Things you should know before getting a manuscript assessment.
We know how you feel. You’ve poured hours and hours of your life into completing your manuscript and you are excited to finally have another person lay eyes on it. So, you send it off for a manuscript assessment only for it to come back covered in red pen and criticism.
If you are unprepared for what purchasing a manuscript assessment service entails, it can come as a bit of a shock when you receive feedback that does everything but sing your praises. Hopefully, the following post will clarify what a manuscript assessment service is, what purpose it serves and what to expect from one.
It’s likely to be 99% criticism.
First of all, when requesting a manuscript assessment, it’s important to take a second to appreciate one thing: You have written your novel. You stuck with an idea you believed in and have seen it through to completion. This is a huge achievement that no-one can take away from you; and no-one is trying to. A manuscript assessment is simply the next step in a long process of revision and amendment that will prepare your novel for publication. You might well be on your fourth or fifth draft, but you should approach a manuscript assessment as if you’re still on your very first. This is not just about tightening up grammar and sentence structure—it is about analysing the very substance of your writing. It will point out what works and what doesn’t, what you have neglected to include and what you should take out completely.
When your manuscript assessment report arrives back in your hands, it will read like a detailed report that is 99% criticism. Constructive criticism, but still criticism. If you have ever had an assignment marked by a teacher or professor you will know that, no matter how helpful criticism can be, it still sucks to be on the receiving end. If you are unprepared for this, reading all the suggestions for change is likely to be extremely disheartening. It might even make you want to give up writing altogether, move to the hills and take up carpentry instead. But before you do anything drastic, remember that critiquing your work is exactly what you are paying your reviewer to do. While your reviewer should take care to mention the aspects of your manuscript that really captivated them as readers, this will likely take up significantly less space in the final manuscript assessment report. A report that sings your praises would be lovely to receive, but pretty useless. So many of your favourite authors will have gone through this same process and aren’t you glad they kept going?
There are certain things you can do to prepare yourself for a manuscript assessment service. Before submitting your manuscript for assessment, ask yourself the following questions:
Have you taken a break from writing? Downing tools and requesting a manuscript assessment in the same breath is never a good idea. Spending time away from your manuscript allows you to take a step back and see the big picture. Over time, your mind will process everything you’ve written and you might be able to see your manuscript more objectively. You will already have questions about what works and what doesn’t, and you will be able to present these to your reviewer. It will also give you a chance to remember your life outside writing. When you’re in the thick of the writing process, psychologically speaking, your self-esteem is completely tied up with your writing. This isn’t a healthy place to be in. Acknowledge your achievements in all aspects of life and you will gradually begin to see the manuscript assessment process as the fantastic opportunity that it is.
Has a friend or family member read your work? Having someone close to you read your manuscript and give feedback is the perfect way to distance yourself from your work. A family member may not be able to offer you the same depth of analysis as a manuscript assessment, but their first impressions and advice will certainly be valuable to you. It might even give you a confidence boost before you embark on the vulnerable process of getting a professional manuscript assessment.
A manuscript assessment service is very different to an edit.
A manuscript assessment is different from an edit in the sense that it focuses on the overall content of your work. An edit happens much further down the line, usually when your manuscript has been picked up by a publisher. Unlike an editor, a reviewer isn’t going address spelling errors, typos or sentence structure. They might make note of reoccurring errors, but this is not the purpose of the assessment. Manuscript assessments are usually delivered by individuals with a professional insight into the book-selling industry, and who are also keen readers of the genre that you are writing in.
A reviewer will also be able to tell you how marketable your book would be in the current book-selling market. For an easy example, if you have written a supernatural, young adult romance about werewolves and vampires, a manuscript reviewer will be able to tell you that this trend reached its peak with the release of the Twilight Series by Stephanie Myers, and has been on a gradual decline since then. Publishers are now looking for something new and refreshing for a teenage audience. As such, your reviewer might suggest taking your novel in a new direction or adding a new dimension that makes your supernatural romance completely different from its predecessors.
A manuscript assessment that cuts to the very core of your novel by suggesting an upheaval in genre can be very discouraging, especially when you have a passion for it. But ask yourself this: would you rather spend 100 hours on an idea that might never make it, or 200 hours and see it succeed? This is a decision only you can make. A manuscript assessment will give you an idea of how successful your book might be in a commercial setting, but there is nothing stopping you from pursuing your original idea, or from trying a different avenue (e.g. self-publishing or approaching independent publishers who specialise in your genre). Alternatively, if you have written something that is in keeping with an upwards trend in the book market, a manuscript assessment service can help you make the most of this.
Due to the divisive political events we have witnessed in the last few years (the election of Donald Trump, Brexit, the global handling of a pandemic) publishers are predicting a spike in political dystopian fiction and non-fiction political philosophy books. If your manuscript echoes this trend, then the feedback from your reviewer will be aimed at making your book stand out from the masses. You will learn that writing a novel is not a solitary project and you will grow as a writer.
It is not uncommon for manuscript reviewers to suggest large-scale changes to the plot, character cast, setting, or any number of world-building aspects. Manuscript assessments are fantastic for weeding out plot holes that, as the writer, you might have overlooked. If your story features complex magic systems, futuristic technology, or a mystery plot, then it’s more likely that plot holes will be found due to the complex nature of these genres and the paradoxes that magic and technology can give rise to.
Once you have redrafted in accordance with the advice of your manuscript assessment, you might end up with a book that looks pretty different from your first draft. This is a good thing. We often think of authors as lone wolves who lock themselves away in a cabin somewhere and churn out novel after novel. The reality is that authors are never working in isolation. They have friends and family to bounce ideas off of, a good literary agent, an editor, and a publishing house with a healthy budget to spend on marketing and publicity. A solitary process is something that your high school English teachers would have you believe is essential to becoming a writer when you are studying Frankenstein and Great Expectations. However, this is a weird 20th-century distortion of history. Mary Shelly basically had a writing club where she bounced ideas around with other creatives, and Dickens’ “novels” were serialised in magazines where he was paid by the word. So-called ‘commercial success’ was actually very important to him and the gritty subjects of his writing could be compared to those found in a modern soap opera. And yet, the knowledge that these great writers didn’t exist in a vacuum doesn’t cause us to lose respect for their work. The reason I mention this is because lots of writers are hesitant to trigger the process of reviewing and redrafting their manuscript.
As writers we all have that little voice in our head that tells us we aren’t good enough, and starting the revision process can feel a lot like you are giving that voice a megaphone. Hopefully, adopting this collaborative mentality will provide you with some ammo to quash this voice. Remember this: you wouldn’t be investing in a manuscript assessment service in the first place if you didn’t have at least some confidence that your idea has potential.