Manuscript Assessment & Development
Whether your aim is to submit to a commercial publisher, self-publish, or share with your family and friends or a special interest group, a manuscript assessment will make sure your work is the best it can be.
You’ve done the hard work and completed your manuscript (congratulations!), or maybe you’re stuck at the 40,000 word-mark (not uncommon!). The time and effort taken to write a manuscript cannot be undervalued, and you should be lauded for getting this far. After spending so much time working away, you may lose sight of the rubble and the gems. Working with an editor helps clear away the excess and make those gems sparkle.
Manuscript development
Once the big-picture elements are in place, a developmental edit continues to focus on the manuscript as a whole, but from a closer view. Here, the manuscript is examined by chapter, page and paragraph to ensure all is contributing to make the narrative as compelling as possible. A constructive and detailed report, and a phone or Skype consult is provided after examining:
Is it cohesive?
Is there too little/too much detail?
Are the characters and their development true?
Are there ways to strengthen the work?
Is each chapter and scene pulling its weight?
Is the setting immersive?
Is the language and tone convincing?
Manuscript assessment
An assessment offers an overview of the big-picture elements of your manuscript, providing feedback regarding the overall strengths and weaknesses of the work, suggestions for improvement, and any area-specific detail you may have requested. You’ll be provided with a detailed report addressing the elements below, and a phone or Skype meeting.
Does the structure work?
Is it meeting readers’ expectations of the genre?
Is the plot convincing?
Are the character arcs satisfying?
Has the best point of view been chosen?
Is the pace working?
Proofreading
An essential step before you send your manuscript out into the world, proofreading is again a line-by-line examination of the text, but this pass corrects errors like spelling and punctuation, and to a lesser extent, grammar. Sometimes errors are introduced when the copyediting suggestions are resolved, if these are few in number, they’ll be corrected here, but if there are many, another round of copyediting may be suggested.
Copyediting
Narrows in and offers an up-close analysis of the writing; a finer, line-by-line examination of the punctuation and grammar, suggestions for judicial use of adverbs, clarity of meaning and ensuring the work is as reader-friendly as possible. It’s here that the details making a work shine are excavated, where the rhythm and flow of the sentences are refined. For non-fiction works, this is where basic facts are checked and flagged for author resolution.
“You know what writers say about their long books: ‘If I had another year, the book would be half as long’.”