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Manuscript assessment

Editing

What is a manuscript assessment?

A manuscript assessment is a careful, detailed report on all aspects of your document.

edit or die works on as many types of manuscripts as there are books in a bookshop. A manuscript assessment or report will:

  • Look at the document as a whole.
  • Discuss each of its parts.
  • Tell you whether it is appropriate for your intended market.
  • Examine its structure.
  • Suggest ways to improve the work.
  • Refer you to other, like documents.
  • Give examples and re-writes for you to follow.
  • Advise on possible liabilities and copyright infringements.
  • Provide encouragement, inspiration and constructive criticism.

This page discusses:

What is a manuscript assessment?

Fiction assessments

How does your text shape up?

Asking family and friends to assess your work

What the editor can offer you

What do I get from edit or die?

Genre

How long does it take?

Design

Business
papers

Manuscript
assessment

Children's
books

Speculative
fiction

Submission guidelines

Price list and recent projects


Is it good enough?

A manuscript assessment will help you answer these sorts of questions about your writing:

  • Is it achieving what it intends to achieve?
  • How does it compare to other, published pieces of the same kind?
  • Does it grab the reader?
  • Are the elements incorporated successfully?
  • Is it "new" or does it feel boring and familiar?
  • Is the writing well crafted and elegant?
  • Do the pictures help?
  • What about the self-help exercises, graphs and charts?
  • Is the scene and setting effective?
  • Is it a good story?
  • Are the characters interesting?
  • Are the examples relevant?
  • Will children like it?
  • Will adults? animals?!
    •

Contact
details

Fiction assessments

The report discusses style, character development, scene effectiveness, visual acuity, the demands of genre, plot techniques, point of view, structure… and any other matters peculiar to your work. Where relevant, it includes other information about the novel and short story form, techniques for scriptwriting, publishers' expectations and other matters.

Assessing non-fiction

Have you reached your target market? Is the language and style clear, precise and helpful? Is the voice pitched to the relevant literacy standard of your audience? Is the text professional, authoritative and fresh? The assessment of non-fiction focuses on the marketability and suitability of your document.

A report can save you valuable time and money by directing your efforts into profitable and elegant writing.

Asking family, friends and colleagues to assess
your work

The trouble with asking people you know to assess your work is that they either expect you to be the next Shakespeare - or expect you to fail. They are so excited for you, or so jealous and bitter about you, or they don't like history, or don't think much of crime fiction, or only read long books, or have never read much poetry... so their assessment of what is "good" is not very helpful.

Most people don't want to offend, and just say, "Yeah, I liked it". But when you ask real questions about whether it was a good idea to set the battle in ancient Ireland, or if the diagram of the human ear was helpful, or if your main character is strong enough to carry the theme, they have no idea. You'll never really know if they are just dumb or if your writing is poor. The point is that writing isn't their area of expertise - even though "everyone is a critic".

How long does it take?

Assessment of a long novel can take four to five weeks. Short fiction usually takes ten working days.

Genre

edit or die specialises in genre fiction, and has produced successful texts in fields like fantasy and science fiction, women's knowledge, crime fiction, action/thriller, legal texts, family histories and children's books… (See the "Price Lists and Recent Projects" page.)

What do I get from an edit or die assessment?

Your manuscript will be assessed by a professional with at least ten years experience in writing, editing and publishing. Often two or more people discuss each piece and compare notes.

Useful lists and contacts

You will receive a "Useful Materials for Writers" package with your assessment, which includes:

  • Agents' and publishers' contact details.
  • Lists of potential markets and publications.
  • Spelling, punctuation and grammar guides.
  • Information on submitting to a publisher.
  • How to write a cover letter.
  • How to write a synopsis.

Mark-up

Your assessment includes the first chapter or first few pages marked up by a professional editor. This helps you to understand the editing process, identify where your grammar and spelling needs improvement, and learn from corrections.

The assessors at edit or die will show you how to make the best of your piece of writing, and where to sacrifice parts that aren't so good.

What the editor can offer you

A good editor is trained in all types of publications, and will be looking at your work to see whether your work is plausible, well-crafted and a pleasure to read - and if it is likely to attract an agent or a publisher.

The editor works as a conduit between author and publisher, and helps the writer translate their ideas into work acceptable for publication.

You will also get a chance to interact with an anonymous person for whom there is no emotional ties to you or your "masterpiece". For many people, this is the only way they will move out of the rut that they're in: not really knowing how they're going.

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