An extremely big thank you to all our members who uploaded their chapters for feedback during 2007 and exchanged constructive reviews. Thank you to all our literary professionals as well, including Martyn Bedford, Phil Whitaker, Melissa Weatherill, Michael Legat, and new professionals Gillian Stern, an in-house Editor for leading literary agent Curtis Brown, and Sara O'Keeffe, who is a Senior Editor for Orion books. 

The YouWriteOn book judges, author Martyn Bedford and YouWriteOn manager Edward Smith, have considered all the Best Seller Chart stories for 2007 up to and including the entrants at the start of January 2008, and made their decision on a long list of contenders for the second YouWriteOn Book of the Year Awards. 

The judges commented: "This has been a very exciting year for exceptionally promising writers and stories on YouWriteOn.com. We believe that the 2008 YouWriteOn Book Awards will once again recognise talented writers who will go on to achieve literary agent representation and publishing successes, as was achieved by the writers in our first book awards last year View Details of 2007 YouWriteOn Book Award successes. As well as enjoying the process of reading stories, we also had to make some tough decisions, with several very good extracts missing the cut in the end. We hope all writers will persevere however, and take heart from all the readers that enjoyed their stories. For all writers, there is always the opportunity to continue to develop and enjoy the process of writing."  

The judges next job will be to decide on the final results, which will be announced during late February. 

Many congratulations to the longlist contenders for the YouWriteOn Book of the Year Awards 2008. These are listed below for the separate categories of adult fiction and children's fiction by order of the date they entered the YouWriteOn Best Sellers Chart. Click the links below to read the opening chapters. The longer adult fiction longlist reflects the larger amount of adult fiction stories that entered the BestSellers Chart in 2007. 

We will separately announce the best short story winners when the final results for the YouWriteOn Book of the Year Awards 2008 are announced 

ADULT FICTION LONGLIST  - ORDERED BY DATE OF ENTRY TO BESTSELLERS CHART. All stories entered the BestSellers Chart after January 2007, the dates on each entry are the dates that the writers originally uploaded their stories for review.  

The Long Drop Goodbye (Older)
by Jimmy Bain	Comedy, Crime, Novel	02 Nov 2006
Moose Cowen dies in a mysterious fall. The Narrator, who is never named, and his partner, the Bumble investigate. This is Comedy/Crime in the Glaswegian vernacular - so if you don't understand it just hit remove. (It's not very PC either - but that's the characters not the author!) More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book

A Penny on the Tracks
by galvin	Science Fiction	09 Apr 2007
Realists are in charge now, getting to the root cause of society’s ills. And the cause of all problems is poverty. Time for a cleaning up. Screw what the rest of the world thinks, round up the slackers and dispose of the drain on society. Some escape, though, and go feral. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book

The Armchair Bride by Mo Fanning Chicklit, Comedy, Novel 29 May 2007 Based on www.placetheirface.com. This is a story that explores the many ways our past governs our future and how, thanks to the Internet, we're all judged on who we used to be - or claim to be. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book

Smoke Portrait by T. Kent Historical, Literary Fiction, Novel 08 May 2007 Ranging between Ceylon and Flanders, "Smoke Portrait" is the story of an unlikely correspondence between a young Englishwoman and a thirteen year-old boy in the 1930s. Their stories unfold against contrasting historical backdrops: the decline of Empire in Asia and the rise of fascism in Europe. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book SPINEBENDER by Oliver Conway Horror, Thriller 04 Mar 2007 Alexander Wallace has a unique gift. When he is persuaded to help his friend - the Detective Inspector - with a particularly unusual murder enquiry, he finds himself drawn into a Paranormal world in a race against time and an enemy he cannot begin to comprehend. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book Penguins in Amsterdam (revised again) by Patricia J. DeLois Literary Fiction, Novel 01 Jun 2007 Sophie is struggling to come to terms with some of the losses in her life. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book Coombe's Wood by Lisa C Hinsley Horror, Thriller 30 Jul 2007 Izzy and her son Connor move to the village of Cedham, to find eccentric locals and talk of elves. Dire warnings are issued to stay away from Coombe’s Wood, and as her ex partner finds the family and starts to terrorise them, Izzy searches the woods, to a surprising end. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book A Monster in the Mirror by Nick Poole Historical, Horror, Mystery, Novel, Fantasy 30 Mar 2007 A lonely, ugly Victorian boy covets a lovely fairy girl. But should he use the Grimoire in his father's library to take her for himself? I am currently re-plotting this from scratch. Follow my progress at http://amonsterinthemirror.blogspot.com/ More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book Franklin's Orb (revised) by Derek Haycock Mystery 10 Jun 2007 A unique work of art, in the unlikeliest of settings, acts as a beacon for a journey of self-realization and recovery. In these opening chapters, recovered alcoholic, Archie, describes meeting the itinerant artist who was to change his life. (Contains strong language.) More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book Somniac by Andrew Wood Literary Fiction, Novel 01 Sep 2007 Nick Nightingale finds that eating cheese gives him lucid dreams in which he is able to continue his relationship with his dead girlfriend. In his London flat, he lives only to sleep, until he meets someone new and finds himself caught in a struggle between life and death… More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book Rendail by Jo Reed Novel, Saga, Fantasy 29 Oct 2007 Rendail was born for only one purpose; to perpetuate his father's tyranny. In his world there was only one rule - the Rule of the Blood. Then he discovered that the Rule that shaped his life would one day destroy them all. (More info in long synopsis) More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book The Sorrowless Field by Perry Iles Historical, Mystery, Novel 12 Nov 2007 In the Scottish town of Annandale, the smouldering embers of an old dispute are fanned into flames by present-day events. In this remote rural area, memories take a long time to die, and for some, forgiveness is a hard concept to understand. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book

 
CHILDREN'S FICTION LONGLIST - ORDERED BY DATE OF ENTRY TO BESTSELLERS CHART 

The Scream Park
by Edwain Gorty	Adventure, Children's Fiction, Comedy, Novel, Fantasy	31 Jan 2007
What could be a better centrepiece for a horror based theme park that Ye Olde Haunted House? But what if the ghosts aren't up to scratch? More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book  The Starstiller by Gee Askew Children's Fiction 11 Feb 2007 Seriously disabled in her 'real' life, Ashlee has found freedom amongst the stars of Oryon. But can her friends help her to thwart the threat of the awesome STARSTILLER, or will she once more become trapped inside her own enfeebled body? It all depends on exactly who the Starstiller turns out to be. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book Tiger-Mouse by W.L. Mo Children's Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novel, Teenage Fiction 27 Feb 2007 Kitty Kwan, a 9 year old outcast with frizzy hair and bad teeth discovers that her dreams are starting to come true. Convinced she has inherited a supernatural power, she sets out to become the hero she always wanted to be. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book The Misfits by Benjamin Twemlow Action, Science Fiction, Teenage Fiction, Thriller 24 Apr 2007 As the Elysian Military Academy takes on its newest set of recruits, four disparate boys find themselves struggling to cope with their brutal new life. With teachers, prefects and their own reputations working against them, the four realise that they need to combine forces to survive school life. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book Get Santa by David Wardale Children's Fiction, Comedy, Thriller 13 Mar 2007 You'd better watch out - Santa Claus is coming to town, hell bent on destruction, theft and dirty deeds with goat pooh. Schoolboy Alfie Man is forced to crack the crimes. But he unearths a conspiracy involving Santa's companions, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Should Alfie really be trying to get Santa? For ages 8-12. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book MONEY MONEY MONEY by Linda Webbern Children's Fiction, Comedy, Crime, Teenage Fiction 28 Aug 2007 These are the opening chapters of a completed novel, written for the 8-12 or young teenage market. Told in first person, Daniel Jackson, known as DJ, unknowingly gets himself mixed up with a money laundering gang. A fast paced read, with humour. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book Misericordia - The Magog Strikes Back (Revised 22/11) by Steve Hartley Adventure, Comedy, Novel, Fantasy, Teenage Fiction 27 Aug 2007 A girl who can turn into a tree, a psychopathic boy, a talking hedgehog, the Beast of Rossendale, a fat little pig, a vegetarian sausage heir, the Grey Man of Ben MacDhui, Alexander the Great, angels, demons, woodwose, dragons, Gog, Magog, Merlin and gossip: Misericordia, the world turned upside down. More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book RISING FIRE by Lexi Revellian Adventure, Novel, Fantasy, Teenage Fiction 22 Oct 2007 Tor is Dragon Master in the rebel army, and her black dagger shows membership of the elite Hundred Knights. But the tyrant Skardroft discovers a secret that makes him take an interest in her... The story is set in an alternative Middle Ages, with dragons but no archaic language, wizards, or elves. (The sequel, TRAV ZANDER, is also in these charts). More Details | Read Sample Chapters | Review Book We'd really like to thank all site members for all your great story contributions, for being a really great community, and also for all your feedback to help fellow members develop their writing. We very much appreciate everyone's involvement, and we wish everyone the best of luck with their writing in 2008. Enter your Story Now for 2009  If you would like your story to be considered for next year's YouWriteOn Book of the Year Awards, enter your story now. Click here to join for free Free Professional Critiques each month from editors for leading literary agents and publishers Each month throughout 2008 the highest rated 5 writers in the YouWriteOn Top Ten will continue to receive free professional critiques from our literary professionals, who include established authors, an in-house editor from leading literary agent Curtis Brown, and an editor from leading publisher Orion. Please see our About Us page for more details.   YouWriteOn's Affiliated Leading Literary Agents YouWriteOn's affiliated leading literary agents include the Christopher Little Literary Agency, Curtis Brown, Bonomi Associates, and The William Morris Agency.