Manuscript Critique Services
Candid, constructive editorial critiques for complete manuscripts, book proposals, and unfinished works-in-progress
Overview of Services
The first goal of our manuscript critique services is to provide candid, constructive, and thorough feedback on your manuscript’s condition and its literary and commercial potential.
The idea isn’t to callously judge a work or its writer but to give you a professional book editor’s perspective on what works, what doesn’t work or could work better, and what you might consider doing to give your manuscript the best chance of marketplace success. This feedback helps inform your revision process and bring clarity to specific goals and objectives intended to improve the quality of your story and its writing.
The second goal of these services is to assess your manuscript’s editorial needs and what kind of further help, if any, would be most beneficial after you’ve revised with your editor’s feedback in mind.
Once we’ve read your manuscript, provided written feedback, and discussed that with you by phone or email, you’ll have a much better sense of where your work stands in relation to relevant industry standards, what you need to work on, and what editorial course may be appropriate.
Further information about critique services pricing, turnaround time, and coverage is available via links at right (desktop) or below (on mobile devices) or by contacting our author services director Ross Browne at the Tucson office.
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Insights From The Web
Recommended Reading
Anatomy of a Character-Driven Mystery A guide for authors striving for emphasis on characterization in all genres of popular fiction
[by Ross Browne] “Character driven” is a phrase one hears a lot in editing and publishing. In simple terms, it’s something we say when the experience of a book is shaped as much (or nearly [...]
How Ten Bestselling Authors Introduce Protagonists in First-Person Narratives A guide for novelists of all genres
[by Ross Browne] I’ve been editing novels for more than 30 years, and one thing that still fascinates me to no end is the art and craft of introducing (and cultivating quick engagement with) [...]
News, Insights, and New Resources for Authors Considering Self-Publishing
It sometimes seems like too much is changing too fast in the publishing world. But there's at least one area where all that change is for the better in our view: self-publishing. (Often called "indie [...]
In Praise of Literary Writing An editor's primer on the unique allure of literary fiction—and what it takes to write it well
[by Gregory Collins] The lines are blurry and the exceptions are many, but if literary writing tends to emphasize character and realism while genre writing tends to emphasize plot and tropes, then I trace my [...]
PATHS TO PUBLISHING: A Decision Guide on Traditional and Self Publishing Options for 2025
[by Ross Browne and John Robert Marlow] Publishing has changed a lot in the 45 years since The Editorial Department opened its doors—and not necessarily for the better, in the eyes of many. But it’s [...]
EDITOR’S EAVESDROP: Award-Winning Bestselling Author Joe Ide Dishes Truth on Getting Traditionally Published (And making a living as a novelist!)
[by Ross Browne] Joe Ide is a brilliant, critically acclaimed author. He also turns out to be a refreshingly straight shooter on what aspiring writers need to know about the business of publishing and how [...]
“The writer must get into touch with his reader by putting before him something which he recognizes, which therefore stimulates his imagination, and makes him willing to cooperate in the far more difficult business of intimacy. And it is of the highest importance that this common meeting-place should be reached easily, almost instinctively, in the dark, with one’s eyes shut.” Virginia Woolf