Chart champions unsigned writers

A special chart has been launched for budding authors on a website that invites users to rate the opening chapters of unpublished books.

Each month, the people behind the three highest-ranked stories at the site, YouWriteOn.com, will receive critiques from established writers and agents.

These stories will then enter the Bestseller Chart.

A publishing deal is also being offered to the person whose work is the most popular over the course of a year.

The Arts Council is behind the site, which aims to give budding authors the chance to see their own work in print.

It has been developed in conjunction with authors including Phil Whitaker, whose book Eclipse of the Sun was nominated for a Whitbread First Novel Award in 1997.