Dee

I think it depends on the nature of the book. Mine isn't a novel but a humerous tale of my travels around S America. I've found people in my group don't really like to read chunks bigger than 2 - 3000 words at a time - which has meant that some self-contained episodes at around 5000 words have proved too big to post as the humour of the situation doesn't work in installments. Even if it did, at 102K words it would still require about 50 postings - useful for feedback on the individual pieces but it wouldn't give feedback on the coherence of the piece as a whole.

Anyway, I'm just starting work on my first novel (Eeek!). I expect the nature of the feedback will be different for this kind of book and I hope I get the same good feedback as you did.

All the best

Simon

Good point, Simon. There’s a time restriction too. 50 postings would take at least 100 days. If the book is finished, that can be frustratingly slow. I’m posting The Winter House as I write it. Just had a quick check – so far I’ve uploaded 105k words in 29 posts. Luckily there are a core of members who I can rely on to read and comment however long each piece is, but it’s taken a while to build up. I wouldn’t have tried it when I was relatively new to the site.

Good luck with the book. I’ll look forward to reading your novel.

Dee

Just wanted to add my commebts to this thread.
I used an editorial service for my first novel, and it was a direct link to getting published. I used Hilary Johnson (I'll post the link in a moment)and she says on her website that she is a scout for a major abency. and it's true! After my rewrite she sent the ms - without my knowledge - straight ti Sarah Molloy at A M heath, who called me the moment she[d read it and asked her to visit her (I had to travel from germany at the time!). By the time I arrived there she had alreday shown it to an editor and was telling everybody - which was rather cheeky of her as I hadn't signed her on yet.
ANyway, that was how I got published, and I don't regret it. Hilary's advice (actually, it was her reader's advice as she was ill at the time) was spot on.
It cost me around £300 - money well spent, I think.


<Added>

Here is the link to Hilary's website:
http://www.hilaryjohnson.demon.co.uk/