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• Save your submission in a common file format for others to read (.doc, .docx, .rtf, .txt) (Google Docs or Microsoft Word is recommended).

• Please limit your submission to no more than 25 pages (approximately 12,000 words).

• Remember to spellcheck and self edit.

• Append and fill out the Cover Sheet as the first page of your submission (see below) (The cover sheet is also available in the root level of the WBAuthors shared Google folder).

• Copy the file to the Submissions folder by one of the submission deadline dates (the 1st or 15th of each month).

• Let the group know your submission is available by emailing the group.

• Once you have offered a submission, please do not make changes to the submission. It is difficult for others to offer feedback for a moving target.

Submissions (folder)

• Make a copy of the submission file in a personal folder for you to read and add your feedback. This helps keep the original copy prestine for other members of the group.

• Rename the file by including your name or initials. This will help differentiate your feedback from other feedback from other members of the group.

• Fill out the reviewer portion of the submission's cover sheet.

• Please wait until after the group has discussed the feedback of a submission before copying your file to the Critiques folder (see below). This helps encourage group discussions at the meeting making critiques beneficial to the entire group.

• Please be courteous with your feedback and not insulting. Constructive criticism can be useful, while destructive criticism can be harmful.

Critiques (folder)

F.A.Q

 What if I do not have something to submit? Should I bother going to the meetings?

Absolutely! When feedback is discussed as a group, everyone can learn from other people's opinions and experience, whether it is your story or someone else's.

What if I am unfamiliar or uncomfortable with someone else's submission?

If you are uncomfortable with a subject matter, no one is forcing you to read the submission.

However, even if a genre is "not your cup of tea", try giving it a read anyway. You can can let the writer know your limited experience with the subject matter, and you can offer whatever feedback you are able to provide. All constructive criticism is good feedback, no matter how much or how little.

Side note: I do not typically read romance, but I beta read a friend's romance story and learned quite a bit about how to create characters, especially how they withhold information from other characters.

What if I have never shared my writing (outside a graded assignment)? What if people hate my story?

Sharing your writing, especially with strangers, is an incredibly difficult thing to do. But, when other people give you feedback, it can really improve your writing skills. 

Remember, any feedback you receive from others, you can do whatever you'd like with it. If most everyone is making the same suggestions, maybe you should accept the feedback. If the feedback is all over the place, maybe you don't need to change a thing. What you do with the feedback is entirely up to you.

Also, we are all there to help each other improve our writing. And, we all start somewhere deciding whether or not to share what we have created with the world.

Can I print out a submission and provide written feedback?

We encourage guild members to provide submissions and critiques digitally, but if that is what it takes, why not?

The library has a printer available. It is not free, but it is there for the public to use.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact wbauthors@gmail.com.

Or, you can always bring up an issue with the staff at the Wells Branch Library.