Services ยท Stage 1 of 4
Manuscript assessment
A read of the whole book and a written report on what works and what to fix.
How it works
- You send the whole manuscript and its word count.
- The whole book is read and annotated.
- A report sets out the book's strengths and its problems, in order of importance.
- You get the report, and questions about it are answered.
What you get back
A written report covering structure, pacing, character or argument, point of view, voice, and the opening and ending. Your manuscript is not changed. You decide what to fix.
Sample: part of a report
Invented text written to show the service. It is not from a client's book.
Pacing. The first three chapters set up the family and the farm, but the inciting event, the father's disappearance, does not happen until page 61. Readers and agents decide in the first ten pages. Consider opening with the night he leaves and bringing in the background as the search goes on.
Point of view. Chapters 4, 9 and 12 switch from Anna to her brother partway through a scene. Choose one viewpoint for each scene, and mark a change of viewpoint with a scene break.
What works. The dialogue between Anna and her grandmother is the strongest writing in the book. It is natural and funny, and it tells us who these people are without explaining them.
Ask about your book
Send the word count, the genre and the type of editing the book needs. For a formal estimate, send the manuscript or at least a 4-page sample.
The other services
- Structural editingPlot, pacing, structure, character and argument.
- Copy editingSentence-level clarity, consistency and style, to Chicago Manual of Style.
- ProofreadingThe final check before publication.