Manuscript evaluations

You’re finished writing your manuscript. Now you’re not sure what to do. Should you submit it to a publisher? Should you self-publish it? You know your book can be improved, but you don’t know how to identify the problems and fix them.

You need quick, comprehensive feedback from a professional on your manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses. You need recommendations on what to do next.

If this sounds familiar, you need a manuscript evaluation.

Get in touch

A manuscript evaluation – also known as a manuscript assessment, a manuscript appraisal, a reader’s report, or a manuscript review – is a report detailing your manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, assessing its readiness for publication, and focusing on how you can improve on some or all of the following aspects:
  • appeal to readers (target audience) and publishers
  • structure
  • plot
  • characterisation
  • pacing
  • language
  • grammar
  • factual accuracy
  • voice and tone
  • coherence
  • dialogue, and
  • clarity.
Having one done will help you understand where you are in your publishing journey. It will give you an idea of what work you still need to do to improve your manuscript before editing. A report will help you grow as an author because it will identify your weaknesses and include specific recommendations to overcome them. It is created with your target audience in mind. The report will help you pin down the things your readers like and those that put them off. More importantly, it will guide you to fix the problems.

The report highlights common weaknesses such as poor structure or unconvincing characterisation. For example, an evaluation of a novel might find that the story falls flat after the climax. Or, a report on a memoir might conclude that the author hasn’t created a credible narrative voice.

It will include specific examples of the problems from the author’s book and then provide suggestions on how to fix them. Often, a report will focus on several major issues, but it will also look at some smaller problems, such as those relating to language or factual accuracy.

It costs R0,06 per word to have a manuscript evaluation done.

It takes up to two weeks to have a manuscript evaluation done on an average-length work of 70 000 words.

A report tends to be between ten and twenty pages long. It includes substantial feedback, specific examples, and clear recommendations.

A manuscript evaluation empowers you to take control of improving your book and your writing. The report is a clear road map for your writing and publishing journey. It is cheaper to do than structural editing, and it is one of the most useful yet underused tools at an author’s disposal.

The manuscript appraisals I’ve worked on have helped countless authors produce their best-possible work, resulting in bestselling business titles, knockout memoirs, and novels that have gone on to be reader favourites. These books have ranged from romance novels to self-help titles, narrative non-fiction books, and sci-fi trilogies.

Get in touch and send me the total word count, a brief description of your book, and any particular areas of concern you’d like me to focus on in the report.

I am relishing going through the work you have done on my manuscript. I’ve published with Shuter & Shooter, Lowry Press, Southern Books, Ravan, Viking, Penguin, Jonathan Ball Publishers, etc. but this is the best editing I’ve ever had … I’m thrilled with the care you have taken and the questions you are asking. Many thanks.

David Robbins, award-winning author of Walking to Australia

Book cover: Sweat, Scale, Sell by Pavlo Phitidis
Book cover: Tarik by Jeremy Hodgson
Book cover: Curing Emily by Jeremy Hodgson
Book cover: A Weakness to Die For by Owen Salmon