We can hardly believe that we've curated more than 60 manuscript reports here at The Spun Yarn! To celebrate, we'd like to award a standout manuscript with the first annual Spun Yarn Readers' Choice Award.

If you're familiar with what we do here at The Spun Yarn, you may know that each manuscript receives eight qualitative scores as part of our comprehensive report. While these scores are certainly subjective, some titles stand out for their nearly perfect ratings and rave reviews from our tough-grading but fair minded readers.

We'd like to announce that Rachel Burge has been awarded the 2018 Spun Yarn Readers' Choice Award for her spooky YA debut The Twisted Tree!

Rachel came to The Spun Yarn when her manuscript was in good shape but not quite ready for publication. Of her experience with The Spun Yarn, Rachel says "I approached The Spun Yarn for feedback on my novel at a point where I was happy with the story, but felt it needed help to shine. The [Spun Yarn Manuscript report] greatly exceeded my expectations. Professionally put together with helpful charts and diagrams, it allowed me to see where the weak areas were in the manuscript at a glance. Having feedback from three different readers at key stages of the book gave me the confidence to make informed decisions about the plot. When two out of the three beta readers said a scene wasn’t working, I removed it from the story, and it greatly improved the book. I have no doubt that feedback from The Spun Yarn helped me to secure an agent and go on to get a publishing deal."

After her manuscript report, another round of editing and the arduous process of querying agents, Rachel secured representation with Skylark Literary Agency, who sold The Twisted Tree to U.K. publisher Hot Key Books. The Twisted Tree comes out in January of 2019, but it's up for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk right now! Congratulations Rachel, we can’t wait to buy and reread The Twisted Tree!

About The Twisted Tree:

Martha can tell things about a person just by touching their clothes, as if their emotions and memories have been absorbed into the material. It started the day she fell from the tree at her grandma's cabin and became blind in one eye.

Determined to understand her strange ability, Martha sets off to visit her grandmother, Mormor - only to discover Mormor is dead, a peculiar boy is in her cabin and a terrifying creature is on the loose.

Then the spinning wheel starts creaking, books move around and terror creeps in . . .

Set in the remote snows of contemporary Norway, The Twisted Tree is a ghost story that twists and turns - and never takes you quite where you'd expect.

Part ghost story, part Nordic thriller - this is a twisty, tense and spooky YA debut, perfect for fans of Coraline and Michelle Paver's Dark Matter.

Find Rachel on her website or on twitter, and watch for updates about The Twisted Tree!

To see how a Spun Yarn manuscript report compares to other manuscript critique services and to take advantage of our 20% Fall Forward discount, check us out at https://thespunyarn.com.

Rachel Burge, author of The Twisted Tree — Rachel Burge, author of *The Twisted Tree*

Announcing the 2018 Spun Yarn Readers' Choice Award Winner!