Do you feel like you’ve taken your manuscript as far as you can and are ready for a fresh, objective outsider’s perspective on it?

A manuscript evaluation provides developing writers with honest, detailed, and professional feedback to help writers along their journey towards publication. Whether you’re writing for business or for pleasure, a manuscript evaluation facilitates not only the development of your manuscript but the development of yourself as a writer.

What a Writing Community Can Offer

Sometimes a writer will join a writing group where they can share their work with other writers and invite their comments. Regardless of the level of your work, this critique process is a valuable part of the learning experience. As part of a group, you must also comment on the work of others, too. You will learn a great deal that way—your skill at spotting strengths and weakness will sharpen through practice and eventually you’ll be able to use these newfound critical skills on your own work. Ideally, the group creates a safe and supportive environment. All critiquing must be done in the spirit of teammates helping each other out.

Other Possibilities for Getting Feedback

For non-fiction books, you could talk to members of your target audience and find out what they think of your book concept.

You could also write articles for magazines and start testing your ideas, exploring the world of publishing, and learning what impacts and what falls flat. A side benefit to publishing articles is that it helps expand your reach and starts to build an author platform. Literary agents look for information about your platform in your book proposals. It also prepares you for the process of publishing a book as you work through the process of idea generation, pitching to editors, gaining an understanding of your style and your reader’s needs and interests, and organizing your thoughts and expertise in a well thought out, coherent piece. Just make sure you retain the legal rights to your articles so you are free to incorporate them into your book.

Hiring an Author Coach

For writers who are pressed for time, hiring an author coach to evaluate their manuscript can help them get an objecting opinion on what’s working, what’s not, and what’s possible. An honest manuscript evaluation can help you avoid spending years of your life trying to sell a book that has no hope of ever being published.

A manuscript evaluation is a high-level analysis of your manuscript through multiple lenses:

• Structure. No one likes to listen to a rambling, directionless story. We get enough of those in our everyday life. Does the book have a good framework? Has it been shaped? Do the chapters advance appropriately? How is the pacing?
• Narrative Arc. The reader wants a writer who will take them by the hand and show them the way forward. They don’t just want a bunch of information: They want to be led. They start in one place and end up in another, wholly changed. Are the benefits strong? Is the voice or perspective solid or strong? Does it offer a clear transformation for the reader?
• Mechanics. Are there recurring grammatical issues? How effective are your word choices, including adjectives and adverbs? Are there inconsistencies or redundancies?

What is Author Coaching?

An author coach is like a personal trainer for your writing life. Author coaches edit, but we also motivate, inspire, and cajole, and sometimes give you the kick in the pants you need to stop making excuses and get the work done. It’s not just about the words on the page. It’s about setting an intention, establishing effective habits, and harnessing the incredible power of having someone in your corner while you write.

• If you can’t get started, we’ll give you the steps you need to start strong.
• If you’re stuck in the middle, we’ll provide the accountability you need to find your way forward.
• If you are revising or pitching, we’ll offer you the expert editorial eye you need to get over the finish line.

A professional author coach will guide you through the writing process, from the first seeds of an idea to the finished manuscript and beyond.

Is A Manuscript Evaluation the Same as Developmental Editing?

A manuscript evaluation gives you a high-level overview of your work’s strengths and weaknesses. It is much less detailed than a developmental edit and will be less expensive.

A developmental edit is a deep-dive, comprehensive edit, which is proportionately more expensive. In a developmental edit, I do multiple deep reads (then zoom out and come back in), which takes significantly more hours than a manuscript evaluation. It’s where I make a lot of comments in the margins or may rewrite lines or paragraphs to show the author different styles or techniques. I pose questions, asking the author to be more specific, go deeper, or show how they might develop a given idea in an earlier chapter.

If you’re still pondering the different parts of your book, struggling with the structure, are trying to synthesize a ton of notes or chapter drafts, if you’re not yet clear about the story you’re telling, or if you don’t have a cohesive manuscript yet, author coaching or developmental editing is probably more appropriate for you.

Different author coaches offer different levels of editing. When you think of the word editor, most people immediately think of someone who fixes grammar and punctuation. However, there are actually a few different types of editing, each one vital to your book’s success.

• Developmental editing. This is big picture editing that involves looking at the book as a whole. It assesses the book’s marketability, credibility, voice, and how the reader will connect with you, learn, be inspired, and have a transformation. It looks at the book structure and message, the overall flow, clarity, and consistency.
• Line editing. Line editing is the stylistic work that focuses on making sure the writing is clear and tight, tenses are consistent, and the sentences, paragraphs, and chapter flow smoothly.
• Copyediting. This focuses on logic, clarity, chapter sequencing, correct usage, grammar, syntax, punctuation, hyphenation, and capitalization, and offers a detailed, technical edit to make sure the writing is as tight and complete as possible.
• Proofreading. A final word-by-word review and polish for punctuation and spelling that slip through the previous rounds of revision typically performed the actual printed proof copy of the book.

A manuscript evaluation may touch on any of these areas when they notice persistent issues such as consistently punctuating dialogue incorrectly, but will typically not correct it for you.

What You Can Expect to Pay for a Manuscript Evaluation?

Most reputable author coaches or editors who offer manuscript evaluations charge in the same ballpark: $300 to $500 for a partial manuscript evaluation (typically 20-25 double-spaced pages), $1200 to $1500 for a full manuscript up to 60,000 words. A manuscript evaluation, properly done, takes quite a bit of time, energy, and knowledge.

Depending on how you file taxes, the expense of a manuscript evaluation (and other editing/publication expenses) may be deductible. Check with your accountant.