Wednesday, September 26, 2012

You Guys Really Missed Out

First of all, congratulations to the Atlanta Braves, who clinched a playoff spot last night with their walk-off defeat of the Miami Marlins, but especially to Kris Medlen, who tied a record set in 1950-53, by Whitey Ford and the New York Yankees. Kris is the best pitcher in baseball right now, but make no mistake, this is a record that can only be won by a great team.


Now, that's not what I meant when I titled this post. You missed out because one of my best internet writing friends has changed the rules on his First Impact Critiques. Adam Heine is one of the smartest guys I know. He's also one of the kindest and most giving, but that's beside the point. The point is that he has this series he does, critiquing anything from queries, to jacket copy, to first pages, to even short synopses. To quote him "basically anything under 300 words that is used to answer the question, 'Do I want to read this book?'"

He's still open to accepting submissions for the critiques, but due to lack of submissions, he's had to stop offering the prizes. He used to give away Amazon gift cards, or even better, critiques from his agent, Tricia Lawrence, to readers who commented with their own feedback on the posts.

I'm here to tell you that you should send him something. Yes, even if I've already critiqued your query, you should send it to Adam. He's very good at what he does. His forte is Science Fiction and Fantasy, but I've seen him critique everything from Erotica to Mystery, and he always does so with skill and style.

I don't know if he'll open up the prizes again if I send him enough people, but it doesn't matter. The critiques themselves are worth it on their own. So head over to his blog, read Pawn's Gambit, check the First Impact page, and hit him up. You won't regret it.

31 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Science fiction? That's good to know! Crap, need to work on my next book's synopsis first.

Natalie Aguirre said...

Great to know he's so willing to critique. Thanks for letting us know about it.

You must be pretty excited about the Braves.

Sarah said...

Wow--I actually had no idea Adam did this, which tells you how out of touch I am. Off to spread the word ...

Heather Kelly said...

Did the bamboo used to be green here? I'm enjoying the blue. I jumped over to Adam's blog and really enjoyed it. I think everyone is experiencing shifts with how people communicate in the blogging world. With twitter and fb still on the rise, and delivering information in a much condensed manner, people aren't doing as much blog commenting as they used. I think blogs will always have their use as a landing pad. I hope things work out for Adam's critiques--that's such a wonderful service to provide. :)

And skilled critters are something to cherish!

Heather Kelly said...

Wow. Maybe I should drink coffee before commenting. Was any part of that comment coherent?

Dianne K. Salerni said...

I agree! A good critique is worth more than a prize! I've seen his name around the web, but I'm headed over to follow him right now.

Steve MC said...

Adam is all you said, and I didn't even know about that story he wrote.

Elise Fallson said...

Thanks for the info. Will be sure to check out Adam's blog....(:

Patchi said...

Critiques are great prizes! I feel I won a lot when you critiqued mine. I'll send the revised version to Adam. Thanks for the referral :)

Kristen Wixted said...

Congrats to the Braves! Walk-off win-Wow. That must've been fantastic.

Stina said...

Thanks for the heads up. I'm off to check out his blog. :D

Kristen Wixted said...

Oh, and I just send Adam my first page. Thanks for this reminder-sometimes we all need one.

Adam Heine said...

Thanks, Matt. I'll definitely keep critiquing so long as people send me stuff.

And who knows? If I get enough, I might open up the prizes for critiquers again...

Creepy Query Girl said...

oh wow, yeah I didn't know about his critique/prize posts either! It's' a shame that awesome opportnities like this are dwindling due to lack of participation. It almost feels like the blogosphere is dying a slow, painful, death sometimes. Like we're living in a blogging dystopia where our little communties are fighting to support eachother and survive...Or maybe I've just had too much coffee this morning.

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

Adam rocks. That is all.

Yolanda Renée said...

Know anyone who critiques Mystery / Suspenseful Romance?
I think it's all about getting the word out. Have you posted on the GUTGAA blog site. Most all those participants and there are over 200 are mostly YA. Deana Barnhart is running it. http://deanabarnhart.blogspot.com/2012/08/gutgaa-meet-and-greet-sign-ups-and.html
Thanks for passing this on, I'll so the same.

David P. King said...

That's awesome! Which reminds me, I need to bring the Query Doctor back to my blog. He hasn't visited in a while. Thanks for introducing Adam. I'll have to look into this. :)

Carolyn V said...

Wow. I'm going to have to check out his blog. Crits are worth more than a prize!

Donna K. Weaver said...

Yeah, Adam rocks. I didn't realize he was doing this. My bad.

Anonymous said...

I've added him to my Reader. And when I get this WIP...umm...whipped into shape, perhaps I'll get you both to take a crack at the query.

Nancy Thompson said...

I LOVE Adam's blog. It was one of the very first ones I ever followed & I refer back to it often. And you're right. He's a great human being. Wish I had something for him to critique.

Good luck to your Braves but...my Giants are take it all the way, baby!

Yolanda Renée said...

Then I am truly surprised that more haven't taken Adam up on his kind offer. I did post his address on my blog, FB and twitter. Deana has over 400 listed for the Small Press Contest for Friday. Maybe fewer folks need the help than I thought -- me I can use all I can get. :)

D.G. Hudson said...

Yeah! for the Atlanta Braves. Hubs was wondering who would get that wild card spot. We've seen the Braves play at Turner Field when visiting my sister. We're baseball fans, my other fave teams are the Yankees, and the Toronto Blue Jays (only one team in Canada now).

Good luck to Adam with the queries. But it does seem a few people are offering to do critiques on their blogs now. Maybe it's just a matter of choosing who to send it to, and looking for similar tastes.

Like the new blue background look on your blog, Matt.

mshatch said...

heading there now! Thanks.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Thanks for pointing the way dear sir!

Jemi Fraser said...

I didn't realize Adam did this either - good to know!

Kerri Cuev said...

Yay, I'll go check out his blog. Thanks!

Sarah Ahiers said...

I only missed out some of the time. And that was because on those days, i just couldn't get in any blog reading.
But seriously, Adam's blog is one of my faves and i always try to make time for it.

Kelly Polark said...

Very cool!

Mel Chesley said...

I've been missing out on a lot. Sometimes my days get so crazy and weird. I can't wait to stop doing my paper route, it's really throwing a wrench into my daily world of writing and all that. Sheesh!

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

Why haven't I followed your blog before? This is madness!