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 fees for a Manuscript Assessment start at USD 350 for a manuscript of up to 20,000 words. Contact me using the form below to request information on my fees for 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.
While copyediting does not include rewriting, I do suggest alternatives for words used out of context, and revisions for sentences or paragraphs that are overly long. Please note that copyediting does not include formatting or coding manuscripts for traditional or electronic publication.
I can edit using American, British or Australian/New Zealand spelling and punctuation.
How much does copyediting cost?
I quote copyediting fees based on an hourly rate, so my fee will depend on how long I expect to spend editing your manuscript.
There are various levels of copyediting, and my approach is to offer the level of editing your manuscript 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.
Most edits fall into this final category, which means my fee will depend on the level of editing required. I offer a free sample edit to calculate an appropriate fee.
Please note that I have limited capacity for copyediting, as I am already booked for most of 2023 and 2024.
