Manuscript Evaluations

For Full OR Partial Manuscripts:

You may submit the beginning of your manuscript, an unfinished manuscript, or a complete manuscript.

What’s included

2 Forms of Overall Feedback

A detailed Big Picture Analysis Editorial Letter will give you an evaluation of the main strengths and areas of concern identified in your manuscript, looking at the story as a whole. It will also outline several clearly-defined Next Steps to guide you through the revision process, prioritized based on the needs of your unique manuscript.

A detailed Opening Chapters Editorial Letter will pull together and summarize my findings & feedback from your opening 3 chapters, and provide Next Steps for them specifically.

In-Line Comments

In-line comments on your first 3 chapters (up to 30 pages) will allow you to see more real-time examples of the strengths and weaknesses of your story, in the text itself.

They may include comments, concerns, suggestions, questions, and much more.

You’d be surprised how much can be determined from and commented on in a book’s opening chapters, that has to do with the whole of the story — which is why that (and often much less) is all it takes for agents to make a decision.

When I focus the time-consuming task of in-line comments on your opening chapters, it allows you to get the most for your money, as a solid opening is the only way to get an agent’s attention. (Unfortunately, they just won’t wait to get to the good part on page 57!)

Coaching Call

I’m a big believer in person-to-person contact. Writing is a deeply personal, emotional undertaking, and I’m of the opinion that feedback and encouragement just don’t hit the same on paper. A Coaching Call will allow us to go over my feedback, discuss any questions or concerns you may have, and make sure we’re clear on the next steps. It will allow me to be not just an editor to you, but a coach, and a support. Sometimes just having a sounding board or a brainstorming session can work wonders for problem-solving a story’s shortcomings. And having another person outside yourself whose focus is your story, a less biased opinion that can see your story’s strengths just as much as its weaknesses, can be a life-saver if you find yourself discouraged by any of the feedback or by the work ahead of you.

Because when it comes to writing ~ and coaching ~

personal is better.