spring 2006. “I’ve spent
hours and hours on it since then,” she says. “The basic story is
the same, just far more polished.”
You may not sell your first book, but if you keep working and
improving your skills, you, like Deborah Gyapong, will reach
your goal of publication.