Who do I pick to Critique my Novel at the Conference?

Who do I pick to critique my novel at the conference? That was the question that I faced when I registered for the conference. Figuring out the answer took more time than I anticipated. I bet that I’m not alone in this struggle so I’m going to share my process and the key questions that I asked myself to make the decision.

What do I write?

This one is easy. I write what I love to read – romance. Specifically, I write historical romance. The person I picked to critique my novel needed to know something about what I was writing. They needed to represent, write, or edit romance. This leads to the next set of questions.

What genres do the agents attending the conference represent? What genres do the authors critiquing write? What genres do the editors edit?

These are three related questions. The list of faculty from the conference is available on the facebook group and google is my friend. I googled the names of all the faculty to see what they represented, what they wrote, and what they edited. I picked three faculty members that said they represented historical romance or wrote historical romance.

If I pick an agent, who do they represent? If I pick a writer, have I read their books?

Knowledge is power. You want to pick a faculty member that is a good fit for you. If you look at the list of books that they have sold or written and love the books, then you probably have found a good match for you. If you look at the list of books that they have sold or written and you dislike them, then you should move on to the next person.

Ok, I know that the faculty member that I pick to critique my book is under no obligation to request my work, but I want them to. Picking someone that represents what I write, gives me a better opportunity than picking someone that doesn’t represent what I write.

How did you pick your faculty member?