Louise is going to tell us a bit about her manuscript assessment service, but first, don't forget - if you haven't already done so - to read the two posts below and comment for a chance to win a book by Ruthie Knox and a book by Jennifer Weiner. Only a couple of days left to enter both.
Here's Louise...
Getting serious: Manuscript Assessment
There comes a time in every unpublished
writer’s career when they wonder what they have to do to get across the line,
to get a publisher or an agent to take them on.
They might have been writing for years, doing well in contests, and have
crit buddies who love their work, but still… no contract.
So what can they do?
Well if this is you and you can’t
see a way forward, you might decide to give up your dream of being published by
Harlequin or Berkley or Avon and go with a smaller ePublisher or even self
publish, not realising how challenging it is to drum up sales when you don’t
have the huge distribution machinery of a big International publisher behind
you. And while there are the rare,
celebrated authors who rise from self-publishing obscurity to become
International best sellers, the vast majority of authors who have long,
successful careers have been published by big publishing houses. So if you also want to go the traditional
route, what can you do to lift the quality of your work to a standard that will
excite publishers and agents?
One way to give your career a
jump-start is to have a manuscript assessment by an industry professional, and
the Australian Writers Marketplace among
other sites will give you a range of assessors to choose from. Always query them first to see what you get
for your money, but to give you an overview I’ll tell you what I do, so you can
see if an assessment might help you. I
charge a touch under $400 for a sixty thousand word manuscript, and my clients
consider that to be an inexpensive way to help them bridge the gap between where
they are and where they want to be: signing a contract that delivers thousands
or even hundreds of thousands of dollars if they can create a novel publishers
will bid on. Every business spends money
on development, and career writers are no different.
A good assessment can help you
eliminate the craft issues that are holding you back, and clarify and
strengthen plot structure and characterisation.
Every manuscript is different, but the number one flaw I see in
manuscripts is lack of tension (most often caused by a goal/motivation/conflict
structure that is unclear or not compelling).
Other problems I’ve diagnosed in the 150 manuscripts I’ve assessed are
structural flaws that affect tension or pacing, characterisation weaknesses
(either due to viewpoint control issues, lack of internalisations or clichéd
reactions) or problems with dialogue, visuals, pacing or grammar. The most heartbreaking are manuscripts that
have been beautiful written with faultless grammar, but have either no viewpoint
control, predictable plots or clichéd characters. On the surface these manuscripts shine and
their authors don’t see the critical flaws that are stopping them being
published, so I find it very satisfying to help these talented writers uncover
their Achilles Heel and offer direction towards overcoming it.
Knowing what isn’t working is
half the battle. Having clear direction
on how to fix the problem is vitally important as well, and that not only helps
you edit to make your novel more saleable, it also makes you mindful of that craft
issue in the next story, ensuring that each future draft is stronger.
If you’d like to check out my
webpage on manuscriptdevelopment or the rest of my writingtips website you may find something that helps you turn your good story
into a great story, and my New Year’s
wish for you is that your manuscript snags the attention of a jaded publisher
or agent searching for the next big thing.
Remember: Luck happens when opportunity and preparation meet. A
big contract can happen, but you need
to work to make it happen for you!
Thanks Louise - sounds really helpful! I'm curious, have any of you tried a manuscript assessor? If so, how did it work for you?
4 comments:
Hi Louise! This is a really interesting post. I've never used a manuscript assessor, but I was lucky enough that my (now) editor worked with me as part of my New Voices prize, prior to my first book being accepted. So in a way I did have a manuscript assessor, as I definitely needed guidance to get my book right!
Hi Louise and Rach!
I credit selling my first book to Special Edition as a result of working with a freelance editor/assessor. She gave me the guidance and advice I was looking for after many years of working alone. Writing is a business, and getting published is a challenging road - working with an assessor to get my book right, to me was like working with a personal trainer instead of going to gym. The specific advice I received was invaluable on my journey to get published.
Great blog post :)
Lovely to see editorial help getting writers over the line. Should be more of it! With all the contests and assessors available now there's no reason to sit on a manuscript. Thanks for dropping by Leah and Helen!
Thanks so much for sharing this process with us Louise and Leah and Helen for adding your experiences. I was about to contact Helen Lacey's assessor when I got the call, so I'm very pro assessors!!
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