MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION
A manuscript evaluation provides a professional, comprehensive assessment of your work before you invest in deeper editing or begin submitting to publishers. This service offers valuable insights into your manuscript’s strengths and areas for improvement, giving you a clear roadmap for revision.
This is not where your prose gets polished. If you’re looking for a line-by-line review, comma wrangling, or typo hunting, hold your horses—manuscripts need at least a couple of editorial rounds before they’re ready for that kind of TLC!
What I Evaluate
Structure and Organization
I’ll assess how effectively your content flows, whether concepts build logically upon each other, and if your chapter arrangement serves your core message.
Content Development
I’ll examine how thoroughly you’ve developed your key concepts, identify any gaps in your supporting evidence or examples, and evaluate whether your content delivers on the promises made to readers.
Language and Readability
I’ll provide feedback on how well your content addresses the needs, questions, and knowledge level of your intended readers.
Voice and Tone
I’ll assess the consistency and appropriateness of your writing voice for both your subject matter and audience, ensuring it aligns with your professional brand.
Genre Fit
Understand how your manuscript measures up to industry standards and publisher expectations before submission. I’ll offer perspective on how your manuscript compares to similar works in the marketplace and suggest potential unique selling points to emphasize.
Deliverables
$0.017/ word ($400 minimum) | Turnaround time 3-4 weeks
A manuscript evaluation will give you clarity and direction to craft your most captivating draft yet.
Content Review
I’ll do one full read-through of your manuscript with my detective hat on (from a reader and editor point of view). Findings will be summarized in a 2-3 page editorial letter, highlighting your manuscript’s strengths and challenges, with specific examples and actionable revision suggestions.
Annotated Manuscript
Light markup throughout your document pointing out examples of successful writing and areas needing attention, connecting the broader feedback in the letter to specific moments in your text.
Actionable Feedback
A 45-minute call to discuss your evaluation, answer questions, and help you prioritize your next steps. Alternatively, you can submit up to 5,000 words of revised material for feedback. Targeted book and resource recommendations to help address specific writing challenges identified in your manuscript.
Start With a Sample
What is a Sample Manuscript Evaluation?
In a sample review, I edit a 1,000-word excerpt of your manuscript. I ask for the entire manuscript so I can get an overall feel for the story and your writing. I typically choose a section at least several chapters into the book because you’ve likely spent more time working on the beginning, and it often differs from the rest of your book since you are setting up the story and characters. Something from the middle better represents your writing style and structure for the bulk of your book.
This process serves two key purposes:
- Meet and Greet: It’s our literary “first date.” You experience my editing and communication style, which helps you determine if my approach aligns with your needs.
- Price Quote and Turnaround Time: No two manuscripts need the same TLC. By evaluating a section of your manuscript, I can gauge how long the full edit will take, which allows me to create an accurate price quote and timeline.
Please note, a sample review might contain more or fewer marginal comments than the actual development edit, since I’m trying to show you what you can expect over a short section of text. With a full evaluation, you’ll get a short editorial letter with examples, resources, and more in addition to the in-line (marginal) comments.
How Does a Sample Edit Work?
Whether or not you choose to continue working with me, you’ll walk away with valuable feedback on the section I review, at no cost to you. And if I think we’re not the best match or a different service would serve you better, I’ll be up front with you so you don’t waste your time or money.
When you request a sample evaluation, you’ll be taken to a short intake form. Here you’ll tell me about your book, any areas of concern you have, your timeline for editing, and some optional questions to help me get to know you a bit better. Finally, you’ll upload your manuscript as a Word doc.
Now the ball (or should I say book) is in my court. I’ll complete a free sample edit and provide you with a quote, an estimated time to complete the project, and delivery date options based on my availability.
You’ll review my edit and proposal, get all jazzed about how I can help you rock your revisions, and say “Rachel, let’s freaking do this.”
Once I get that enthusiastic thumbs up, we’ll pick a date for your edit, and I’ll send you a contract to sign (with NDA included), and you will pay the deposit. Then it’s game on!
When you’re ready to get started, send that manuscript on over.