Reviewers of the Moon and Star

** #1063297 Not An Image **          

Reviewers of the Moon and Star
(Contest)

- Deadline: April 15, 2006 -

So I wrote a book. Then I needed as much help as possible getting it ready to send off to publishers. That was where this contest and some the most spectacular reviewers ever came in.

In this contest, the contestants were asked to review chapters of my book, Houses of the Moon and Star. At the time of the contest, there were twenty-nine chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue. And contestants had up to thirty-three chances to win prizes. Cool, huh?

If you have a minute, give those hard-working contestants a cheer! I mean it; take your hand off the mouse, wave it in the air and say,

"Go Moon and Star Reviewers! You rock!"

What were the different ways to win?

#1 - Best Chapter Reviews

The best review of each chapter (plus the prologue and the epilogue) received 5,000 GPs. It was possible to win "Best Chapter Review" for more than one chapter and the winners received 5,000 GPs for every chapter they won.

And those winners...

Prologue
jadesky

Chapter One
nadjaanderson

Chapter Two
Schezar

Chapter Three
Schezar

Chapter Four
Schezar

Chapter Five
Elspeth

Chapter Six
Schezar

Chapter Seven
nadjaanderson

Chapter Eight
nadjaanderson

Chapter Nine
nadjaanderson

Chatper Ten
nadjaanderson

Chapter 11
nadjaanderson

Chapter 12
Schezar

Chapter 13
Schezar

Chapter 14
nadjaanderson

Chapter 15
nadjaanderson

Chapter 16
Schezar

Chapter 17
nadjaanderson

Chapter 18
Jiggly

Chapter 19
nadjaanderson

Chapter 20
nadjaanderson

Chapter 21
Schezar

Chapter 22
Schezar

Chapter 23
Schezar

Chapter 24
nadjaanderson

Chapter 25
nadjaanderson

Chapter 26
Schezar

Chapter 27
Schezar

Chapter 28
Schezar

Chapter 29
Schezar

Epilogue
Schezar

#2 - Best Book Review

The second way to win was to submit the "Best Book Review." Here, contestants were invited to read the whole book, reviewing each chapter or not - either way - and submit a review over the entire thing. Best overall review received 10,000 GPs.

And the winner...

Best Book Review
nadjaanderson

#3 - Best Overall Reviewer

To be eligible for "Best Overall Reviewer," a contestant had to finish reviews for the prologue, all 29 chapters, the epilogue, AND an overall review. Everyone that completed this task received an Appreciation Merit Badge, then those overachievers were judged against one another and the winner received:

                             A Three-Month Upgrade or equivalent GPs
                             A Merit Badge suitable to the reviewer (Judges' Choice)

Note: To be fair, the winner of the "Best Overall Reviewer" award was disqualified from winning either "Best Chapter Review" or "Best Book Review" awards.

Best Overall Reviewer
Stargopher

So, Satuawany, tell us. What did the judges look for?

For the individual Chapter Reviews...

I certainly don't mind having typos and grammer problems pointed out, but typos were not weighed during the judging. Grammar suggestions earned scant points, unless they really taught me something. Basically, I wanted to know what reviewers liked about the chapter and what they didn't. In detail.

For the Book Reviews...

Here we were looking for reviews that went over plot problems, discontinuity, and characterization blunders. We were really looking for the big picture and how well the book kept the reviewer's attention.

I asked to know where the slow parts were and where certain characters missed opportunities to let themselves shine. Other stuff too. (Extra points for thinking of things I didn't think of -- and, holy crap, did they ever. These people were awesome.)

In general...(For Chapter Reviews and Book Reviews)...

All over, the judges were looking for the most Honest, Helpful, Thorough, Thoughtful, Insightful, Constructive reviews. Get all that? Yeah, me either. To put it more simply, I asked them to give me the critique they would if they were my poor, destitute friend and I had promised that if this book were published I'd give them the proceeds.

Also, I asked to know what the contestants thought. I wanted their opinions. I asked them to consider these questions while reading:

Do you like the characters?
Who's your favorite?
Do you like the interaction between the characters?
Do the characters stay ‘in character'?
Do you like the story?
The writing style?
The plot progression?
(And you can tack "Why or Why not?" at the end of most of those.)

There was a forum on which contestants were required to post their reviews, but they were welcome to send a copy of those reviews to me so that they could make them public. You may have seen some of those fantastic reviews if you visited the Public Review Page during this contest. They would have come with this signature, which the contestants tacked on their reviews, because they were the utmost in cool like that.


"Click here for info on the artist" 

And just what is this book they had to review about?

It's a fantasy/adventure tale with an unraveling thread of romance that revolves around a band of adventurers desperately trying to escort the Lady of the House of the Moon across the land to her groom, the Lord of the House of the Star. That's what you're supposed to think it's about, anyway. Trust me, this sucker is full of twists and odd plot entanglements. (See why I was desperate for help?)

So who were the judges and how did it go?

The judges were Lon , srchoward, and Satuawany

That last one's me, by the way. If you didn't catch that. I will say that more than once during the super-secret judging process (which was actually charted a tiny bit in my blog for those that found that), every judge proclaimed, "Never again!" Let's just say it was tough. We went back and forth on some things, we explained what we "got" from a review that others seemed to miss and we even explained some reviewer's comments to others when the caffeine wasn't kicking in.

And real life kicked us while we were down, it seemed. Two of our judges went through the harry process of moving during judging and I believe all had some connection problems. Also, there were technical difficulties, poorly-timed power outages, family dramas, and one of our judges actually had to deal with bombs dropping all around her. No lie. Bombs.

So yeah. It took us a little longer to get the results out than we had anticipated, but we were thinking about it and discussing it as much as possible -- in the judge's private forum, in emails, on MSN.

The thing that struck us the most was just how many really spectacular reviews we read. All three of us have been involved in contests of this kind in the past, so we know just how outstanding it was to get the quality turnout we did. We even had a few contestants that were brand new to the site and to reviewing when they entered. They put our early days to shame. They made us just look silly, and we like to think we're pretty good reviewers.

If I were richer, I would have sent many more, made-up-on-the-spot prizes because these contestants worked that hard. I can't say enough how much I was amazed. Amazed. I can not wait to start making my revise notes. I have so many ideas pouring out my ears I've taken to carrying a cup around to catch them so I don't lose them.

I can't thank these people enough. The contestants, the judges. I shake my head in wonder every time I think about both those groups. This has been one of the best experiences I have ever had on Writing.com and I wish I could give everyone involved a great big hug. I can only hope everyone else took as many good things away from it that I did, though I have no idea how that would be possible. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

~Chy