Hello my fellow bookies! I’m Stephanie and am excited to be visiting here today.  A little about myself, I’m a SAHM with four awesome kids, three boys and a baby girl. I love reading and often find myself in the YA section. Aren’t some of the best stories those where characters are coming of age, figuring out who they want to be and finding their first love?                                                                                                                                    
My other passion is writing, which is what brings me here today. As I was finishing edits on a YA manuscript, I ran across an article talking about a new imprint from Macmillan Books, Swoon Reads. What caught my attention is that it utilizes crowdsourcing to find manuscripts to publish. So writers upload their finished works and readers come and read, rate and comment on them. The highly ranked manuscripts will get read by the editorial staff and could be chosen for publication. It’s the American Idol of the YA publishing world.                                                                                                                                                                                                 As a writer, I am so excited for this because it breaks down so many barriers that lay in front of an unpublished author. In a conversation I had with Jean Feiwel, the Publisher of Swoon Reads, she said she wanted to tear down the barriers so deserving manuscripts can more easily be found and it gives them a better pulse on what readers want to read.                                                                                                                                Have you ever wanted a say in what books get published? Now’s your chance! It was recently announced the first book selection will be made in February so head over there and let your voice be heard before February 1^st. After an easy sign up (literally only 5 spaces to fill out) you can read as many manuscripts as you want, absolutely for free.                                                                                                                                                  Yay for free good reads! So come take a look, let your voice be heard, for good and bad, and help an unpublished author realized his/her dream. Like yours truly, my manuscript, A Flutter of Butterfly Wings, is up there right now. (http://www.swoonreads.com/m/a-flutter-of-butterfly-wings)                                                                                                                        To sign up and start reading today, go to: http://www.swoonreads.com/sign-up.                                                                                                                                                                 Thanks for having me, Susan, and for creating such a great blog that brings all of us bookaholics together.