Manuscript Assessment

A manuscript assessment is an appraisal and critique of your novel, providing feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of your:

• Plot
• Scenes
• Characters
• Dialogue
• Interior monologue
• Point of view
• Style
• Pace
• Language
• Christian themes
• Overall consistency

A Manuscript Assessment will highlight your strengths and provide you with specific areas on which to focus the revision of your manuscript. This is most appropriate when you have finished revising the first draft.

I do not make any changes to your manuscript. Instead, I write an editorial letter outlining the strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript, and providing detailed advice on addressing the issues, and refer you to relevant information on writing craft (e.g. books and blog posts).

While a Manuscript Assessment does not include line-by-line copy editing or proofreading, I will provide general feedback to help you decide whether your revised novel will need a second Manuscript Assessment before you reach the copyediting stage.

How much does a Manuscript Assessment cost?

My fee for a manuscript assessment depends on word count and is USD 500 (NZD 650 plus GST) for 80,000 words. Contact me using the form below to request information on my fees for shorter or longer manuscripts.

Copyediting

Copyediting includes:

• Checking spelling, grammar, and punctuation for accuracy and consistency.
• Ensuring capitalisation and hyphenation are consistent throughout.
• Correcting missing or incorrect words and other typographical errors.
• Review sentence, paragraph and chapter length.
• Identify repetition of words or ideas.
• Ensure consistent plot, style, tense and point of view.
• Ensure language and tone are consistent with the location and time period of the story.
• Undertake basic fact checking against reputable internet sites.

If you are looking for a Christian editor, you may wish to check out the Christian Editor Connection. They have a database of established, professional freelance editors who have been extensively screened and tested. If you go to http://www.christianeditor.com/ and fill out the online form to Request an Editor, they will personally choose the editors they believe would be a good fit for you and your project. Those editors who are interested and available will contact you directly.

If you don’t find a suitable fit through Christian Editor Connection, you could visit the Find an Editor page of The Christian PEN’s website, https://thechristianpen.com/find-an-editor. (Note that The Christian PEN does not screen editors like Christian Editor Connection does.)

If you are looking for an Australian Christian editor, I suggest contacting one of the editors listed with Omega Writers (https://www.omegawriters.org/directory/).

How much does copyediting cost?

There are various levels of copyediting, and the cost will depend on the length of your manuscript and the level of editing it needs. This could be:

• A light copyedit focused on spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• A heavy copyedit, including rewriting or reordering sentences and paragraphs (in your author voice) to ensure clarity.
• A medium copyedit, focused on deleting words or sentences to reduce word count to better meet genre expectations.
• Somewhere in between.

I am not currently accepting copyediting projects.

Click here for more information on cost.

Contact me using the form below to schedule a Manuscript Assessment or request more information.