Irene's eBay Auction

Following the great success of her December eBay auction, Irene Goodman will be auctioning more critiques of partial manuscripts each month, starting in February 2010. All proceeds will go directly to Hope for Vision and the Deafness Research Foundation.

Here are the details:

Q:  Really? Every month?
A:  Yes, really. They will be done by me personally — no interns, no staff, no passing the buck.

Q:  When will the auction take place?
A:  Each auction will start on the first day of each month, and run for a week.

Q:  How soon can the winners expect to hear from you?
A:  Before the end of the month.

Q:  What do you mean by a “partial”?
A:  I mean the first three chapters—roughly 50 pages, plus a synopsis of 3-10 pages.

Q:  How long will each critique be?
A:  At least half a page, single-spaced, maybe more. But I can pack a lot of feedback into half a page.

Q:  What kinds of manuscripts are you looking for?
A:  Any kind of commercial fiction or non-fiction, but especially thrillers, mysteries, romance, historical fiction, women’s fiction, young adult, and anything paranormal. For non-fiction, it can be narrative with a strong hook, or prescriptive with a strong platform.

Q:  What are your critiques like and what is your track record for finding new clients this way?
A:  My critiques pack a lot of punch. I am direct, honest, and encouraging when I can be. I’m a combination of Simon and Randy. I believe that nicey-nice doesn’t really help you. Honesty does. If you can accept well-meant feedback from someone who has built a lot of best-selling careers, then this is for you.

My track record in this regard astonishes me when I look at it. There are dozens of books that sold for sizable advances as a direct result of my feedback to the authors. When you are hungry for information that will really make a difference, not waste your time, and respect your goals, you need a real industry professional who has walked the walk.

Q:  Why these causes?
A:  Hope for Vision and Deafness Research Foundation are of crucial importance to me because my son Rob, 22, has Usher Syndrome. That’s a genetic condition that causes progressive loss of both vision and hearing. The research in this area is tremendous and there is great hope on the horizon. We can expect that there will be an effective treatment for blindness in his lifetime. Scientists at Stanford predict they will restore hearing to mice in ten years.

But when you are 22 and you are losing your sight and your hearing, you want the cure to happen NOW. All this costs a lot of money, and that’s where your dollars will be spent.

You can choose which foundation you want to benefit by clicking on one of the links that will appear on this page. The pages don't go live until the auction actually begins.