“When I personally hear the term manuscript assessment, I feel like its being sent to the head master awaiting the RED pen. And that I’m going to be embarrassed by the outcome.” – Anonymous.
Misconceptions about manuscript assessment:
This simply isn’t true. A manuscript assessor is not there to give you a grade on your work or embarrass you. There should be no reason to feel insecure about showing your manuscript to a manuscript assessor as they want the same thing you do; which is your manuscript being the best version it can be.
The first thing people ask me when I say I do manuscript assessments is what is that?
The simple answer is that a manuscript assessment is an in-depth look at your manuscript for its strengths and weaknesses.
I consider this an integral first step to getting your manuscript ready for publication. There is no point paying for a detailed proofread or edit of your work until all the structural issues such as plot holes, characterisation flaws, etc, that require re-writing are found and corrected and a manuscript assessment will help you do this. It will also save you time and money when it comes to editing and proofreading.
The second question is why would a writer get a manuscript assessment?
Aside from saving you time and money when it comes to editing or proofreading there are a few other benefits.
• A manuscript assessment will help you improve the quality of your manuscript which will increase its chances of being published and its chances of selling.
• Unlike critiquing groups there is no limit on the amount of pages you can submit at one time. Which means that the manuscript will be looked at as a whole instead of it being critiqued by chapters or pages, which is a hit or miss approach.
• An unbiased professional will read your manuscript from start to finish, giving clear advice on what the strengths and weaknesses are. Friends and family will be able to tell you whether they like or don’t like your story, but they won’t offer a reason why and they won’t suggest any way of improving your work. Most of the time they will soften the blow by telling you what you want to hear. This won’t help you improve your manuscript.
What do I get from a manuscript assessment?
A professional assessor will go through your manuscript and give feedback on all the strengths and weaknesses in the form of comments. They will also give you suggestions on how you can improve the manuscript. At the end of the process they will write up an assessment report which is where they will go into more detail about the structural story elements.
A manuscript assessment report does not grade your work but it will help you consider how much work you need to do on the manuscript before it has a chance at being published. It will help you improve the manuscript so that you have a better, more sellable book in the future.
When should I get a manuscript assessment?
It is best to do this once you have completed your manuscript, however if you are stuck at a certain point in your manuscript and have no motivation or you can’t see how to move forward in the story, a partial manuscript assessment may give you the help you require to move forward. Or you may want to look at one-on-one coaching if you find motivation is an issue.
How do I go about getting a manuscript assessment?
Simply check out the manuscript assessment service page which will advise you of everything you need to know. Or you can contact us here and we’ll be in touch answering any questions.
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