YouWriteOn was launched in January 2006 as an online writing circle to help new writers gain critical feedback on their work and improve their chances of getting published. Each month, YouWriteOn's top ten rated opening chapters receive feedback from professional editors working for major publishing houses. To participate, writers upload their opening chapters. The chapters are randomly assigned by YouWriteOn to be

peer critique Peer critique, a specialized form of critique, is the common practice of writers reviewing and providing constructive criticism of each other's work before that work is turned in for credit or professional review. Writers in many genres and profess ...

d and rated based on a variety of criteria:

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

, plot, pace & structure, use of language, narrative voice,

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to e ...

, theme and ideas. On the first day of each month the five highest rated chapters receive a free professional

critique Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic study of a written or oral discourse. Although critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgment,Rodolphe Gasché (2007''The honor of thinking: critique, theory, philosophy''p ...

Professional critiques

The literary professionals involved with the site who provide feedback for the highest rated opening chapters of youwriteon members each month include editors for

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

and

Orion Publishing Group Orion Publishing Group Ltd. is a UK-based book publisher. It was founded in 1991 and acquired Weidenfeld & Nicolson the following year. The group has published numerous bestselling books by notable authors including Ian Rankin, Michael Connell ...

Book of the Year Award

At the end of each year, YouWriteOn's literary professionals judge the best opening chapters from the previous twelve months and choose the ''Book of the Year''.

2007 award.

* Overall winner: Guy Saville for '' The Afrika Reich'' * Children’s fiction winner: Justine Windsor for ''Charlie Squires goes Elsewhere''

2008 award

* Overall winner: Trilby Kent for ''Smoke Portrait'' * Children’s fiction winner: Wai Ian Mo for ''Tiger-Mouse''

2009 Award

* Overall winner: * Children’s fiction winner:

2010 Award.

* Overall winner: Charlotte Betts for ''The Apothecary’s Daughter''. * Children’s fiction winner: Justine Windsor for ''The Scarlet Heart''

2011 Award.

* Overall winner: Robbie Smith for ''The Grower''. * Children’s fiction winner: Annie Oliver for ''Scarlett and the Soul Thief''.

2012 Award.

* Overall winner: John Dylan for ''Divine Affairs'' * Children’s fiction winner: Mike Hanson for ''365 Rooms''

2013 Award.

* Overall winner:

Graeme Shimmin Graeme John Shimmin (born 24 September 1967), is a British science-fiction novelist and blogger. Early life Shimmin was born in Manchester, UK. He studied Physics at Durham University and worked in IT for fifteen years before completing a Crea ...

for ''A Kill in the Morning'' * Children’s fiction winner: Mike Hanson for ''Jacob Groat & the Ghosts of Warehouse 33''

Successes

''The Afrika Reich'' by Guy Saville, overall winner in 2007, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2012.

Katherine Webb Katherine Elizabeth Webb-McCarron (born April 24, 1989), is an American model, beauty queen, and television personality. She was Miss Alabama USA 2012 and is perhaps best known for her appearance during the broadcast of the 2013 BCS National Ch ...

, author of bestselling novel ''The Legacy'', was discovered on youwriteon.com by publisher Orion after being rated as a Top Ten story on youwriteon by members. ''The Legacy'' became an Amazon bestseller and Channel 4 TV Book Club winner. Book of the Year (2007) finalist Douglas Jackson won a six-figure, two-book deal for his novel ''The Emperor’s Elephant''. It was published, as ''Caligula'', by

Transworld Publishers Transworld Publishers Ltd. is a British publishing house in Ealing, London that is a division of Penguin Random House, one of the world's largest mass media groups. It was established in 1950 as the British division of American company Bantam ...

in 2008 and Jackson went on to publish several sequels. Third place winner in the children’s category (2007),

Bob Burke Robert E. Burke (born 1942) is a retired American football coach. He served as the head football coach at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts from 1976 to 1982. Burke played college football at the University of Massachus ...

, secured a deal with

The Friday Project The Friday Project was a London-based independent publishing house founded by Paul Carr and Clare Christian in June 2004. It evolved out of ''The Friday Thing'', an Internet newsletter taking an offbeat look at the week's politics, media activ ...

for his book ''The Third Pig Detective Agency''. ''The Bufflehead Sisters'' by 2nd place runner-up (2007) Patricia Delois was the #1 recommended novel in ''Maine Sunday Telegrams '10 must reads for Christmas', and was described as 'the most stunning work of imagination published by a Maine author this year'. ''The Apothecary’s Daughter'' by Charlotte Betts , overall winner in 2010, was published by

Piatkus Little, Brown Book Group is a UK publishing company created in 1992, with multiple predecessors. Since 2006 Little, Brown Book Group has been owned by Hachette UK, a subsidiary of Hachette Livre. It was acquired in 2006 from Time Warner of New ...

in 2010. ''A Kill in the Morning'' by

, overall winner in 2013, was published by

in 2014.

References

{{Reflist

External links

You Write On Home Page

Guy Saville/Africa Reich

Douglas Jackson

Charlotte Betts

Graeme Shimmin
Writing circles