HOW DOES IT WORK?

Initial contact

As a first step, please email me with a short note about the work you’ll be submitting and any other information you’d like me to have about yourself and your writing experience.  If there are specific issues that you’d like me to address in my report, let me know.

We’ll then arrange a telephone or Skype/Zoom conversation to make sure that we’re a good fit, and to discuss your needs before you submit your work.

Published authors, agents, publishers or authors coming via agents, please contact me directly to talk about the best way we can work together.

Feedback

I will provide detailed and constructive feedback on your work in a written report and, if you choose this option, will also return your manuscript to you, marked with my annotations.  The documents are completely bespoke and are written to complement each other (if you’d like your manuscript annotated), and our discussion (see below).

Of course, each writer will have different strengths and areas that need work.  Therefore it’s very difficult to say exactly how long your report might be and what it might cover.  However, each critique is usually somewhere between 20 and 30 pages, and will focus in detail on the particular issues raised by your submission.  These can include things such as: plot and characterisation; structure; writing techniques such as ‘Show Don’t Tell’; dialogue; narrative voice; how to add detail and texture and sub-plotting.  Despite the length, the reports are easy to read and will not, I promise, be full of jargon.

If necessary, I will also provide advice on layout, punctuation and grammar.  I always use examples from your own book to illustrate my points.

We will then have the opportunity to discuss each point and any other issues raised, during our face-to-face meeting

You send me:

• Either three chapters or the whole manuscript of your book, up to 450 pages.  (There will be an additional charge of £10 for each 25 pages thereafter.)
• A covering letter, as if you were submitting the chapters to an agent.
• Synopsis.

I will provide:

•  A written report, with feedback and advice on the manuscript and on the covering letter and synopsis.
• If you have chosen this option, your returned manuscript, marked up with my comments and suggestions.
• One face-to-face meeting or Skype/Zoom call of up to four hours to give additional feedback and support. This can be talking through the written report in more detail, or focusing on particular areas.  You must be able to travel to Brighton for the meeting.  We will meet in central Brighton, very close to the station.
• Up to three hours of additional feedback and support via telephone or email.