Manuscript Evaluation Services
You have written, or are in the process of writing, your manuscript and have given chapters or the whole manuscript to beta readers to review and give you their thoughts. What happens when the feedback you receive is confusing? How do you determine what should stay or go? How much editing needs to be done? A manuscript evaluation can help you answer those questions and more.
What is a manuscript evaluation?
An manuscript evaluation is an early-stage review of your manuscript in the event you struggle to determine what level of editing you need or you feel some of the feedback from beta readers is conflicting with other readers. It is not a review of your grammar or spelling, but rather a look at if your story line makes sense.
Different types of authors can benefit from a manuscript evaluation, including writers wanting to get an edge on competition before sending their manuscript to an agent, writers who are self-publishing and want to make sure their manuscript is polished, or professionals writing a manuscript about their area of expertise. Getting a manuscript evaluation can save you time trying to figure out what is working or not working within your manuscript and if you should publish it now or continue to work on it so it can become a best seller.
There are several reasons and benefits for which you will want a manuscript evaluation for your manuscript. A manuscript evaluation gives you a professional, unbiased opinion of the state of your manuscript summary from someone who is removed from the manuscript. It can also offer a brief insight into patterns in your writing you may not have discovered. It can be used to point out plot holes, weaknesses in the story lines, and/or other flaws within the manuscript. A good editing critique will respect the authors voice and point of view and not try to change it, but rather enhance the authors voice by giving constructive criticism.
Manuscript Evaluation Services
There are two ways to read a manuscript; as a reader and as an editor. I read manuscripts in both ways. For a manuscript, I will ask you to send me your manuscript, and for better tracking suggestions and changes, I will need you to please provide your section to be critiqued in a double-spaced, Microsoft Word document with 1 inch margins all around.
The total project must be a minimum of 60,000 words to provide you with enough feedback to make larger changes. The editing critique I will send back of your selected manuscript section will be up to 10,000 words and provide a thorough review of the developmental issues, suggestions for solutions on how to fix the developmental issues, comments on plot weaknesses or holes if found, and a recommendation for the level of editing you need.
Contract and Cost
The cost of the manuscript evaluation service is $315 per 10,000 words. Each manuscript evaluation will require a contract which will outline what you can expect to receive in your evaluation, an approximate timeline for the manuscript evaluation, and legal and payment information.
All details for the project will be discussed and agreed upon in advance and will be listed in the contract. The contract must be signed before work will commence on the evaluation. I will communicate with you throughout the process if I have any questions for you, as well as answer questions you might have for me.
If this service sounds appealing, please contact me to learn more.