Manuscript Evaluation

A manuscript evaluation offers a broad editorial assessment of your book. It is a big-picture edit that is a less comprehensive/expensive option than a developmental edit. Structured to provide writers with professional feedback on their project, it focuses on key areas such as plot, structure, voice, character development, theme, and includes suggestions for opportunities to improve your manuscript. Manuscript evaluations include a comprehensive read and an editorial letter outlining the successes and challenges of the manuscript.

Hemingway famously said, “All first drafts are shit.”  Though crass, he was right: For better or worse, a writer must forge a first draft before they can begin to see where their story may lead them. For all the formulas out there, writing is still as mysterious as it is magical, and most writers find they must push through many drafts of a project before they find their story. Once a writer completes a manuscript – either book or story length-- an editor can be an invaluable ally. To have an honest evaluation of the structure, pacing, character, and plot early in the process can distill your intent, redefine goals and set you straight toward a solid revision. A developmental edit includes reading a manuscript three or four times, a line edit, detailed margin notes, an editorial letter outlining the issues at hand, and a map to guide your revisions.

Coaching services are a deeper and ongoing version of a manuscript development. They are designed to accommodate writers who are either embarking on a new project and want regular assessments of their progress or have a finished draft and are diving into a revision. Each engagement is customized to the writer’s needs and vary in length. For writers with finished drafts, the engagement begins with a developmental edit and revision map. Writers will then submit 25 to 100 pages a session on a monthly or bimonthly basis.  I will write editorial letters for each submission and provide phone- or Zoom-based consultations to discuss pages in detail.

Gifted and highly skilled…Lee has a terrific ability to access the emotional engine of a story”

—Mary Otis, Yes, Yes, Cherries

There is an art to writing the book proposal and an editor can help you refine the pitch and polish the prose. You may have the hottest idea, but you’ll need a well-crafted proposal to get an agent’s or editor’s attention and, ultimately, a book contract. A proposal will give an overview that distills the essence of your idea, evaluates the competition and market potential, outlines the book, chapter summaries, and a sample chapter.

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

― W. Somerset Maugham

Query Letters 

Nothing can be quite as daunting as the query letter. An editor (or ghostwriter) can cut to the quick and help you compose a summary of your project and its unique marketing angle to attract the attention of agents and editors.

Phone Consultation

Sometimes you just need to talk things out. Lee is available by phone and Zoom for consults about your work, finding an agent, nuts and bolts of publishing, submitting to magazines and literary journals, contests, and small publishers who accept non agented manuscripts.