Hire a Book Editor for a Manuscript Assessment

Writerful Books provides manuscript assessments for writers within Australia, Canada, Ireland UK and USA who require an experienced book editor to undertake an affordable and comprehensive manuscript appraisal.

Our manuscript assessment service hones in on the structure, content and style of your manuscript along with many other elements such as character development, dialogue, pacing, plot and narrative. The service differs substantially from a manuscript critique.

Our manuscript assessment service may also suggest other publishing possibilities such as submitting to a particular literary agent, whether to self-publish or go the traditional publishing route, marketing and building an author or book platform in advance of the manuscript being published.

Why Choose Our Manuscript Assessment Service?

► A manuscript assessment can increase your chances of being signed or being published.

► Our manuscript assessment service will provide you with expert guidance.

► 58% of our clients are repeat customers or come from referrals.

A manuscript assessment differs from copy editing or proof-reading which focuses solely on aspects of the manuscript such as spelling, grammar and punctuation. An in-depth manuscript assessment may suggest to you if your work needs some editing or proof-reading, but it won’t provide this service for you.

A good assessment should pinpoint a manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, advising the author to focus on the parts of the story or non-fiction work that needs improvement.

Where a professional manuscript assessment service differs from asking family and friends to critique your work is not just the professional treatment that will be given to your manuscript but also the industry experience the aforementioned family and friends most likely do not have. A comprehensive manuscript assessment will give you a substantive appraisal and offer you realistic advice on publishing your work.

The best time to have your manuscript assessed is usually after you have completed the second or third draft and have done your own edits and revisions. It is a good idea to hire beta readers to read and critique your work first and offer their opinion of the story BEFORE you have your manuscript assessed. The reason for this is that the beta readers may find major holes in the plot prompting you to have to do a major rewrite and saving you unnecessary expenses down the track. The exception to this is for first-time authors who we recommend getting their manuscript assessed before they hire a beta reader.

The bottom line is that there are 130 million books already out there along with all the other distractions people have to deal with on a daily basis. You want your book to stand head and shoulders above all the cultural noise. The only way to do that is not just to write an average book but to write an amazing book that will get people talking and be around for generations to come. We can’t write that book for you but we can take your gem of a story and polish it and make it the best possible book it can be.

Here’s what some of our authors had to say…

- Russell T.

Thank you for the assessment. I will make some of the changes you suggested and go forward. I don't know if the work is good enough for publishing, either by a commercial publisher or by self-publishing. Do you think I should try to publish it? Thanks for your input. RT - Russell T.
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- Joseph C.

Report received, many thanks. I'll let you know how it goes once I get stuck into the drafting. Cheers - Joe
- Joseph C.
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- Claire C.

Thanks so much for you assessment. I have to confess, you were far more positive about my writing than I was expecting!

I have read through the assessment a couple of times and I am about to work my way through the Word version.

I was not surprised by your notes on the opening. It has been haunting me through every edit. Who knew the first line would be the most challenging. Thank you for your thoughts, I will see what I can do to make it more compelling/inviting.

It was also good for you to pick out the section I did on the vows. If you can believe it, it was a lot worse! I went on a crazy tangent, even played around with an illustration. I felt like a blog was inserted into the chapter, but I kept it in because I was trying to show in the reality of vows an entertaining way. I shall remove it happily and explore other ways of making my point.

For now, I have lots to do and I am looking forward to diving back into the manuscript with some direction and perspective from you.

Thanks again. It was really wonderful to read your encouraging words. This was very much a personal challenge for me - to write a story that had been dancing around in my mind for a few years. Knowing it wasn’t a total turd spurs me on to have a go at a second one.

Cheers

Claire - Claire C.
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- Catherine C.

Thanks so much. Those are brilliant suggestions.

Catherine C - Catherine C.
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- Sarah W.

Thank you very much for this, I appreciate your feedback and advice. Thanks again, Sarah.
- Sarah W.
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- John B.

Thank you for providing a very informative and constructive critique. I feel most of the observations were quite valid and I will proceed with further refinements and edits. Thank you again, John. - John B.
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- Tony M.

I wasn't expecting your email for another couple of weeks. What a pleasant surprise. I've yet to read the reports but I look forward to it. Thanks also for the developmental editing suggestion. Are we talking like a mentoring role? Either way, I might actually take you up on that as I've been looking for such 'guidance'. [...] Anyway, I'll get on to these reports and will be in touch. Oh, and it's still my intention (in the distant future) to seek a manuscript assessment. But, first things first. Thanks very much. Tony. - Tony M.
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- Allison D.

Thanks very much, Declan—impressively speedy! I’ve passed your report on to the editor. Allison Draper - HarperCollins - Allison D.
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- John B.

Hi Declan, I finally got The Last Five Swords published and would like to send you a copy as you were very instrumental in getting it over the line! Thanks for your help, John. - John B.
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- Latifa J.

Thank you for the manuscript assessment. I really appreciate how quickly you've gotten back to me. I'll start working on it as soon as possible, (rewriting it, taking everything you've mentioned into consideration). Thanks again! Regards,
Latifa - Latifa J.
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- Philip K.

Hello Declan – I have been through your further assessment, thanks for those insights I can certainly work with those and will follow up on the contacts you suggest asap. I’m pleased to report that after many months of research and writing I have finally been able, this week, to self publish on Amazon the novel named “Treaty or Treason”! A close call with Penguin Ireland sadly didn’t work out for traditional publication. I would like to pass on particular thanks to Declan at Writerful Books (Dublin and Melbourne) who assessed the manuscript and helped me with many comments and kept me trudging or swimming on. Some famous author once commented that writing a book is like swimming the English Channel, you don’t know where you are, don’t know how far you have come or how far it is to go, but you have to keep swimming! Couldn’t agree more. Philip Kerrigan.
- Philip K.
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- Jo D.

Thank you for the report. I like my premise for this work, but clearly I’m having trouble pulling it off. Thanks for catching so much.

Best,
Jo - Jo D.
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- Benjamin G.

I've just been looking over the beta reader report and can't thank you enough. You identified so many issues I would never have found on my own. I agree with all your suggestions and am excited to go through another revision to improve the manuscript. Your report was much more insightful and detailed than I expected. I will be referring you to fellow writers looking for a good beta reader. Thanks again. Sincerely, Benjamin J. Gohs - Benjamin G.
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- Christopher M.

Thank you so much! This is great feedback, I appreciate your ability to see the grammatical details, while still evaluating the manuscript on it's broad strokes. That's not an easy thing to do. Thanks again, Chris.

- Christopher M.
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- Lauren B.

Thank you very much for your critique, I appreciate it. This is exactly what I've been looking for! All the best, Lauren. - Lauren B.
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- Helen G.

Thank you so much for your insightful comments. I had to laugh at the grammatical errors. It seems no matter how hard I try to find them, some always get through. Grammarly is good, but it doesn’t seem to ever catch it all. This novel went through 4 edits with the program and it missed all of those you specified. I need to read it aloud, which I haven’t done. It is the best way but time consuming. - Helen G.
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Further Reading: How a Manuscript Assessment Can Help You Find Your Voice as a Writer and Get Published

Manuscript Assessment Fees

The fees are calculated per 1000 words. There is a minimum word count of 50,000 words.

AUD $16.25 per 1000 words
CAD $14.65 per 1000 words
GBP £8.75 per 1000 words
EUR €9.95 per 1000 words
USD $10.85 per 1000 words

Note: Manuscript assessments don’t include proofreading or copy editing. We offer substantial discounts to authors requesting a manuscript assessment who need to hire an editor for further editing or proofreading.

** We also have an express evaluation and expert evaluation service which is a more economical option for writers who want a quicker turnaround time while getting expert advice from a professional book editor. Highly recommended!

Hire an editor to evaluate your manuscript here

* Acceptance of a manuscript electronically does not automatically imply any contractual obligations. Some editing jobs may take up to six months to complete depending on the workload of individual editors and length of the manuscript. Editing will only commence once a client agreement form has been signed and costs agreed upon.