This is free for both of us. No money ever changes hands. We swap like for like—typically chapter for chapter. You give me feedback. I give you feedback.
I require registration in order weed out spammers and scammers. Please book a slot in order to proceed.
Booking the time slot means that I will be doing my part of the work at that time. It does not mean that you have to do the same. When you do your work is entirely up to you.
About Me
I am a dedicated and reliable critique partner with references.
I am educated, well-read, experienced, and professional.
I can provide some useful feedback to any level and any genre. I seek useful feedback in return.
Whatever you need feedback on, I will have something similar to swap.
In order to get to know potential long-term critique partners, I prefer to start small — with chapter swaps.
If things work out with chapter swaps, we can discuss bigger chunks.
Who I Swap With
The current state of your draft does not concern me. Genre does not concern me. The level that you write at does not concern me. My background gives me the skills to adjust my feedback to any level.
The only thing that matters to me is your reading level. If you read at or above average, your feedback will be sufficiently helpful to me to justify at least one swap. Where we go from there will depend on how we both feel about the experience.
New Critique Partners
First time swaps, please choose from these options.
- General R&R (read and react) – most common preference
- Alpha reader assessment (structural assessment of any chapter)
- 1st 250 words feedback (assesses your hook and first page)
- Chapter 1 feedback (chapter 1 has unique requirements)
- Line edits (everything above this option is structural)
Whichever option you ask of me, I will ask the same of you.
How Do We Swap?
Send one of the following to brentjohner@shaw.ca:
- Share a Google doc containing your chapter
- this is the best option for both of us
- I will be able to add helpful tabs to your document
- Gmail accounts are free
- Paste your chapter into an email
- if you choose this, I can’t give you helpful tabs
- PDFs – I no longer accept PDFs from new partners
- I cannot add comments directly to PDFs
Once I receive your material, I will create a login for you on this website. You can login and leave your comments on the appropriate page.
Contact me
If you are interested, please push this button and book a swap. Unless I have already told you I am not interested in further swaps, acceptance is automatic.*
*not applicable to scammers and spammers