Free First Chapter Assessment

Readers decide whether to keep going in the first chapter, and they decide on the same 17 things every time: the opening line, the starting point, a character worth following, stakes, conflict, pacing, the way the chapter ends. Those are the 17 hooks from my book Instantly Hooked.

Send me your first chapter and I will rate it on all 17. What you get back:

• A green, amber or red rating on each hook, so you can see at a glance what is working and what is not.
• A short note on every hook naming the moment in your chapter that earned the rating, with a quote or two from your own pages as evidence.
• The one thing I would fix first, and what each fix involves.
• An example of an edit I have done on a book in your genre, so you can see what a developmental edit does.

I read every assessment myself before it goes out. Your chapter is read for this and nothing else: it is never shared, and nothing is published. It is free, and it usually takes a day or two.

Not ready to send a chapter? Try the 17-question First Chapter Test instead.