Well, I Didn't See That Coming...

Have you heard of Bookcountry.com? I had, in passing, but had no idea what it actually was until I saw an article floating around Twitter. Apparently, you sign up and critique three books. Then you're allowed to share your own book (or chapters from a book) for critique. The idea being the classic you never know who's watching.

In this case, well, they were right.

In November, Ms. Schafer, who lives in rural Washington State and has a day job as a mental health professional, tried again with “Between,” a fantasy novel about a woman named Vivian who must destroy a powerful sorceress.

That attracted the notice of Deidre Knight, a literary agent, who was browsing submissions on Book Country.

“I read the first 10 pages and said, yes, she definitely needs to send to us,” Ms. Knight said.

Within weeks, Ms. Knight had taken on Ms. Schafer as a client and negotiated a deal with Ace Books, which included a second book, “Wakeworld,” a novel that Ms. Schafer is in the early stages of writing.

You can read the full article here.

I drool at the prospect of writing for Ace and sharing a publisher with one of my writing heroes, Jim Butcher, but I still anticipate going the traditional query route when/if I finally pursue that NY dream.

So what do you think? Is it worth the gamble of posting your work in the hopes of catching an editor's or agent's eye? What are the odds lightening will strike twice in the same place?